WATCH: 'Smoke' without fire at rebranded Black Isle restaurant The Anderson in Fortrose
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THE imaginative rebranding of a popular Black Isle restaurant certainly grabbed the attention of locals and passers-by when an eye-catching sign was erected to celebrate.
The Anderson in Fortrose forged an even wider reputation during the challenging lockdown period by offering takeaway customers a trip around the world with a variety of themed culinary delights on weekends.
Jim and Anne Anderson are able to call on a depth of experience cooking a wide variety of foods.
Long advocates of smoking food, they decided to reflect that passion with their latest signage.
Mr Anderson explained: "As part of our rebranding as a Smokehouse Restaurant – for years we've been smoking everything from meat to fish to cheese to vegetables to salt to barley and beyond and our current menu features an entire section of authentic Memphis Smoked BBQ dishes – we elected to replace our stodgy old sign out front with a new one.
"The new sign features 'Pub Dude', a striking logo created for us by Fortrose artist, Erland Tait. We had the logo turned into an immense lighted sign by Acorn Sign in Inverness.
"Not satisfied with merely scaring all the children in the neghborhood, I had to go and place a smoke machine behind the sign to re-enforce the Smokehouse Restaurant idea.
"And within the first hour after turning it on, we had three frantic phone calls and one panicked door-knocker to tell us our sign was on fire!"
For the record, the 'smoke' machine actually produces water vapour "as conventional smoke machines pose potential health/environmental hazards".
The restaurant recently enjoyed a very successful Oktoberfest Weekend and is now planning a Tacos & Tequila on October 15.
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