Hubba Hubba!
/It’s a brilliant end-of-summer weekend at Hubba Hubba Smokehouse on Little Rainbow Row in Flat Rock and the dining patio is awash in a riot of colorful flowers, free-ranging chickens, and the smiling faces of delighted customers. The food at Hubba Hubba is excellent - and the experience of eating that delicious fare on the patio is exceptional.
Overseeing the bustling operation of Flat Rock’s contribution to exceptional barbecue fare in North Carolina are Grace Anderson and Spencer Purcell - two young entrepreneurs with a passion for good food and good service
——-
Starr Teel tending the Hubba Hubba smoker in the early days
Hubba Hubba is situated on the lot directly behind the blue building on Flat Rock’s iconic Rainbow Row. The restaurant was opened in 2007 by Starr Teal as a complement to Flat Rock’s burgeoning business district which began with the opening of The Wrinkled Egg by Virginia Spigener. Starr later opened a bakery attached to Virginia’s shop that would evolve into the Flat Rock Village Bakery.
By 2007, he was searching for the next piece of the ever-growing Rainbow puzzle. “I was looking for something that would fit into the communal pieces we had established,” Starr explains. “I wanted a destination for families. So, in this environment, especially in North Carolina, barbecue seemed like a natural fit.”
Indeed. The new restaurant was an excellent fit. And 16 years later, Hubba Hubba Smokehouse is - please pardon the pun - still smokin’.
——-
Grace Anderson and Spencer Purcell
These days, Starr has relinquished his Pit Master duties to Spencer Purcell and the day-to-day operations of the restaurant to Grace Anderson. Spencer and Grace both arrived in Henderson County via local camps. Grace spent 12 years as a camper and counselor at Camp Kanuga and Spencer worked at Camp Talisman for four years. As it so often the case, their experience in the mountains was so enjoyable they resolved to find ways to live in western NC.
Spencer grew up in Chicago and took a job with a high school in Asheville as his entree to permanent residence in WNC in 2018. Grace graduated from Appalachian State in 2020 and lacking job options during the early months of the pandemic, opted to take a chance and moved to Henderson County with friends in the hopes of finding a way to make the move more than a temporary stopgap.
Spencer, who had worked for a barbecue restaurant in Chicago, eventually found himself in an interview with Starr about a catering job. At least he thought it was a catering job. Starr had other ideas. As Rainbow Row continued to grow and demand more of Starr’s time, he had his eyes open for employees who could grow in the business and relieve him of some of the day-to-day demands of the restaurant.
Long an advocate for - and graduate of - the camping world in western North Carolina, Starr hired Spencer and guided him through the steps that would ultimately lead him to the position of Hubba Hubba’s pit master. Before achieving that lofty and smoky status, Spencer paid his dues early on as a jack of all trades for the Smokehouse. “I was in the smoke room, but then I would work on the line a little bit and help out on the patio as needed,” says Spencer. “I did a little bit of everything.”
Grace was invited to run the cash register by Mara Erdman who was overseeing operations at Hubba Hubba in 2020. Grace enjoyed the experience and the campy, friendly atmosphere of the restaurant. By the following year, she was assuming more responsibilities for running the restaurant. “When we opened in 2021, Mara kind of passed the torch for the front of the house, mostly over to me,” Grace explains. Although she had never envisioned a career in the food service industry, she had discovered a supportive work family and easily grew into the additional responsibilities.
Hubba Hubba Smokehouse
Today, Grace is the front-of-house manager and Co-Manager of Hubba Hubba with Spencer. While Spencer holds primary responsibility for overseeing the food preparation, Grace is making sure that everything beyond the kitchen is operating smoothly and that her customers are enjoying the best possible Hubba Hubba experience. She does everything from taking orders, maintaining the patio, making tea, refilling the sauce station, and checking on guests. From opening to closing, both Grace and Spencer are caught up in a BBQ whirlwind of non-stop activity.
On a busy day, Grace can play host to several hundred guests. And she loves seeing the delight in her customer's eyes. “The thing that sets us apart is the unique atmosphere,” she says. “From the smiling faces that greet you in the order window, to the chickens running around your feet, children playing with chalk, and the beautiful flowers everywhere.” She pauses for a moment to look around the patio and concludes, “The atmosphere on the patio is just magical.”
Grace and Spencer are quick to acknowledge the many ways they have been encouraged and supported by Starr as they continue to accept more and more responsibility for the operation of Hubba Hubba. “Starr comes from the camp system,” says Spencer. “That’s an environment that fosters personal growth and a really strong sense of community. He wants the same thing for his businesses.”
