What's cooking in the South!

Photo credit: Travis Nelson 

Last night, the James Beard Foundation held its annual awards ceremony in New York City. This morning, I woke up to a wonderful piece about one of the winners, Jones Bar-B-Q Diner, on the CBS This Morning. I also logged onto Facebook to find many of my southern friends (mainly the Alabamians) bragging on the winners from their region.

It got me wondering: Is the south still a place where home-cooking matters? Is it dying off more and more as the newer generations want and demand the quickness of "convenience?" Does food still hold the same reverent focal point in family and other gatherings as it once did? Who's making sure to carry on the tradition? Do people still share (or guard) their recipes? I have the question floating out in the email ether to one dear friend from Bessemer, Ala., but I welcome feedback from everyone. What do you think?

In the meantime, here's a list of the southerners who took home awards last night:

BOOK:

ANew Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen

by Hugh Acheson

(Clarkson Potter)

WRITING:

MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award

John T. Edge

Saveur

“BBQNation”

And the biggies:

BEST CHEF: SOUTH (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS)

Chris Hastings

Hot and Hot Fish Club

Birmingham, AL

BEST CHEF: SOUTHEAST (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, WV)

Hugh Acheson

Five and Ten

Athens, GA

Linton Hopkins

Restaurant Eugene

Atlanta

AMERICA’S CLASSICS (Presented by The Coca-Cola Company)

Jones Bar-B-Q Diner

219 West Louisiana St., Marianna, AR

Owners: James and Betty Jones

The week that was...

Bummed that I missed the Big Apple BBQ while flying back to NY from Alabama last weekend. The air surrounding Madison Park was still dripping of smokey pulled pig and tangy sauce well past midnight as I passed by en route to my apartment building upon landing. Happily, GQ recounted the Billy Reid part of the experience on its blog:

This past Saturday, GQ's 2010 New Men's Designer of the Year and grandmaster of tailored Southern cool Billy Reid made a trip north of the Mason-Dixon to throw a down-home porch party at his eponymous label's NY outpost. In support of their participation in the annual Big Apple Bar-b-q Block Party, the Alabama-based designer brought in Birmingham favorite Jim N Nick's Bar-B-Q to roast a whole pig right outside the storefront steps. Deep-South pit meisters and downtown style hounds brushed elbows around neverending trays of ungodly delicious pork tacos and a keg of Jim N Nick's own house brew (suitably named Reverand Mudbone)—all the while trying not to get cole slaw on the shop's impeccable vintage-feel ties and oxfords. It was the perfect salve for a balmy evening—as relaxed and effortlessly charming as you'd expect from a southern gent like Mr. Reid.

— Graham Cumberbatch

SCENE: Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival (1/30)

January 30th - Saturday
TWO SESSIONS

Noon - 4pm The VIP Whole Hog

and Bacon Session

5pm - 9pm Afternoon Session

at la.venue
608 West 28th Street, NYC 10001 (11th & 28th)

EAT: 3rd Ward Bluegrass BBQ 8/23 @ 4PM

August 23, 4 to 9 p, FREE Admission, Cheap Eats & Drinks

Join 3rd Ward for an afternoon of Bluegrass music and BBQ! Local Bluegrass bands will perform between 4 and 7 p and then at 8 p Bluegrass Musicians are invited to grab their banjos, mandolins and acoustic guitars for an open session of parking-lot pickin' in the yard.

Open to everyone, just throw on your country clothes and come out for this buckdancing, bluesy, Brooklyn BBQ. RSVP events@3rdward.com

3rd Ward is a member-based design center for creative professionals in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They are committed to providing resources, opportunities and a dynamic-creative network to our members and the community at large. Its 20,000 sq. ft. space houses four gorgeous photo studios, a professional wood & metal shop, a fully loaded digital media lab, shared & private office space and a large interdisciplinary art education program. Throughout the year they also offer exciting events and opportunities for artists. (source)

EAT: Tuesday Dinner with the Dawgs

The Georgia Bulldog NYC alum are getting together tonight at 7PM at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Harlem for their monthly “Tuesday Dinner with the Dawgs.” Stop by for dinner or a drink!

When: Tuesday, August 18th @ 7pm
Where:
Dinosaur BBQ
646 W 131st St
New York, NY 10027-7948
(212) 694-1777

For more information please contact mandymirvin@gmail.com

Put some south in your mouth!

BBQ Pitmaster Class - July 18 2009 @ 11am
at Historic Richmond Town
441 Clarke Ave
Staten Island, NY 10306
718 351 1611

WHO: Smokin' Joe's True-Blue Texas Barbecue's Pitmaster's University (PU) brings the true Pitmaster's skills back to the “Art of Barbecue”. This one-day (that's one-long Pitmaster's day!) course is taught by seasoned Memphis in May Certified and Kansas City Barbecue Society Trained Judges.

WHAT: They will teach the home cook, BBQ enthusiast, the restaurateur looking to add BBQ to their menu or just plain you - “Joe or Jane BBQ Lover”, a variety of Pitmaster skills.

* Cost: $80.00 (Staten Island Historical Society members $75.00) Light snack and beverage served during the day + Full BBQ Dinner
* Call to Register: (718) 351-1611 Ext. 236
Click this link for more information

EAT: Texas Tapas Times Two and some BBQ

Two new Texas themed restaurants have hit NYC. Marfa (pictured above) is, according to Thrillist, "the brainchild of an E.Vil townie who convinced the Lucky Cheng's crew to replace Waikikki Wally's with a scuffed-wall, cellar-esque barstraunt named for a West Texas artist colony...Texas grub includes fried catfish w/ cole slaw and beans, dry rub BBQ, mac & cheese, and their own Marfa Chili, so meaty, other chilis will jealously whine 'Marfa Marfa Marfa.'"

And in Brooklyn, Whiskey Sunday, of which the Village Voice wrote: "'A new barbecue spot in the land of rotis,' and that pretty much sums it up. Prospect-Lefferts Gardens is a paradise of West Indian and Caribbean food, and that's where prolific Brooklyn restaurateur Jim Mamary has recently opened a non-traditional but tasty barbecue spot. It was called Billy Sunday's, in a tongue-in-cheek ode to a famous prohibitionist, but apparently Billy was known for not only hating booze and being an evangelist, but also for being a rabid racist, soooo... that name was soon nixed in favor of Whiskey Sunday."

EAT: Puttin' A Lil' More South in New York's Mouth

Brother Jimmy's BBQ opened a new downtown location on 7/24 in Murray Hill. The invite? Coca-Cola meets Run-DMC. Walk this way y'all:


http://http://www.tamzdesigns.com/clients/brotherjimmy/