Archive for the ‘Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant’ Category

Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant Making Progress in Del Ray!

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

In August of last year we announced that we had teamed with “Mango” Mike Anderson and Bill Blackburn, two of the area’s top restaurateurs, to bring the first Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant to the Del Ray neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia.  After a slow start on the restaurants construction that has been further hampered by all of the snow, we are pleased to announce that the future home of the first Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant is starting to look like a building.

 

 

Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant Taking Shape!

Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant Taking Shape!

 

The first Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant will be located in the heart of Del Ray on the corner of Mount Vernon Ave. and Oxford St. near The Dairy Godmother and Let’s Meat on the Avenue (where you can buy Pork Barrel BBQ Sauces and Rubs).

We are looking forward to a late spring/early summer opening and can’t wait to welcome you through our doors in the near future.  In the meantime be sure to stop by Mango Mike’s for a great meal and let us know if we can meet any of your catering needs!!

Meat Week Update – Pork Barrel BBQ Meat Week Event a Big Success – Thanks to Capital Spice Blog for Organizing!

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Pork Barrel BBQ had an awesome time hosting Meat Week at Mango Mike’s restaurant last night – special thanks to Mike at Capital Spice Blog for organizing such a great Meat Week 2010 in Washington DC!  We had over 150 folks try our Pork Barrel BBQ pulled pork and brisket – thanks to everyone who ventured out for a fun Meat Week!

Meat Week - Welcome to Meat Week!

Meat Week - Welcome to Meat Week!

Meat Week - Pork Barrel BBQ Meat Week Buffet O' Meat

Meat Week - Pork Barrel BBQ Meat Week Buffet O' Meat

Meat Week - Pork Barrel BBQ More Meat Week Buffet

Meat Week - Pork Barrel BBQ More Meat Week Buffet

Mike from Capital Spice Doing Interview for CBS

Mike from Capital Spice Doing Interview for CBS

Heath Hall and Bill Blackburn Strike a Pose

Heath Hall and Bill Blackburn Strike a Pose

Meat Week 2010 – Pork Barrel BBQ Participating in Washington D.C. Meat Week 2010

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

In celebration of Meat Week, The Del Ray Boys of BBQ (Heath Hall and Brett Thompson of Pork Barrel BBQ & Mike Anderson and Bill Blackburn of Mango Mike’s) are giving folks a taste (or two, or three) of the new Pork Barrel BBQ restaurant as part of the Washington D.C. Meat Week!

So what is Meat Week? Born in Tallahassee, Meat Week is a festival of smoked meats. For eight days, participants pay homage to that most original culinary combination – meat and fire. BBQ lovers have the opportunity to get together at a different barbecue establishment each night for a week as part of the Washington, D.C. Meat Week. At the end of the week (Meat Week That Is!), after lips have been licked and belts loosened, stories are swapped, awards are given, and plans are made to do it all again the next year as part of Meat Week 2011.

Learn more at http://www.meatweekisreal.com/chapters/washingtondc or our awesome Meat Week 2010 sponsor Capital Spice at http://capitalspice.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/dc-meat-week-all-the-juicy-details/

Pork Barrel BBQ Meat Week

Here are some great links to recent coverage on Meat Week!

http://www.nbcwashington.com/around-town/food-drink/Carnivore-Heaven-83149602.html

http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/gut-check/2010/01/28/carnivores-unite-for-meat-week-2010/

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/entertainment/Go-meat_-_Meat-Week_-an-excuse-to-eat_-socialize-and-get-saucy-82955412.html

http://www.urbandaddy.com/dc/food/8688/Meat_Week_Your_Weeklong_BBQ_Extravaganza_DC_DC_Event

http://www.welovedc.com/2010/01/28/meat-week-in-dc/

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2010/01/29/ladies-and-gentlemen-start-your-appetite-meat-week-begins-sunday/

Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant Making Progress!

Monday, December 14th, 2009

It’s a big day for the Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant – the first steel beam was attached this morning! We can’t wait to start serving our award winning BBQ in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia!

The first steel beam at the Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant

The first steel beam at the Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant

Pork Barrel BBQ Keeps Folks Warm at Del Ray Tree Lighting Ceremony

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

Pork Barrel BBQ’s Mango Mike, Brett, Susan and Sawyer Thompson served up hot cups of apple cider outside the Pork Barrel BBQ restaurant currently under construction in the Del Ray Neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia – we had a great time catching up with friends and making new ones!

Pork Barrel BBQ's Biggest Fans!

Pork Barrel BBQ's Biggest Fans!

Del Ray Christmas Tree Lighting

Del Ray Christmas Tree Lighting

Pork Barrel BBQ Participates in Taste for Giving Event

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Pork Barrel BBQ was honored to take part in the 2009 Taste for Giving event sponsored by the Rotary Club of Alexandria.  The event was at the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria.  It was an evening of fine food and community spirit to benefit many charities in our community.  The Alexandria Commission for the Arts is partnering in this event to present the ALEX Awards, which recognizes individuals, organizations, schools, and businesses that have made exceptional contributions to the cultural life in the City of Alexandria.

Mango Mike and Heath at Taste for Giving

Mango Mike and Heath at Taste for Giving

The Del Ray BBQ Boys Celebrate Their New Restaurant (and a food writer inadvertently becomes part of the story)

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

 

 Here’s an amazing post by Jordan Wright over at whiskandquill.com!

