Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

Welcome to Steve's Smokin' BBQ and Firebird Pizza

By Karl Klockars | Oct. 5, 2024

For more than 20 years and through thousands of smoked turkey legs, Steve’s Smokin’ BBQ has been a landmark at fairs and festivals from Traverse City to Arizona and back, not the least of which is the National Cherry Festival. This summer, owner Steve Randell and his son Logan both added a new line to their resume: brick-and-mortar restaurateurs.

Which is not to say that they aren’t well versed in food service. Steve launched a life in barbecue concessions in 2001 after a career in the oil industry around Traverse City. He also cut his teeth alongside his wife Lori and her father, who owns and operates Gibby’s Fries. Logan joined a few years later and worked with his folks off and on until becoming a partner in the business, all the while serving pulled pork, corn on the cob, and smoked baked potatoes by the ton.

Pizza and BBQ

The Randells acquired a space in the Garfield Center in Traverse City all the way back in 2019, but it wasn’t until this past July that they opened a two-concepts-in-one combo: The brick-and-mortar version of Steve’s Smokin’ BBQ plus a new concept called Firebird Pizza.

“We actually launched it right after Cherry Fest,” Logan says. “That was very stressful—we were here open to close for three weeks straight. And then we went right to another [event] to come back here and work some more.”

For many, opening and managing a new business with your family might be a difficult prospect, but then again most families haven’t spent summer after summer in the same smoky trailer together for years. “Without the familial ties it might be a little harder to keep things together … but at the same time, there are some things that also make it a little more complicated,” Steve jokes.

Steve is quick to express gratitude to the many people who helped him and Logan get to this point, especially their manager Adam Steffans, and also noted that the family involvement extends to two of Logan’s sons and a niece that all work at the restaurant.

Being a restaurateur wasn’t always in the cards for Steve, thanks to a job at Don Hansen Wholesale Produce. “I delivered basically all the produce to just about every restaurant and store in Traverse City, and that was my only experience with restaurants. The biggest thing I took from that was I would never want to be in the restaurant business because it’s really, really hard and a lot of them fail,” Steve says, also citing the extreme seasonality of the area’s business as well.

Still, the lure of adding a standalone business beckoned, especially after seeing some of the fast-casual pizza chains in Arizona during a show there.

“What I learned from [the concession business] is that if you treat the people like you should, and you put out a good product at the best price you can, then they come back the next year. And so we’ve tried to carry that into our whole business plan. The number one is that we have to treat our [employees] and the people that come in right.”

Fast and Casual

For first timers, you’ll quickly learn that part of being treated right with the Randells involves generous portions—plus some powerful aromas. Even if you’re stopping in for a quick pizza and salad, the scent of wood smoke will often hit you as soon you open the door.

Guests are directed to the left for pizza orders and to the right for barbecue, with the respective tools on full display behind their counters: the huge pizza oven and a gleaming Southern Pride smoker are both at work nearly all hours of the day.

On the pizza side of things, you might find a bit more variety than you’re used to. Nearly four dozen options are on the menu from crusts (including a gluten-free and cauliflower options) to sauces to cheese to finishing flavor drizzles of hot honey, pesto, or even a sprinkle of their house rib rub. Build your own or opt for house specials with names like the Booyah Supreme, the Brody Beefy Brisket, or the Adam Peppy Pickle topped with bacon, red onion, confit garlic, and dill pickles.

After your pizza is dressed before your eyes, it’s popped into a huge oven with a rotating deck, which cooks as it spins, turning out completely cooked Neapolitan-style pizzas in about 180 seconds.

Meanwhile, on the barbecue side, you’ll see dishes like Steve’s Smokin’ Mac (three cheeses plus options for smoked brisket, pork, or chicken), a Smoke House “Steak” Salad with brisket, and platters that include everything from ribs to half a smoked chicken.

Each side operates in a fast-casual style, with both “fast” and “casual” represented.

“Everything that we smoke, we’re smoking the night before and into the morning of that day. [Our manager] on the barbecue side gets here at six in the morning to start processing it after it’s been smoking all night. So it is kind of a funny thing that you can get a pizza in three minutes, and the barbecue side, we smoked it for twelve hours,” Logan says.

Having a fixed space for the barbecue has allowed the father-son duo to get a little more creative with their menu as well.

“We started off with Wing Wednesday and Turkey Leg Thursday, and now we’re adding a Taco Tuesday,” Steve says, the latter of which will feature a trio of smoked chicken, pork, and beef tacos.

Even though Steve’s is a well known name for barbecue in Traverse City, both sides of the business have been doing well. “The pizza was a complete unknown,” Logan says. “We didn’t know how that was going to go over, and the response has been overwhelmingly good.”

Some other changes might be in the future, including other special menu items and potentially expanding their hours to include Saturdays, but for now, they’re happy with how things are adjusting to the new location.

While we wouldn’t anticipate seeing a brick oven cranking out pizza’s at next year’s Cherry Fest, one thing is for sure: Working indoors isn’t so bad, Logan says. “Whatever the weather is, you’re doing it—rain, snow, wind, whatever. Having that smoker indoors has been very nice.”

Find Steve’s Smokin’ BBQ and Firebird Pizza at 831 S Garfield Ave in Traverse City. stevessmokinfast.com; firebirdfast.com