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From the Decatur Daily News.....
Barbecue restaurant signs with network for national TV show
By Jay Wilson
DAILY Business Writer
jwilson@decaturdaily.com � 340-2440
Chris Lilly has never judged a beauty contest, but he'll spend the next several months looking for the best butt in the country.
Get your mind out of the gutter. We're talking about barbecue here.
"I signed a nine-episode competition cooking show with Outdoor Life Network," said Lilly, vice president of Decatur's Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q.
Lilly is also the chief cook on Big Bob's cooking team. With this, his newest creation, he adds executive producer to his resume. Appropriately, Lilly named his creation "The All Star BBQ Showdown."
"It's a concept I dreamed up," he said.
"Showdown" premieres in August, runs for eight weeks and culminates with a final barbecue brawl on New York City's Madison Avenue.
The winner takes home $25,000 and best butt bragging rights. For Lilly and other chefs, the bragging rights could be most important.
Lilly and his film crew were in Mobile on Friday to kick off the search for the nation's top barbecue chefs.
"We're filming potential all-stars today," he said. "We'll go to Kansas City after this."
The crew is following Lilly, filming him as he picks 25 grilling gurus from several states and cities.
"After that we'll go to New York, sit in a dark room and probably argue for two days about (whom we should pick)," Lilly said. "I will have the eight best barbecue chefs in the country when I'm done."
The producers are going to narrow the 25 to eight. Those eight are all-stars.
"Showdown" starts with the all-stars traveling to various venues across the country. Show promoters plan to stop in Texas, Kansas, Tennessee, Alabama and North Carolina. In some cases they'll visit multiple cities in the same state.
At each stop, "Showdown" invites local challengers to a cook-off.
"We challenge anyone who thinks they can cook with the big boys to come out and prove it," Lilly said.
Each city pits two all-stars against a local challenger in a do-or-die cook-off. During the taped shows, the challenger tries to outshine the all-stars. The winner gets $3,000.
At the last minute, just before filming, Lilly's crew tells the all-stars and the challenger what food they will prepare and what tools they will have. Until that moment, they have no idea. Surprises make for good television, Lilly said.
The top four all-stars and the top two challengers travel to New York City for the final cook-off. All shows are 30 minutes long except the finale. It is a one-hour show, and the winner takes home $25,000. Filming ends in June for the August airing deadline.
The chefs who make the cut have "character and credentials," Lilly said. The all-stars have barbecue world championships or have at least risen to the top. All have competition barbecue backgrounds, Lilly said.
Lilly never had rubbed shoulders or marinated mignon until 1991 when he and his wife moved to Decatur. Lilly is a Florence native. Before coming to Decatur, he met and married Ann McLemore, whose maiden name is the same as Big Bob's owner, Don McLemore.
"Don McLemore is my father-in-law," Lilly said. "I married Ann and moved to Franklin, Tenn. Then Don decided he wanted to open a second Big Bob's location on Danville Road."
Lilly and his wife moved to Decatur, and he joined her family's business, learning to cook barbecue on the job. He evidently learned well. With Lilly heading the competition team, Big Bob's brought a few awards home to Decatur.
The restaurant is an eight-time World Champion, a four-time Alabama Champion and has taken multiple Tennessee state championships, too.
The competition meats are different from what customers eat in the restaurants, but only slightly, Lilly said.
"We take what we do in the restaurants and almost make it more intense," he said. "It has to get the judges' attention in one or two bites, so we take the restaurant taste and make it bolder."
The Big Bob's team served its food on "The Today Show" in 2003.
It's not your average Saturday afternoon, backyard fare. They prepare items like pineapple marinated loin back pork ribs with honey garlic tomato glaze. How about having an appetizer of barbecue bacon-wrapped shrimp with basil stuffing?
"It's a cooking show," Lilly said. "People actually learn from the best by watching 'Showdown.' It's also a competitive reality show, so the excitement is there."
Lilly's primary job is to market and promote Big Bob's. The competitions are a way to do this, and he said he has gotten excellent results from them. The business is negotiating with people interested in owning a Big Bob's franchise. Lilly said they are all out of state.
"There is so much going on now," Lilly said. "I'm more focused on the TV show and franchises than anything right now."
