Lori Graham
Contributing Writer
Gardner’s Grill has reopened under new management, offering lunch and dinner hours and chef’s recipes.
Deborah and Randall “Randy” Hamm are the new co-managers of the Gardner’s Grill restaurant business, serving Chef Matthew Tolbert’s-inspired recipes and sauces. The Team includes Cindy Tolbert as well, and the foursome work together to bring customers a new option for lunch and dinner in Christiansburg.
The Hamms are also owners of Authentic Wood Fired Community Pizza food truck, which was the start of their food business. The food truck is parked just outside the entrance of Gardner’s Grill and during dinner hours provides this food option that customers can take to-go or eat inside the restaurant.
Keith and Pamela Gardner maintain ownership of the buildings and operate Gardner’s Frozen Treats, which opened in 2007.
According to Gardner’s Frozen Treats and Gardner’s Grill Facebook website at www.gftandgrill.com, the Gardners said, “We’ve been out of the ice cream and grill business for six years but along with our team we are excited to be back serving our community.”
Initially, the Gardners were renting a spot to park the pizza truck. Then, from there, they mentioned they were looking for somebody to take over the restaurant. The Gardners are still managing the ice cream shop.
Deborah Hamm is from Sicily, Italy, where she met her husband Randy while he was serving in the Navy. They married and traveled around while Randy Hamm was serving in the military, but after his discharge, returned to his hometown of Radford.
Chef Matt Tolbert also helps prepare food in the pizza truck and cooks for Gardner’s Grill. In addition, he works as a private chef and will cook fine dining meals in people’s homes.
“I come from a French background, and then I went to culinary school,” said Tolbert. “The quality we are able to bring is the training, research, and trial by error that I’ve found. A lot of this stuff is not what you would define as a normal burger restaurant, but we like that. We like to separate ourselves.”
One example of the way Gardner’s Grill is a stand-out can be found in the Grill’s signature burger, the Appalachian Smash. It is a quarter-pound premium Angus smash burger, topped with the Chef’s own recipe of pimento cheese and tomato bacon jam, served with fries and their also homemade dipping sauce.
“The sauce is an old family recipe that my grandmother used to use as a salad dressing,” Tolbert said. “I just doctored it up just a little bit, just to give it a little bit of a spicy-sweet flavor, which complements the fries, complements the cheeseburger, complements the chicken – it’s just all encompassing.”
The Buffalo Chicken Wrap is another local favorite with chopped grilled chicken coated with buffalo sauce, wrapped in a tortilla shell and seared on the grill. Other toppings are added as well, such as lettuce and tomato.
In addition to the special seasoned fries the Grill offers as an appetizer, customers can order signature wings tossed in the chef’s own jerked buffalo sauce or with no sauce, and the Kids Menu has its own version of the smash burger with three ounces of premium Angus beef or a choice of chicken tenders.
Cindy Tolbert, or known by her team as “Momma C,” greets customers at the window, takes their orders, keeps the front end of the restaurant running smoothly, and helps in the preparation of food.
“All of the burgers are hand-patted out by us, quality black Angus ground beef; no preformed patty or anything like that,” Cindy Tolbert said. “The cheese sauce is homemade; all of the sauces are homemade, the seasoning for the fries, everything. We do fried chicken for the Mountain Man Chicken sandwiches, either grilled or fried. The chicken is marinated in a combination of sweet tea and bourbon spices, then the next day he puts it in buttermilk and dredges it in flour.”
The tomato bacon jam is also something typically not found on a burger but brings out the flavor of the Angus beef in a surprisingly delicious way.
“It is not a traditional deli kind of jam, because we keep it hot,” Matt Tolbert said. “The idea is to make something that is a little sweet and a little spicy and a little salty all at the same time.”
Gardner’s Grill is open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Friday through Saturday 5-8 p.m. Gardner’s Frozen Treats will reopen for the warmer seasons starting on March 15 and provides additional service at their drive-thru window.
Gardner’s Grill, located at 419 Roanoke St. behind Gardner’s Frozen Treats in Christiansburg, urges customers to come out for special prices on their Wings Wednesday. Wing seasonings are offered in house dry rub, jerked buffalo, or Japanese barbecue.
