Grant’s Smoke & Bones BBQ opened Nov. 1, and the timing was perfect.
Thousands of people in the Valley were without power this week, following a freak October snow storm.
“It was a madhouse,” owner Michael Grant said, talking about how busy the place has been during the past week.
There were so many customers in line Thursday afternoon, in fact, it was not easy for the Michael Grant, 28, and his wife Sarah, to break away for a couple of minutes to cut the ceremonial ribbon.
But they did, and along with several Valley officials, they cut the ribbon outside the restaurant at 1 New Haven Ave Thursday afternoon. The shop is located next to the Crystal Cleaners, in the building that once housed Deerfield meats.
It’s a good location, according to Bill Purcell, the president of the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce. He was on hand Thursday for the ribbon cutting.
The shop is on Route 34, next to a traffic light, and has a large parking lot, so customers can easily get in and out. The road gets about 40,000 cars a day, Purcell said.
One of those drivers Thursday was Hugo Echeverry of Oxford, who said he has been driving by on his way to work in Orange and decided to stop in Thursday to sample some of the offerings.
“It looks good,” said Echeverry, who hadn’t tasted the food yet.
Another customer who attended Thursday was Derby’s Citizen of the Year, Daniel Waleski. He lives down the street.
‘I’m delighted we have a restaurant of this type on this side of Derby,” Waleski said, saying he has visited about three or four times already.
“Oh yeah, he’s one of the regulars already,” joked Dave Grant, the well-known Valley caterer, who is the father of Michael Grant.
The Grant family was in the kitchen helping Michael and his wife Sarah keep the place running during its extremely busy opening week.
They have a star employee too: David Guliuzza, owner of the former Pilgrim Bar-B-Que in Ansonia, is now working at Grant’s, according to Purcell.
The Pilgrim was the best known barbecue restaurant in the Valley until it closed in March, after several decades in business.
Now the Smoke & Bones will help fill in the gap with its fried fish, barbecued chicken, pork and beef, side dishes like macaroni and cheese and even beer and wine, which were selling for $5 a serving.
Purcell said he sampled the barbecue on Wednesday.
“I had a little of each, the chicken, pork and beef, and I even had the macaroni and cheese, which is my favorite food in the whole world,” Purcell said.
Michael Grant said he designed the logo, a pig skull with bones, based on the Yale University Skull and Bones concept. He had the logo painted onto the side of a car parked out front.
Purcell credited Michael Grant for opening a new business during a recession.
“The way to get out of a recession is do something about it,” Purcell said, and that is what Grant did.
“He is putting people to work,” Purcell said.
Hours are Monday through Saturday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The phone number for Smoke & Bones is: 203 – 516-5994.
