Roughly five years after making the basketball shot of a lifetime, another one of Skyler Riley’s dreams has come true: opening a restaurant.
After the 2005 Inglemoor High graduate’s team lost its first game at the 4A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome, the Vikings rallied to win their last three to earn fifth place. To this day, Riley, now 23, is still ecstatic when describing the 3-pointer he drained with a few seconds left to win that game against Prairie High.
He runs Rainin’ Ribs on Bothell Way Northeast in Lake Forest Park much the same way that Viking team operated.
“I was one of the captains. Everyone was a role player, no one was really a star and we just pieced everyone in the right spot,” Riley said. “And I’ve done the same here at this restaurant. I don’t have any one person that does the same thing, they each have strengths and my job is to maximize their potential.”
Riley noted that while he’s the boss — the face of Rainin’ Ribs — and will talk barbecue with anyone who will listen, he owns the place with his parents, stepdad Mike and Cindi Price, and called upon an army of friends to help with the seven-week remodel of the restaurant. Chief among Rainin’ Ribs’ features are two mammoth smokers that two guys welded together and give head chef Richard Hunter a place to prepare pulled pork, brisket and chicken. The Pacific Northwest-themed restaurant (hence the Rainin’ in its title) uses apple wood to give its meat a sweet, smoky flavor.
It’s a team effort the whole way, said Riley, drawing on his overall Inglemoor experience — in the classroom and on the court — for inspiration. He added that coaches Greg Lowell and Al Minihan and an array of teachers pushed him to up the ante each day.
“(Teachers would say) ‘Don’t settle, keep going.’ And from there, I’d go to practice and it was times five,” Riley said. “And then when I went home — my parents are very successful — and it was the same thing, ‘What? Are you tired now? Go do your homework, come on let’s go.’ And then I’d wake up tomorrow and get right back at it.”
That experience made for a challenging, worthwhile school life, and gave him a good flow of confidence heading into adulthood.
“People like coach Lowell know there is a formula for success, and you can relate that to a sports team, you can relate it to a business, you can relate it to a marriage,” Riley said. “The formula — I think that people that can grasp it and then connect it to multiple things can usually, probably manage their life better than others.”
Variety has been the spice (or barbecue dry rub) of life for Riley, who attended Scottsdale Community College in Arizona after Inglemoor (playing golf, receiving his associate’s degree and working for a catering company) and then traveled throughout Australia for a year. While in Australia, he became intrigued with barbecuing and restaurants that catered to families and featured local musicians playing on Sunday afternoons.
Upon returning to the Northshore area, Riley met with his stepdad, wrote up a business plan, saved up some money and put Rainin’ Ribs on the map. It’s been open for 4 ½ months and is doing well, Riley said.
The Sunday music sessions with Inglemoor grad Ethan Jennings, an acoustic blues guitarist, are especially satisfying for Riley.
“(It’s) what the restaurant’s all about, which is family and fun,” he said, noting that adults and their children pack onto the patio dining room to listen to tunes and eat barbecue during the sessions. Rainin’ Ribs also brought together soccer fans for a World Cup-viewing party on its big-screen TV last month.
Aside from the spacious patio, Riley also welcomes customers into Hunter’s area to watch the smokers in action.
“This is definitely the heart of this,” Riley said while pointing to “The Beast,” a 12-foot-long, 4 ½-foot tall smoker.”On Fridays and Saturdays, I’ll be here sitting on a chair. When people pull up, I’ll say, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ We’ll bring them over and they’ll say, ‘Hey, what’s this?’ They’ll ask a bunch of questions, then we’ll open it up, and I’ll say, ‘This is your dinner.’”
Riley says he puts in some serious 12-hour days to keep Rainin’ Ribs running strong. To give him an extra boost of energy, Riley harkens back to the days of working alongside Mike Price and his brother in their road-striping business.
“That kind of puts this to shame, 16-18 hour days on the freeway, and certainly they weren’t holding anything back,” he said with a laugh. “There’s really no mercy in our family as far as work ethic goes. It’s sort of just standard, it’s very literal, very direct: ‘This is what needs to be done in order for it to be successful.’”
