Whenever a national TV food show features a local restaurant, it’s BIG news.
Last Friday, the Travel Channel’s Man v. Food Nation hosted by Adam Richman rolled into Scottsdale with a posse (Lights! Cameras! Make-up! Action!) to film a segment featuring Big Earl’s BBQ in Old Town Scottsdale.
If you’re not familiar with Man v. Food Nation (formerly known as Man v. Food), the show features outrageous food challenges. For the first three seasons, Richman was the one devouring the food.
The new season (and hence the addition of “Nation” in the title), Richman is more moderator, less devourer, for outrageous food challenges. After stuffing his own face for three years, we guess he decided to take a break and report on others stuffing their faces.
Big Earl’s BBQ threw down an irresistible food challenge called Leg of the Beast and Richman bit.
The challenge featured three Scottsdale firemen and three Scottsdale policemen.
Six men… 17 pounds of food… 30 minutes… Oh, plus a whole pecan pie.
The feast included marinated, bone-in smoked pork butt, mac and cheese, collard greens, wedge salad with blue cheese dressing and jalapeno corn bread — all adding up to 17 pounds. (The pecan pie was an additional pound or so.)
A packed house of friends and supporters of Big Earl’s BBQ watched and waited with anticipation. Not everyone made it to the final “Cut! That’s a wrap,” as the taping didn’t finish until the wee hours of Saturday morning.
We’ll have to wait until Thanksgiving week (the show is scheduled to air Wednesday, November 23) to see if Scottsdale’s first responders conquered the beast.
In the meantime, you can try your own hand at the Leg of the Beast feast.
It’s a menu option at Big Earl’s.
Just a word of advice… bring friends. Lots of them.
Be sure to give the restaurant 72 hours notice (it takes 48 hours to marinate and smoke the meat alone).
Cost is $21.99 per person (plus an automatic gratuity of 19% for parties of 6 or more, and you are going to need at least 5 hearty friends to conquer the beast.)
Congrats to Big Earl’s BBQ for capturing the attention of a 14-million+ viewer show.
From what little I saw of the 16-hour taping, they’ve done Scottsdale proud. It will be a feast for the eyes as well as the belly.
Details:
Big Earl’s BBQ
7213 East 1st Avenue, Scottsdale
480-947-6800
bigearlsbbq.com
Man v. Food Nation
Travel Channel (check local listing for times)
Big Earl’s BBQ segment scheduled to air November 23, 2011.
Up until now, central Scottsdale residents had to cattle drive south to 
