Every year someone asks why we have not switched the pits to gas. It is a fair question. Gas is easier to light, cleaner to run, cheaper over a year, and does not need a person carrying bins of spent coals through a service corridor at midnight.
What the fire actually does
Charcoal burns hotter and drier than a gas flame, and it burns from a bed rather than a line of jets. That gives you an uneven grill on purpose: a searing centre and a cooler edge where a thick cut can rest without stalling. The marinade caramelises instead of steaming.
The other half is the smoke. Fat renders, drips onto the coals, and comes back up as smoke that seasons the next thing you put down. Gas gives you heat. Charcoal gives you heat and a feedback loop.
You can taste the difference in the third bite, not the first.
What it costs us
- A pit tender on every service
- Extraction hoods cleaned twice as often
- Roughly forty minutes of setup before the first table
We think it is worth it. If you disagree after the galbi, tell the host and the next round is on us.