The Man Behind Smulligan's - Warren Small
Time to introduce our fearless leader; Warren Small, the man himself.
Warren has lived on the Royal Slope since he was six years old. Growing up on the family’s farm east of Royal City, he learned the value of hard work & a good meal at the end of the day. His passion for cooking started as a kid when he would cook with his grandmother, who owned her own cafe in Bellingham, Washington. The BBQing started years later as he owned FabTech, his own metal fabrication shop in Othello, Washington. With all sorts of metal-working equipment & knowledge at his fingertips, he began making his own smokers. The first smoker he brought home was so different from the ones he uses today. It was about the size of a refrigerator and has racks lining the inside. The fire was at the bottom & there was a thermometer in the middle of the door. It was on two wheels and has a fairly permanent residence on his back patio where it developed a rusty exterior over time. This is where he began to perfect his craft of smoking meats. Then he started experimenting with other shapes, sizes, & styles of smokers. These ones were built on their own trailers & could be hauled behind a pickup or SUV.
With the new convenience of mobility, Warren began cooking for large groups of people. Years ago, when he was still in the beginning stages, but a little more confident, he began hosting lunches. One of them being a benefit lunch for the Othello Fire Department at his shop. It was open to anyone, and all he asked for was a donation for the Fire Department. The floor of his shop was lined with tables and filled with members of the community enjoying each other’s company & a great meal.
He soon began to be asked to cook for other groups of people for corporate lunches, wedding dinners, & even the annual buyers’ dinner at the Adams County Fair. These meals required more than just smoked meat though, they required side dishes. This is where Cynthia comes in. She is the workhorse in the kitchen chopping potatoes for her unbeatable potato salad, boiling pasta for the pasta salads, & making sure everything Warren needs was washed & ready to go. Word spread and, year after year they began catering for more and more people. Warren then moved into the festivals market. Starting with our very own Royal City Summerfest, he set up a booth and, with the help of his four children, sold pulled pork sandwiches to our amazing community. Then moving on to bigger & larger festivals the past few years. The family traveled as far as Ocean Shores, Washington and as close as Moses Lake Springfest all summer long. These festivals included selling pulled pork sandwiches, beef brisket sandwiches, freshly squeezed lemonade, & fresh cut curly fries from local farms. All the while, Warren was continually learning & perfecting his smoking of meats.
His dream has always been to open his own restaurant. There have been all sorts of ideas thrown around the past few years about how to achieve this in the most efficient way possible. From a friend of his trying to convince him to open one on the west side of the state, to looking at espresso stands to operate a small, drive-up BBQ stand near his metal shop, nothing seemed like the right fit. That is, until he was approached by someone in Royal City who has just purchased the old hotel building behind the post office along with his brother-in-law. They were wanting to add another restaurant to Royal City since it was lacking in variety, and they thought it needed a pizza place. After learning about his reputation of BBQ & cooking, he came to Warren and asked him what he thought about renting the restaurant space. And with that, plans were set in motion.
Smulligan’s Pizza & BBQ was born and they got to work. After months & months of preparation & work on the building, it was finally ready to move into & set up shop. Smulligan’s Pizza & BBQ offers New York Style Pizza, Texas Style BBQ, & authentic Italian gelato in a casual family restaurant in downtown Royal City, Washington. Warren is living his dream of having his own restaurant, and being able to serve the community that he was raised in, while making the best food in town, along with his family.
Come by & say hi! He loves to chat & talk to everyone. If you can’t find him in the restaurant, he’s probably out back at the smoker checking in on his brisket that’s been smoking for the past 15 hours.
