Thursday, August 16, 2007

The Powers that be

You know, I'm not one to ever get "star struck" by being around celebrities. I've never understood peoples fascination with it. I mean who cares? That autograph you are getting, what are you really going to do with it? I mean, sorry if this is crude but, they wipe their butt just like you and I do. Thats one reason I have not gotten celebrities to autograph pictures to go on the wall inside the joint, because its tough for me to throw my pride to the side and "lower" myself to get their John Hancock.................-although I will admit right here right now that I will probably start to do so because for some reason it is good marketing, and if I can make a buck off their signature then yeah. All that being said I still and will never be awed by someone else's celebrity status, but the other night we were asked to cater a small party and it was pretty cool to meet some of these men. The big difference here was that I was honored, not awed by them. On Tuesday night we catered the Nashville Amateur Chefs Club, which is really just a social club for a bunch of CEO's & politicians. Specifically in attendance were all three living ex-Governors of our state, Winfield Dunn, Ned McWherter and Don Sundquist along with other CEO's, Judges, etc.. This organization has been around since 1946 and their are only 30 members. They asked me to come in to cater the meal and give a speech (yes you read that right) on the history and science of Barbecue. It was in a very small room with three tables set up for dining. We served Brisket, 1/4 chickens, pulled pork along with cornbread, baked beans and slaw. Mom baked 3 coconut cakes and 4 pecan pies. Everything went very, very well. They were all very happy and we got a ton of compliments. They all took my cards and menus and I'm hoping that in the future we'll see some additional catering come from it. They were all as nice as they could be. I've got to get to the joint but later on I'll try to post the speech if I can figure out how to do it.

1 comment:

James: Movie Pimp said...

I am star struck everytime you wlak in my f'n store, you big and sexy man of the pork!!!!!!!

james

What is this Blog???

You ever been sitting around cooking for your family and friends and been told the following: "Hoss, this is the best I've ever had in my dadgum life.....you have got to open up a place of your own". The thought crosses your mind to do just that, but for whatever reason you dont. Well I'm "that" guy that actually went through with it and did it. I had absolutely ZERO restaurant experience! I decided to start this blog about my own experience hoping that it may be of some use and help to others who might be interested in opening their own place.
I learned this craft almost 20 years ago cooking whole hogs on brick & cinder block pits at a couple of little BBQ Joints in Henderson, TN. I learned from old, lifelong career Pit-Masters, working with them as an apprentice during school off and on for four years. Over the course of that time I learned the old, time-honored craft of REAL pit barbecue. At Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint I am trying as hard as I can everyday to bring that time-honored authenticity to my customers.
As you read you'll see I've made some stupid decisions, and I've made some good decisions. If you are thinking of opening a restaurant, especially a BBQ Joint, read this blog! Maybe some of this info can be of use to you. At the very least you will be entertained because I pull no punches.
Now listen, this is my blog to not only help with information but my blog to freely rant about my day to day experiences. There is no real "bad language" on this blog but there might be some things said that are very "tongue in cheek". If you are easily offended and/or cant see the satire in my posts then please just leave the blog. It will save both of us the annoyance of each other. For those of you who do like satire and are looking for good information about this experience, then by all means enjoy!