Gravity Smokehouse & BBQ opens this week in former Hot N' Now building in Holt

DELHI TWP. - Two barbecue aficionados will open their first brick and mortar restaurant in Holt this week.

Gravity Smokehouse & BBQ restaurant, an off-shoot of the food truck that Bruce Kring and James Stine established last summer, will open its doors Wednesday at 11 a.m. 

The slow-smoked brisket, turkey, chicken and pulled pork they've been serving up at festivals and other events and in brewery parking lots has acquired a permanent address.

The eatery is located in a 1,000-square-foot former Hot N’ Now on Cedar Street that was vacant for six years before the duo bought it. It offers a drive-through, pick-up counter and about a dozen dine-in seats.

For Kring and Stine, both 36 and both Holt High School graduates, the business move has been years in the making.

The duo started cooking together more than two decades ago. They say opening a barbecue business together saved them both from desk jobs they no longer wanted.

Gravity because the business name, because they were pulled back to food well after they both chose different career paths, Kring said.

“We both were always into food,” he said. “Then we took separate paths, but it kept pulling us back, so gravity sort of fit, you know? It’s the one thing that kept us grounded.”

Cooking together 

Stine still remembers the first time he found himself side-by-side with Kring making food in the kitchen.

“The first time that him and I both cooked together was a crazy 13-year-old night out,” he said. “Hanging out with your friends. It’s the middle of the night. We’re all hungry. Let’s find something to make in mom’s freezer.”

They started talking about making a living with food then, he said, and often ended up cooking together in the afternoon when school let out for the day.

“We weren’t normal 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds in that aspect,” Stine said.

After high school, Kring studied engineering and took a job near Detroit. Stine became an office manager, but neither of them were content.

They didn't decide to go after a career change together until Kring's wedding reception, where they were commiserating and dreaming over drinks about what would truly make them happy.

“That was the night I said, ‘Let’s just get a food truck and go,’” Kring said.

A month and a half later, they found a trailer for sale near Detroit. A mobile operation cost less than a building and represented less risk. It also allowed Kring and Stine to learn as they went and, trial by fire, grow their business.

That's exactly what happened.

Gravity Smokehouse & BBQ's trailer, along with its smoked meats, house-made macaroni and cheese, and slices of peanut butter pie became a staple at area festivals and at brewery parking lots around Lansing.

Barbecue is popular, Kring said, but what distinguishes good barbecue from everything else is a balance of flavor and tenderness.

And the trick to that?

“Time,” Kring said.

Good barbecue is smoked at a low heat for a long time, he said. Beyond that, paying attention to flavor profiles is very important.

Stine said one of the things he and Kring did right was keeping their menu focused, so that only quality food could make its way to customers.

“We didn’t want nine pages of menu items,” he said. “We said, ‘Hey, let’s do what we know we can do and let’s do it the best we can possibly make it.' I’m not going to microwave a brisket, and freezer to me says quick, easy, cheap and less quality.”

They never intended to open a brick and mortar restaurant so quickly. Both men thought it would take three to four years for that to happen, but the building at 1850 Cedar Street, most recently home to Tacos E Mas, offered the ideal location in their hometown.

A permanent home 

Kring and Stine bought the building six months after they opened their food truck.

Now newly-remodeled, it sports Gravity's blue logo and is decorated with blue walls and  barbecue-themed decorations. The dine-in area is "cozy," Kring said, but he's hopeful they'll eventually expand the interior, adding 1,000 more square feet and 40 more seats.

Chalkboards inside will highlight menu favorites, including Gravity's "fatties," made with a sausage-and-burger blend that’s then stuffed with macaroni and cheese, wrapped in bacon, smoked, then glazed in homemade barbecue sauce.  

Everything is homemade, including side dishes such as green chili corn, coleslaw, barbecue baked beans and collard greens.

Gravity's peanut butter pie will always be on the menu, along with a rotating list of monthly dessert specials. Expect to see cheesecake and chocolate bread pudding among the offerings.

Although nothing on Gravity's menu is sauced, customers can do that themselves with nine barbecue sauces made in-house, including the eatery’s “Gravity sauce,” a creamy barbecue sauce that’s mayonnaise based.

Thursday morning, Kring and Stine were behind the restaurant's front counter overseeing last-minute preparations for Wednesday's opening.

The smoker at Gravity’s new Holt eatery is at least four times the size of what they use on their food truck. Rather than cooking a few hundred pounds of meat at a time, they can smoke over a thousand, but customers should still understand that the restaurant could sell out of food before it's closing time.

They aim to be open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., but a sign on the front counter reads “Open when it’s hot. Closed when it’s gone.”

“In barbecue, you can’t be afraid to sell out,” Kring said. “We’ll be open during our hours as long as there’s food.”

Kring and Stine are preparing to be busy. Customers have been anxious for the opening, they said.

The highest compliment anyone can give them, Kring said, is coming back for more.

“When you see thousands of people in a week, to actually remember faces and names, that’s the coolest thing. It means they’ve been there quite a bit.”

Sti said just doing the work has been its own reward.

“I was on call 24-7 with my previous job, and I’m still on call 24-7, but coming in at 1 or 2 a.m. to light a fire is fun.”

“I look forward to coming in here every day,” Kring said. “I can’t say that about my other jobs.”

About Gravity Smokehouse & BBQ

Gravity Smokehouse & BBQ, located at 1850 Cedar Street in Holt, just across the road from Edru Skate, will open its doors Wednesday at 11 a.m. The restaurant will be open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. or until food is sold out. 

The business will still operate its food trailer, and catering services. Visit them on-line at gravitysmokehouse.com. Find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gravitysmokehouse/ .

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Contact Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ.

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