The Del Ray BBQ Boys Celebrate Their New Restaurant (and a food writer inadvertently becomes part of the story)

 Jordan Wright

Whisk and Quill – http://whiskandquill.com/?p=1039

October 20Investor "Mango" Mike and wife Donna with their Pork Barrel BBQ bus - photo by Jordan Wright

I arrived early on Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray last week. Brett Thompson and Heath Hall, creators and owners of Pork Barrel BBQ were setting up the tables, pitching the tent and catching up with old friends and supporters in anticipation of the day’s groundbreaking ceremony for their new restaurant venture. In July I wrote about the “Del Ray BBQ Boys”, as I had nicknamed them, for localkicks.com after meeting them and sampling their delicious wares at National Harbor’s Food and Wine Festival. NBC News Washington had picked up my story and it had skyrocketed to tens of thousands more “eyes” on it.

Thompson walked over and said, “This restaurant is all because of you and your story about us. We want to thank you.”

Stunned, I stammered, “What are you talking about?”

“Well, “Mango” Mike read your story on us,” he revealed. (“Mango” Mike, of the eponymous restaurant on Duke Street.) “He googled it up and that’s how he found out about us and offered to back us in this restaurant.”

cut the ribbon with Mayor Bill Euille (center) - Photo Credit Jordan Wright

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course it was also because back in September they had appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank series and considerably more people had come to know them and their story as former Hill staffers and Virginia-based entrepreneurs.

I looked around at their dream come true. On hand were Alexandria’s Mayor, Bill Euille, Vice Mayor, Kerry Donnelly, Councilman Frank Fannon and Linda and Steve Hubbard, dressed in their UPS chocolate brown and gold uniforms, who own the fulfillment center, where over 1,000 bottles and jars of Pork Barrel BBQ’s fabulous sauce and rub are shipped to eager customers around the country. Everyone came ready to cheer on the boys. Restaurant backers “Mango” Mike and Bill Blackburn, arriving in their massive gold touring bus, were doing the meet-and-greet, while pork smokers wafted waves of heavenly barbecue aroma over the crowd of supporters who milled around with neighborhood business owners and Del Ray’s artsy crowd.

Breaking ground in Del Ray with ABC's Shark Hunt film crew  - photo by Jordan Wright

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of local newspaper publishers doing their own event coverage added to the eclectic local crowd along with a “P-O-R-K” fan club made up of four skinny half-naked pig-snouted students from Bishop Ireton High School, all eager to be in on the celebration and tasting. It was the usual set up for a groundbreaking. Golden shovels and giant scissors gleamed in the warm September sun.  

But one thing was different…stunningly noticeably different…from any other ribbon cutting in any other town in North America, or the world for that matter.

Because, for this small groundbreaking ceremony for two nice guys in business for less than a year, taking place in a small suburb of Alexandria, Virginia across from the local farmers market held on Saturday mornings in a dentist’s parking lot, Hollywood was on site to cover it. Big time!

ABC’s Shark Tank film crew had shown up full tilt with cameraman, soundman and microphones to record the event for a later show in the boys continuing success saga; and invitees, who knew about the planned coverage in advance, were checking out the action…playing it cool for the cameras.

Pork Barrel BBQ Fan Club chows down - Photo Credit Jordan Wright

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pork Barrel BBQ Wins the Taste of Del Ray 2009 Peoples Choice Award

Friday, September 4th, 2009
We are proud to announce that last night Pork Barrel BBQ won the Del Ray Business Association’s Taste of Del Ray People’s Choice Award. The Taste of Del Ray brings restaurants throughout the Del Ray Neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia, together to provide samples of their food – we gave out over 400 servings of our award winning pulled pork sandwiches and Mango Mike’s bourbon bread pudding. The Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant is currently under construction and will open next spring on Mt. Vernon Avenue next to St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub and The Dairy Godmother.

We’d like to give special thanks to the Del Ray Business Association and Gayle Reuter for hosting such a great evening, Mary Abraham and Eric Reid of Del Merei Grill for organizing the event, Christie Hart and Executive Chef Will Artley from the Evening Star Cafe for showing us the ropes (this was their 11th year!), and Sheriff Dana Lawhorne for keeping us all safe (see below)!

Mango Mike Anderson and Heath Hall survey the line outside the Pork Barrel BBQ booth!

Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant Coming to Del Ray Neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia

Monday, August 31st, 2009
Pork Barrel BBQ Teams with Mango Mike’s Mike Anderson, and Bill Blackburn to Bring Award Winning BBQ to Washington, D.C. Region

Pork Barrel BBQ is pleased to announce that we have teamed with Mike Anderson and Bill Blackburn, two of the area’s top restaurateurs, to bring a Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant to the Del Ray Neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia. The restaurant, which is currently under construction, will be in the heart of Del Ray on Mt. Vernon Avenue near St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub and The Dairy Godmother.

“We are honored to team with Mike Anderson and Bill Blackburn who have decades of success running restaurants and are leaders in the Alexandria community,” said Brett Thompson, CEO of Pork Barrel BBQ, and a Del Ray resident.

Heath Hall, Mike Anderson, Bill Blackburn and Brett Thompson at the site of the new Pork Barrel BBQ Restaurant in the Del Ray neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia.

“Heath and Brett know award winning BBQ, and Bill and I know how to run great restaurants – this is a perfect combination and we can’t wait for our Pork Barrel BBQ restaurant to open its doors next spring,” said Mike Anderson, founder of Mango Mike’s, which has been operating in Alexandria since 1996. “Del Ray has been waiting a long time for great BBQ, and we are excited to team with the Del Ray BBQ Boys in bringing Pork Barrel BBQ to the neighborhood,” said Bill Blackburn.

“Brett and I are excited about the opportunity to bring Pork Barrel BBQ to Del Ray and we can’t imagine better partners to do it with than Mike and Bill,” said Heath Hall, President of Pork Barrel BBQ.