I was honored to have the legendary Dave Anderson (www.DavidWAnderson.com) the founder of Famous Dave’s BBQ restaurants (180 store chain and winner of 300+ awards) in my January 9, 2010, BBQ 101 class. He flew in from Minnesota and attended my class incognito. He surprised the heck out of me when he introduced himself after class and we chatted for 2 more hours. He invited Shilo and me to his restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga for dinner and shared many BBQ stories and life wisdom until 10 pm. Dave was given one of those restaurant pagers and told to wait 45 minutes for his table, so we stood in the waiting lounge with the other guests. The walls of the lounge were covered with pictures of Dave and his trophies. It wasn’t long before the two hostesses realized who he was and panic ensured when they went back to tell the manager who showed up at the restaurant (imagine Colonel Sanders showing up at a KFC place unannounced). We were seated within 2 minutes!
We enjoyed Squaw Bread Soup w Wild Rice (his Mom’s recipe), Smoked Salmon on Pita Chips, Fried Catfish, and his famous BBQ Feast which was BBQ ribs and chicken piled high with sides on a garbage can lid. Homage to his first smoker which was a garbage can!
Dave is the real deal having graduated from Harvard even though he dropped out of college, went on to serve in Washington D.C. as the highest official for American Indian affairs, founded the Famous Dave’s BBQ empire, inspirational speaker and trainer, award winning author, and Oprah show personality. He was so kind to give me his books, BBQ DVD, and autographs. He had his staff shoot a marketing video for my class at the restaurant as he felt my class was one of the most passionate and fun classes he’s been to. And he has trained thousands of pitmasters, workers, and managers who work in his chain of restaurants; not to mention winning 300+ awards, and humanitarian and community recognitions the past 15 years. Wow, it was a surreal day!
“Harry’s BBQ 101 class was very thorough, very detailed, and passionate expression of love for barbecue. Held nothing back. I really enjoyed my day with Harry!”
Dave W. Anderson, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Famous Dave’s BBQ Restaurants
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