Big City is Recognized as "Best of the Valley" by Phoenix Magazine, and is Voted "Best Barbecue" and "Best Lunch Spot" on Citysearch.com
Phoenix, AZ - August 1, 2005 -- Big City BBQ's Chef Rasshad Brown and partner Len Wechsler attended a gala event hosted by Phoenix Magazine where they received a "Best of the Valley" award and were recognized as the "Best Southern Outpost" by editors of the magazine. The annual "Best of the Valley" edition of the magazine, hitting newsstands today, offered, "It's Rasshad Brown who puts the y'all in the menu, offering a long list of down-home favorites that take your mouth to the South."
Big City BBQ received the Phoenix Magazine award exactly one year after opening their first restaurant, located in Tempe Arizona. "Within a year, we opened a second location in Mesa and expanded our menu to include grilled items," added Len Wechsler, Big City's Marketing Director and Co-Founder. "We are delighted to receive all these awards, but our greatest satisfaction is our repeat customers, some of whom were new to soul food, many of whom say that our approach to barbecue redefines the whole category."
Also during the month, Big City BBQ was delighted to hear that they were voted as "Best Barbecue" and "Best Lunch Spot" on Citysearch.com. Big City received a perfect 10.0 in the barbecue category, which is almost unheard-of on Citysearch. The online voting, which generates more than a million votes each year, is especially competitive in the "Best Lunch Spot" category, and to our knowledge, this is the first time that a barbecue or soul food restaurant took top spot in this category.
There are many flavors of barbecue restaurants in the US, most of them delivering western barbecue, basically meat and beans and cole slaw. Big City's Chef Rasshad takes an originalist's view of BBQ, giving credit where credit is due for each item on his menu. "Southern cooking means something a little different to everyone," offered Chef Rasshad, "and we scoured the South searching for the best offerings from the finest kitchens in the South. The Big City name is a tribute to those big Southern cities from which soul food sprang, plus several cities in Texas and the Midwest that brought us innovative barbecue and other side dishes."
About Chef Rasshad
Executive Chef Rasshad Brown recently joined the ranks of "blogging" chefs, and has begun documenting his flavorings and insights on barbecue and soul food on his personal culinary website, www.rasshad.com. Chef Rasshad comes to Phoenix from Iowa and is a 1990 graduate of the Metro Tech culinary program in Phoenix. Chef Rasshad has more than a 15 years of culinary experience in the Phoenix market as a leader in restaurant chain kitchen management and as Executive Chef at two premier Arizona resorts. Rasshad was recently nominated as one of the top 100 chefs on Chef2Chef.com, and Big City BBQ is his first ownership position in a restaurant.
About Big City BBQ, LLC
Started in 2004, Big City BBQ's restaurants are owned and operated by Chef Rasshad Brown and his partners, Len Wechsler from New York and Rick Helman from England. In the first year in business, Big City's Tempe and Mesa locations have became local lunch hot spots and have received more than a dozen accolades in the local and national press. For more information on Big City BBQ, visit www.bigcitybbq.com.
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To schedule an interview, please contact Chef Rasshad Brown via email at rasshad@bigcitybbq.com or on his cell phone at 602-405-4959.
Chef2Chef News Desk