Posts Tagged ‘Natural Born Grillers’

After spending the weekend at Memphis in May the very best thing to do is….. well of course to eat more BBQ!  Where better to eat than the World Champions – Yazoo’s Delta Q and Natural Born Grillers partnered up and opened a restaurant months ago. MEMPHIS BARBECUE CO. They have more World Championships than any other restaurant anywhere.

Yazoo’s Delta Q also just won MIM 2012 !  It came down to the wire and was incredible to see both of them took 1st place in their respective categories of Whole Hog and ribs.  That says a lot about their skill set. We knew we were about to eat some great BBQ!

My buddy Wayne Brown from Big Wayner’s BBQ Blog and I talked about doing this and I am sure glad we were able to make it happen. Both of us had to fly out yesterday so we didn’t have any time to spare.

Even better was that a few really awesome BBQ folks were there too – Shane Draper and Mike Owings from Drapers BBQ  , Ron Worby, and Tim from Tiger Q concessions.  They had all been at the Tucker Cooker site for MIM. I had a wonderful time hanging out with them and I even got to watch their whole hog judging on Saturday. I got to see Melissa again and we talked about the challenges of opening the restaurant. One of their biggest challenges was keeping up with demand. It has been a massive success right from the moment they opened the doors!

Picture Credit – Wayne Brown Big Wayners BBQ Blog 

We ordered an array of appetizers -

Cheese fritters, sausage and cheese platter, bbq nachos, fried green tomatoes, bacon wrapped shrimp and they also give complimentary made in house pork rinds to every table. Everything was really quite enjoyable.  I would say my favorite had to be the cheese fritters, and the bacon wrapped shrimp. They even cure and smoke their own bacon in house. All of the items in the restaurant are made from scratch daily.

Then everyone ordered more BBQ!  Well everyone except Ron. He decided to go with a fun item…. their Donut burger…and a half rack of ribs (this was not a health food day for sure!)

  he really liked it.

I ordered wet baby back ribs, pulled pork, and sausage. My sides were potato salad and macaroni & cheese. (Still keeping with the not so healthy options)

The pork was fantastic. Great smoky flavor, really great texture. I love the fact that the pork had chunks and pulled. It had a great bark to it. Full of flavor. It was my favorite meat from the day.  The ribs had a nice crust to them, the rub was very mild. The sausage has a very fine texture to it. The potato salad was off the charts awesome though. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a potato salad so much with its creamy goodness and hints of dill.

The place was packed. With seating for 300 they have a ton of crew all serving people good BBQ.

We hurried through our meal sadly and grabbed t-shirts before we left racing back to the airport to catch our flights… I know Ill be back for another visit the next time I am in town.

Memphis Barbecue Co. on Facebook

Memphis Barbecue Co. on twitter

Sunday to Thursday 11am to 10pm

Friday to Saturday 11am to 11pm

709 Desoto Cove, Horn Lake, MS 38637, USA

I know this came as a huge shock but we did it. We being Tim Brown of Can’t Stop Grilling, Steph Legari, Team Eatapedia and my own team Diva Q !!

Check out what Ron Eade Food Editor Ottawa Citizen had to say about the event on his blog. 

The Canadian teams swept the BBQ competition at the US Ambassador’s Residence 4th of July Celebration in Ottawa Ontario. Team Eatapedia and their Chicken recipe took 1st, Steph Legari took first with his rib recipe and Team Diva Q took 1st with our Pork Butt recipe. To say it was a thrill is an understatement.

We were required to submit all three categories and enough samples for 15 judges all within a 10 minute window. It was challenge for sure and I was glad just to get through it.

The team rankings were as follows after the tabulations from the acclaimed accounting firm Ernst & Young :

1. Can’t Stop Grilling
2. Diva Q
3. Natural Born Grillers
4. Military Chefs
5. 1st Choice Catering
6. Steph Legari/Team Eatapedia

Picture courtesy of Jason Rees BBQBlog.ca

Plus on top of it all early on the morning of the 4th I did a short TV segment with John Woods the coordinator of the event for Canada AM. I am thankfrul the other teams were there to help set everything up. We even made sure to have a balance in BBQ’s – the Blue Ole Hickory Mailbox that NPG has won with so many times and the Pink Traeger Pig

On any given day the results could have been vastly different – However the real secret I do believe in the Canada over the USA win was the fact that we shared one of our favorite libations the Canadian Award winning whiskey Forty Creek. You need to spread the love & share with your fellow BBQ’er always with no egos, just making good BBQ and having a ton of fun-

Team Diva Q is honored to have been asked to represent Canada in Ottawa at the US Embassy for a the first ever Ambassador’s Cup #BBQ contest on July 4th 2011 Co-ordinating everyone and all of the catering  is John Woods from the award winning 1st Choice Catering . The event is expected to have over 4000 dignitaries  in attendance.

Hosted at U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson’s Official Residence, this prestigious event will be key part of the Embassy’s annual July 4^th celebration. Woods and his company, First Choice Catering, is no stranger to this type of an event, having catered some of the largest events in North America including catering this event in Ottawa, Canada in July of 1999 while simultaneously feeding 10,000 people at the Mall in Washington, D.C. the same day. This event has been planned for well over a year.

In addition to John Woods, John Wheeler- Pitmaster of Natural Born Grillers, and James Swenson – Pitmaster of Military Chefs will be representing the USA.  For Canada in addition to Team Diva Q –  are Can’t Stop Grillin’ w/Pitmaster Tim Brown &  Steph Legari.

To talk about the event John Woods &  I will be on CTV Canada AM Canada’s most watched National morning  news program – Live at 8:50 am July 4th to talk about the event.