Nearly 10 years after he was controversially dumped from his job as a super-popular radio host, Scott "Scotty" Masters is on a high, fulfilling a long-held ambition to open his own restaurant in Canberra.
After starting with a pop-up in Hume earlier this year, Masters is due to open the fully-fledged restaurant, Smoke Masters BBQ, in Fyshwick next week.
Specialising in mouthwatering slow-cooked meat of all kinds, the restaurant is in Kembla Street, in the former Zierholz beer bar.
Masters did his pop-up takeaway in Hume mid-year, quickly realising there was an appetite in Canberra for authentic American barbecue fare, with an Aussie twist.
"Our brisket is pretty crazy," he said. "The three months we were down in Hume, I cooked over 1.2 tonne of brisket. So, it's a lot of cows. But there are a lot of people who love brisket.
"It takes anywhere from eight to 14 hours to cook properly, so for a lot of people, it's a hard thing to find that time to do it. But we've got it down to a fine art now and it's probably our most popular product."
The natural next step was a bricks-and-mortar restaurant, and the Zierholz location was perfect, already fitted out with a commercial kitchen and bar. He'll be running the restaurant with his son Corey and son-in-law Sean.
"It's good, it's really cool," Masters said.
"This has been a goal for a few years now."
The restaurant is due to open on Friday, November 15. It's opening hours from then will be Wednesday to Saturday, from 8am to 5pm-ish.
"Fridays will probably stay open a bit later if the after-work trade is there," he said.
"Saturdays are going to be the day we do our ribs, as well as everything else.
"We'll have your typical low and slow stuff, your brisket, your pulled pork, your wings, smoked and deep-fried. We also do pizzas with our pulled pork and brisket. Nachos and all sorts of things like that."
The restaurant decor includes the words "From rock 'n' radio to ribs".
It reflects the many hats of Masters. He's still the lead guitarist for Canberra band Night Train. He is a legend of Canberran radio, notably one half of the Scotty and Nige breakfast show on FM 104.7. In move that shocked Canberra, Masters was taken off the 104.7 airwaves in 2015. He says he was sacked, management at the time said he was made redundant.
"In 2015, when my life got turned upside down, I got into smoking [meant]," he said.
"I was always a cook and I grew up in butcher shops as a kid in Newcastle. My dad managed a butcher shop, my pop owned one. So, from four-years-old, I could link sausages. Couldn't do it now if you paid me, but I could do it when I was four.
"In 2015, I got my first bullet smoker from Bunnings and had that for about three months and thought, 'Oh, I really like this'."
Smoke Masters started in mid-2020, with Masters first catering for weddings and other events. The catering arm of the business continues to be a massive hit.
"We've got bookings in 2026 for weddings," he said.
Now, the new restaurant can also cater for events on-site.
"We've got Christmas parties booked already," Masters said.
Almost a decade after leaving 104.7, Masters concedes it may have been meant to be.
"At the time, when you think your world is ending, everyone was saying to me, 'When one door closes, another one opens' and I just wanted to say, 'Shut up'. But you look back and think, 'Well, maybe that was all meant to happen'," he said.
"I mean, this is great fun. My nan was a cook in pubs from 14, my mum was a great cook. I've always been surrounded by good cooks and loved doing it as a kid. I took a pig's head to class for show and tell when I was five. Dad had given it to me. It didn't impress many of the girls. But you look back and think, I think meat was always on the horizon."
