Roy's Grille: Follow the Smoke
Normally, the site of smoke billowingfrom a gas station would be a cause for concern, but then again, not every gas station has Chef Chris Williams manning the grill.
Williams is good at doing multiple things at once. He can trade jokes with the audience while effortlessly carving up a pork belly on a cooking demonstration stage. He often runs his restaurant, Roy’s Grille, with just one employee. So, it’s no surprise he can do a phone interview while sitting in the chair at the barber shop. The sound of clippers hums beneath our conversation.
When asked about his upbringing, Williams keeps coming back to one word: hustle.
“I grew up knowing the definition of hustling was working,” says Williams, whose grandfather worked three jobs to support the family. “Whatever it took to make a buck to provide for us was what he did. I got the sense of hustle early in me.”
Williams certainly puts in the work now: he owns and operates Roy’s Grille in Lexington, named for his grandfather, Roy Carter; he also runs a catering company—William Christopher’s. Andthis year, he’s one of three chefs named South Carolina Chef Ambassadors by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
Visitors who imagine that eating in a Chef Ambassador’s restaurant is always a white-tablecloth experience will be surprised by Williams’ operation—it’s inside an Exxon station. Even for Southerners who frequent restaurants inside gas stations, Roy’s Grille is small. From a grill in the parking lot, he turns out brisket, pulled pork and other smoked meats. The handful of specials are written in dry erase marker on a whiteboard. But that doesn’t mean Williams doesn’t do farm-to-table cooking. From collard greens to house-cured bacon, he cooks Southern-rooted food using South Carolina-grown ingredients. In fact, his farm-to-table mindset comes naturally.
When he was young, Williams’s family lived on a dirt road in rural Bamberg County, where they raised their own hogs and chickens, and grew vegetables to feed themselves.
“Growing up, there was always work to do,” Williams says. “I learned a lot of integrity in the country. Everybody looked out for each other.”
Later in his childhood, Williams’ family moved to the Columbia area.
“It was eye opening,” he says. “Growing in Bamberg, I was sheltered—it was all black kids. Once I moved to Columbia...it was different. Growing up a young black man in America, especially the South, you have to be able to adapt.”
Although the transition was tough on Williams, he found strength in the lessons of his past. “The work ethic that my grandfather instilled in me gave me the courage and strength to be comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Williams says.
Williams worked in corporate and state government jobs, before eventually opening his restaurant in Lexington. Knowing that he would be the only black guy on the block, he credits his thick skin and ability to adapt to becoming a household name in the Lexington community.
“I learned to take people for who they are, and to judge individuals by the content of their character, not the color of their skin,” Williams says. “Besides, I don’t care what color you are—everybody loves good food, and everybody’s gotta eat.”