Jose and Spencer tend to the Hubba Hubba smoker
While Grace is out front dealing with the hungry crowds, Spencer is usually in the back tending to the smoker and making sure that every order is as delicious as the smoke wafting above the patio seems to promise. The smoker operates 24 hours a day throughout the season - typically from early May until the end of October. During all those months, it is Spencer’s responsibility to keep the oven fired and the meat cooking.
The cooking process begins each evening with a Pit Master responsibility unique to Hubba Hubba. “Before I cook anything,” Spencer laughs, “I have to round up all the chickens and get them in their coop for the night. My other title is ‘Chicken Dad.’”
Having successfully wrangled Hubba Hubba’s feathered mascots, Spencer starts the pork and brisket - typically 20 to 32 pork butts and four to eight briskets are placed in the smoker each evening to cook “low and slow” at approximately 275 degrees overnight. In the early mornings, the pork and brisket are finished up and ribs, chicken, and turkey are placed in the smoker to cook for between 3-4 hours prior to opening at 11 a.m.
The secret to good barbecue is a combination of factors according to Spencer. “It has to be low and slow over natural wood.” Spencer also has to judge the quality of the wood, the weather conditions outside, and the position of the vents for the smoker in order to get the right temperatures for his smoker. As is the case with most wood-fired ovens, Spencer’s cooking is more art form than science. “You just know where the process should be at any given time. What it smells like. What it looks like. It’s a full-body experience.”
Anna and Rosa in the Hubba hubba kitchen
Both Grace and Spencer take Starr’s philosophy of family and teamwork seriously. Grace particularly enjoys her co-workers. “The staff are some of the best people that I've ever worked with.” Spencer echoes that sentiment and points to the core of his team as the real heart and soul of the food at Hubba Hubba. “At the center of all we get done are Anna, Paula, Rosa, and Jose. They are the four people that hold it all together. They don’t get a lot of shine but I can’t imagine doing what we do without them.”
—-
Although they didn’t grow up dreaming of running a restaurant, both Spencer and Grace experienced the meaning of delicious home-cooked food as children. “My mom made everything from scratch growing up. When your mom grows up in southern Alabama and she makes everything from scratch, you learn a few things,” Grace says with a smile.
For Spencer, it was his Grandmother Elaine - “Grams”. “My grandma is the cook of the family. Gram’s had twelve kids and she prepared three different meals a day. She was cooking all the time.”
What are their favorite Hubba Hubba foods? For Grace, it’s the pimento cheese grits thanks to her mother’s good southern cooking. “Yeah, I grew up a pimento cheese and grits snob,” she laughs. For Spencer, he would order the “Indecision Plate” which features a little bit of all the BBQ options and add sides of apple slaw and succotash. “The succotash is a sneaky good side.”
——
The hubba Hubba patio is an oasis of flowers, plants, and good food
Primarily because of the outdoor seating situation, Hubba Hubba’s season will wind down by the last Saturday in October - although good weather could extend the season for a couple of weeks into November. Ultimately, Mother Nature will decide when Hubba Hubba will close its order window until next spring
Both Grace and Spencer are happy to carry on the tradition - and atmosphere - that Starr established sixteen years ago. “Starr puts a lot of care into this place,” says Grace. “This is not a punch-in, punch-out type of environment here. He cares about us as people and employees and where we will go and what we will do. “It's an excellent place to be, and to work here is even better.
From his perspective, Starr sees a bright future for Hubba Hubba with people like Grace and Spencer. He likes that their skills complement each other so well and describes them as the “Ying and Yang” a successful restaurant needs - the combination of art and business necessary to please both the customer and the accountants. Starr is also confident that he’s hired the right people for the job. “These kids will do much better than if I were still in there every day."
—-
Chickens greeting Hubba Hubba customers
The next time you visit Hubba Hubba, be sure to pay attention to more than just the food on your plate. Soak up the flowers, the sounds, the chickens strolling across the patio, the kids laughing, and all the smiles that are served with every plate. Thanks to the vision of Starr Teal and the commitment of Grace, Spencer and the entire staff, The Hubba Hubba Smokehouse experience has been built to delight all your senses.
So, pull up a chair on the patio and enjoy a beautiful summer day in the mountains. And be sure to grab a few extra napkins. Food this good tends to be a little messy.
