Hayden Block Smoke & Whiskey

When he moved to Calgary from the Newfoundland in the 1999, Ian Walsh was set on becoming a police officer. While he was waiting to get on to the force, he picked up a bartending job. When he finally got a job on the police force in 2002, he declined the position. “I decided not to pursue it because I loved hospitality so much. It was much more rewarding to make people happy on a daily basis, as opposed to never seeing anyone at their best,” Ian says. "And here I am now - BBQ man." After helping with the launch of Jamesons Irish Pub and One 18 Empire at the downtown Marriott Hotel, Ian was approached by restauranteur Jared Kichula about an exciting new venture – Hayden Block Smoke & Whiskey.

Jared had his heart set on opening a BBQ restaurant in the historic Hayden Block building in Kensington (and the former location of Yardhouse) and he wanted Ian to help him do it. So Ian left his job at the Marriott and took a flight out to Austin, Texas with Jared to begin their BBQ research. Texas is home to its own Central style of BBQ that focuses on simply prepared meats, cooked for longer periods of time at lower temperatures (usually around 240 degrees). “In Central Texas BBQ, sauce is an accompaniment,” Ian explains. “Most other places are all very sauce-based and they sauce their meats when they’re smoking or when they’re grilling. With Central Texas, their ingredients are salt and pepper.”

After their trip to Texas, Ian and Jared flew in to Chicago for more BBQ investigation and wound up at a restaurant called Green Street Smoked Meats. While the style of BBQ at the restaurant wasn’t what they were looking for, the restaurant’s look was right on the money. Jared and Ian decided to go with a similar design concept for Hayden Block with rustic-industrial décor, string lights galore and long wooden communal dining tables to encourage sharing amongst guests.