Restaurant Owners Uncorked - By Schedulefly

Kristina Garrison, a Ukrainian-raised San Franciscan turned globetrotting mom of two, and her classically trained chef husband David Garrison have just soft-opened Grub Smokehouse in a coworking-space kitchen in Youngsville/Wake Forest, NC—their non-traditional barbecue haven born from a hole-in-the-wall California burger joint shut by COVID, four-and-a-half years of culinary inspiration across Europe and Israel, and a ChatGPT-assisted leap to the Tar Heel State with five suitcases and zero local ties. In week three of word-of-mouth operations, they’re smoking everything in-house (12-day-brined pastrami, scratch sauces, seasonal salads, daily sweet-potato cinnamon rolls) on a shoestring DIY buildout, balancing 14-hour grinds with yoga, cold plunges, and an industry discount while betting that perfect-bite flavor symphonies and organic influencer meals will turn curious locals into loyal regulars in a growing melting-pot market.10 Key Takeaways Non-traditional BBQ = perfect-bite melody: Every sandwich/sSant i