Comments for Grilladelic

Comment on If not a restaurant… by Ludzie Poradniki

Ludzie Poradniki — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 22:52:04 +0000

Its a Best Blog. I found it on Aol. I will be back here sometime.

Comment on Ball-B-Q by John Rumery

John Rumery — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:02:41 +0000

How much are you asking? Where are you located?

Comment on Ball-B-Q by Susan Barker

Susan Barker — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:01:27 +0000

I have a vintage Ball B Q with some rust and paint flaking off on the lower grill part, but the top is in great shape and the actual grill just needs a touch of cleaning. I’m puttiing it into an estate sale on Thursday, but if you’re interested I might be able to ship it; (original box long gone.)

Comment on What my Grand Rapids BBQ restaurant would look like… by Marnie Thompson

Marnie Thompson — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 02:33:00 +0000

Hi!
I was going through some old school emails and found some from you and decided to check out your blog. Hope you remember me–ENT 150 class, Food Truck idea…
Anyways, I was just reading this and it completely got my attention. I love it! I’m in Chicago right now working at Four Seasons Hotel, but my dreams of restaurant ownership and BBQ have never left me. Keep on writing some updates about this GR BBQ restaurant…I definitely think it’s realistic, especially if you were to move into a building that was once a restaurant (with some equipment still there) and just making some modifications; wouldn’t be nearly as pricey as starting from the bottom up.

Comment on The Grilladelic Trail Part 1. The Butchers by Brent

Brent — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:34:36 +0000

Might be fun to do a video tour of these great establishments! Would like to learn what the owner of each believes is their own competitive advantage.

Play-by-play on the brisket today?!

Comment on The Grilladelic Trail Part 1. The Butchers by SEO Mike

SEO Mike — Sun, 22 May 2011 06:11:03 +0000

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Comment on What my Grand Rapids BBQ restaurant would look like… by John Rumery

John Rumery — Sun, 15 May 2011 16:13:47 +0000

Thanks Rob. Sounds like you are moving doing it the right way. Curious on what type of smoker you are using? When you are in GR, send me a note and we can get together. I can share w/you what I know about the BBQ culture here…we don’t need another Famous Dave’s but could use a local/independent BBQ establishment.

Comment on What my Grand Rapids BBQ restaurant would look like… by rob

rob — Sun, 15 May 2011 15:26:46 +0000

well my friend, I do own and operate an authentic bbq joint, it’s called Real BarBQ we have 1 location in lincoln park, one Downtown at the harbortwon development and one in caton(by ikea) We are actually looking in grand rapids right now. So we will be in your niehborhood soon, Your idea of a bbq is a good one, your menu would especially your dessert menu, you are over reaching, its hard enough to do great bbq in a high volume setting, you think you will have time to make ice cream? Are you a bbq or a coldstone? Anyways if you need a job and love to bbq please do not hesitate to contact me at rob@realbarbq.com your dream place will cost you around $240,000 to $300,000 to open. I am always looking for great employees that love bbq

Comment on What my Grand Rapids BBQ restaurant would look like… by John Rumery

John Rumery — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 11:16:46 +0000

Thanks Kevin—MI folks certainly understand beer. In GR there have been several brewpubs/microbreweries that opened in past year. My thinking now is a summer gig….BBQ food truck/mobile unit….not interested in carnie-style vending, but more mobile, Not sure how I will pull this off….

Comment on What my Grand Rapids BBQ restaurant would look like… by kevin

kevin — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 01:19:45 +0000

Hi JR:

I’m from SE Mich originally but have lived in AZ for the last six years. It’s surprising to me that there are real southern bbq places opening up in my home state, and that’s a good thing. Despite the trend I think a big challenge to opening up any real bbq joint in Mich is going to be cultural – there really is no tradition of true bbq in mich. I suspect, if you asked, nine out of ten michiganders would define barbecue as anything with bbq sauce. Wrong!

If I was going to open a bbq joint in mich I would make a real close study of the other places, like slows, etc… and figure out what they’re doing right and wrong. How their location affects their business, and what kind of customers they’re bringing in.

I’ve thought for a while now that pairing up a brewpub with real bbq is a natural match, but I haven’t come across one yet in all my travels in Texas. Usually lucky to get a shiner. The good thing about a brewpub, is that michiganders know what a brewpub is (and support them), even if they don’t know what the big deal about southern bbq is. Gives people a second reason to try the place. Of course even a modest brewing operation is going to require a lot of capital so there’s that.

Re: the smoker – besides the obvious that it ought to smoke meat well I would say it’s real important that you can SMELL the meaty smoky goodness right when you enter the place. All the good bbq places I know smell good.

The ideas about food sound real good. The main thing is to keep it real simple and not try to please everybody, esp. vegetarians. In Texas, places like Kreuz Market (my favorite) are stupid simple, and that’s one of the reasons they’re so good.

Re: sauces – Mike Mills mentioned in his Peace, Love, and Barbecue book how he only serves one type of sauce. He does this because (I’m paraphrasing) if he offered multiple sauces this just leads to people comparing the sauces, judging, and generally being a pain in the ass. So he says he provides only one, the best sauce for the food he serves. Sounds like good advice to me.

Good Luck,
kevin