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Foodies know Austin, the capital city of Texas, as one of the country's epicenters of fine barbecue, offering visitors and locals five-star dining on everything from ribs and chicken to pulled pork and brisket. Which made "The Grill Dads" Mark Anderson and Ryan Fey all the more surprised by one of the eateries they visited there to film a recent episode. "Every time I go there, I figure out which barbecue place I want to wait in line for and live Texas through the brisket," Anderson explains. "So we went to a place called Wu Chow, which is some of the best dim sum, and we made chicken mao there. And that surprised the heck out of me because you don't think about going to Texas for great Chinese food, and it was epic." "It doesn't equate," adds Fey, "that when you go to Austin, Texas, to find great Chinese food and these guys are crushing it there. Crushing it." In each episode of the Friday series, Anderson and Fey – 40-ish college pals and fathers with backgrounds in advertising – travel the country to places such as Austin, Seattle, Portland (Ore.), Denver, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Kansas City and Fey's hometown of Boise, Idaho, to sample the outrageous, over-the-top and delicious and share their love of grilling. In this Friday's Jan. 12 episode, the pals make a stop in Jackson Hole, Wyo., where they sample offerings such as a 40-ounce steak with rattlesnake jalapeno poppers and a house-rubbed 18-ounce beef rib that's braised to the point of falling off the bone. "We're both huge fans of Jackson Hole, Wyo.," Fey says. "It's one of our favorite places to go. There's a chef at the Snake River Grill that's crushing it with the pork shank and he does it in a way that we've never seen before. And it was one of those bites of food that you just are unable to get pretty much anywhere else. It's something that you almost would never think of doing. "I don't want to spoil it for the episode," he continues, "but it was an incredible experience, just the mountains and the cold and there's horses and just the culture is phenomenal." Mark Anderson (left) and Ryan Fey What book are you currently reading? Anderson: "Tony Gemignani's 'Pizza Bible.' " What is your next project? Anderson: "One of the things that we've wanted to do is to help people who watch our show learn how to cook some of these things at home. So Fey and I are working on a project where for each episode we're going to release a 60-second video on social media with a recipe that shows people, 'Hey, here's this thing you saw at this restaurant and here's how you make it at home.' Because sometimes when people see these big commercial kitchens or giant commercial smokers, they might be like, 'Oh I can't make that because I don't have those things.' So for the people that don't just want to eat it but want to make it at home, we're trying to use social media content to help connect them with how to do that better." What did you have for dinner last night? Anderson: "Smoked meatballs. They are so good. It was beef and pork and stuffed with fontina cheese. They're incredible." BY GEORGE DICKIE 'The Grill Dads' hit the road for adventures in barbecue Page 8 January 8 - 14, 2018 On or Off-Site Catering All Occasions Dine under the glow of gas lanterns Breakfast and Lunch Meals also available Open Tuesday through Saturday PICK UP y o u r c o p y a t : t h e h A R T Your source for arts, entertainment and culture news in Elkhart County Advertise Here! (574) 533-2151 Expires January 31, 2018

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