Barbecue restaurant signs with network for national TV show
By Jay Wilson
DAILY Business Writer
jwilson@decaturdaily.com � 340-2440
Chris Lilly has never judged a beauty contest, but he'll spend the next several months looking for the best butt in the country.
Get your mind out of the gutter. We're talking about barbecue here.
"I signed a nine-episode competition cooking show with Outdoor Life Network," said Lilly, vice president of Decatur's Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q.
Lilly is also the chief cook on Big Bob's cooking team. With this, his newest creation, he adds executive producer to his resume. Appropriately, Lilly named his creation "The All Star BBQ Showdown."
"It's a concept I dreamed up," he said.
"Showdown" premieres in August, runs for eight weeks and culminates with a final barbecue brawl on New York City's Madison Avenue.
The winner takes home $25,000 and best butt bragging rights. For Lilly and other chefs, the bragging rights could be most important.
Lilly and his film crew were in Mobile on Friday to kick off the search for the nation's top barbecue chefs.
"We're filming potential all-stars today," he said. "We'll go to Kansas City after this."
The crew is following Lilly, filming him as he picks 25 grilling gurus from several states and cities.
"After that we'll go to New York, sit in a dark room and probably argue for two days about (whom we should pick)," Lilly said. "I will have the eight best barbecue chefs in the country when I'm done."
The producers are going to narrow the 25 to eight. Those eight are all-stars.
"Showdown" starts with the all-stars traveling to various venues across the country. Show promoters plan to stop in Texas, Kansas, Tennessee, Alabama and North Carolina. In some cases they'll visit multiple cities in the same state.
At each stop, "Showdown" invites local challengers to a cook-off.
"We challenge anyone who thinks they can cook with the big boys to come out and prove it," Lilly said.
Each city pits two all-stars against a local challenger in a do-or-die cook-off. During the taped shows, the challenger tries to outshine the all-stars. The winner gets $3,000.
At the last minute, just before filming, Lilly's crew tells the all-stars and the challenger what food they will prepare and what tools they will have. Until that moment, they have no idea. Surprises make for good television, Lilly said.
The top four all-stars and the top two challengers travel to New York City for the final cook-off. All shows are 30 minutes long except the finale. It is a one-hour show, and the winner takes home $25,000. Filming ends in June for the August airing deadline.
The chefs who make the cut have "character and credentials," Lilly said. The all-stars have barbecue world championships or have at least risen to the top. All have competition barbecue backgrounds, Lilly said.
Lilly never had rubbed shoulders or marinated mignon until 1991 when he and his wife moved to Decatur. Lilly is a Florence native. Before coming to Decatur, he met and married Ann McLemore, whose maiden name is the same as Big Bob's owner, Don McLemore.
"Don McLemore is my father-in-law," Lilly said. "I married Ann and moved to Franklin, Tenn. Then Don decided he wanted to open a second Big Bob's location on Danville Road."
Lilly and his wife moved to Decatur, and he joined her family's business, learning to cook barbecue on the job. He evidently learned well. With Lilly heading the competition team, Big Bob's brought a few awards home to Decatur.
The restaurant is an eight-time World Champion, a four-time Alabama Champion and has taken multiple Tennessee state championships, too.
The competition meats are different from what customers eat in the restaurants, but only slightly, Lilly said.
"We take what we do in the restaurants and almost make it more intense," he said. "It has to get the judges' attention in one or two bites, so we take the restaurant taste and make it bolder."
The Big Bob's team served its food on "The Today Show" in 2003.
It's not your average Saturday afternoon, backyard fare. They prepare items like pineapple marinated loin back pork ribs with honey garlic tomato glaze. How about having an appetizer of barbecue bacon-wrapped shrimp with basil stuffing?
"It's a cooking show," Lilly said. "People actually learn from the best by watching 'Showdown.' It's also a competitive reality show, so the excitement is there."
Lilly's primary job is to market and promote Big Bob's. The competitions are a way to do this, and he said he has gotten excellent results from them. The business is negotiating with people interested in owning a Big Bob's franchise. Lilly said they are all out of state.
"There is so much going on now," Lilly said. "I'm more focused on the TV show and franchises than anything right now."
