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Michael Marshall, owner of Smashed RVA
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Smashed RVA is set to open at 1600 Brook Road in the coming weeks. Sure Hand Signs created the signage at the restaurant.
Michael Marshall is consistent. Over the past three years, the former Lemaire cook has kept a core lineup of smash burgers on the menu for his pop-up venture, Smashed RVA. The pop-up’s Instagram feed is a steady series of floppy, crispy-edged patties topped with American cheese. And nearly every Friday since its inception, Marshall and his burgers have made an appearance at Starr Hill Beer Hall & Rooftop in Scott’s Addition.
While pop-ups are often infrequent, happening perhaps once a month, or at times exclusive, with a limited number of reservations, Smashed RVA has taken the opposite approach, serving burgers often and for everyone. But, Marshall says, there has been a method to the madness regarding his accessibility.
“I want you to see us as much as possible, and even if you don’t get a burger this time or the next time, sooner or later you’re like, ‘I see these guys everywhere, they say hi every time I walk by, let me try these guys,’” Marshall says. “We’re a pop-up, but really, we’re a food truck without a truck. We’ve done hundreds [of pop-ups] at this point.”
But after three years of hauling folding tables and a flattop grill from breweries to vintage clothing stores and working in the confines of an EZ Up tent, Marshall is settling into a more permanent venue. Taking over the former Brooks Diner space at 1600 Brook Road in North Side, Smashed RVA will debut its brick-and-mortar restaurant in the coming weeks.
“It’s been a weekly Google search for me,” Marshall says of looking for a space. “In the city, there isn’t much available, especially for second-generation restaurants. I went back here a second time, and I was like … I think I’m kind of in love with this building.”
A Caroline County native, Marshall moved to Richmond when he was 19, landing a dishwashing gig at Ashland’s Iron Horse Restaurant and eventually working his way up to kitchen manager. Following a seven-year stint at the railway-adjacent Ashland eatery, he hopped to The Caboose Market & Cafe, and then Lemaire. When the pandemic hit, he found himself eager to keep cooking, and not necessarily fine dining.
The Jasper in Carytown hosted the inaugural Smashed RVA pop-up as part of its Friends & Family dining series in 2020, steering Marshall away from the potential name, Big Dog, and assisting with the logo. Soon after, weekly appearances at The Veil and Vasen breweries, connections with neighborhood associations, and events at Hatch Cafe and Hatch Local food hall became commonplace.
“At one point I was doing four to five [pop-ups] a week and then working two to three days at Lemaire and seven days straight trying to balance out and wondering, can I afford to quit my job?” Marshall says. “I was like, something has to give, are we doing this or not doing this?”
Now committed to Smashed RVA full time, Marshall has indeed been doing it. Joining him is a small crew including former Lemaire coworker Freddy Soto. Successful in forming connections outside the food scene, he has popped up at fashion boutiques Chilalay and Homme Essentials and thrown “Good Burger”-inspired and May the Fourth Be With You events at CobbleStore Vintage and Manchester home goods store Accoutre.
“Anywhere that will have us, we will try to go there once,” Marshall says. “It’s all about building the relationship; we want to be a spot that everyone feels they can come to and come out, all different cliques of the city.”
He’s also managed to gain a fan base through fast-food nostalgia, riffing on the classics from burger bigwigs such as In-N-Out, or a recent event with 1115 Mobile Kitchen and Jiji Frozen Custard to celebrate the nosh of the golden arches. There was even a nod to Taco Bell including SmashWrap Supremes paired with homemade, bright teal-colored Baja limeade.
At the McDonald’s tribute pop-up, “We sold 140 McSmashes the other day in two hours,” Marshall says with a hearty laugh.
At the forthcoming fast-casual burger joint, Marshall says the menu will feature the core four: the flagship OG Smash burger with American cheese, onions and housemade Smash Sauce; its vegetarian counterpart, Beyond Smashed; the Plain Jane Smash for the traditionalist, with lettuce, tomato, onion and Duke’s; and the Smashed Chopped Cheese with chopped beef, cheese, onions, Duke’s mayo and spicy relish. The other half of the menu will be dedicated to rotating specials, with all meat sourced from Lynchburg’s Seven Hills Food. Diners can expect to see burger iterations from the past along with new playful creations.
In keeping with his brewery roots, Marshall says they’ll offer beer on tap and in bottles and cans. Dubbing the restaurant a “Five Guys bodega,” he notes that after opening he wants to introduce an RVA-made corner dedicated to local producers such as Breezy Lemonade or All Dis Puddin, as well as bottling Smash sauce and homemade drinks.
The new space is home to a sizable parking lot, and Marshall hopes to use the area in the same collaborative way he has operated his own concept in the past, noting the potential for future ice cream socials or late-night events. “We used to go to all these events ... but now we have the ability to host things; it will be really cool to have that ability.”
Although transitioning from the nomadic lifestyle is a change, Marshall says, “This a pop-up, but with walls. We’re not going to start plating and doing things like that, just going to keep rocking the way we have been. Why mess up the thing that got us to where we are?”
On Wednesday, May 24, Smashed RVA will host a parking lot birthday bash from 5 to 8 p.m. with Jiji Frozen Custard, JC Desserts, Hops of Reese and Paix espresso.
