January and February are busy months for booking The Warehouse for weddings, reunions, fundraisers, and all sorts of celebrations. This is also where we hold our OnCue Consulting seminars, and Ken Goodman beautifully captured some details from our recent Whole Hog Extravaganza.

Exposed brick walls and duct work with touches of warm wood and lots of twinkling lights make the room feel festive and welcoming.

Showstopper. The table is designed with red ticking and solid tablecloths layered over black with a built-up display of natural wood, vintage items, and fresh flowers and greenery. An antique ladder, draped with tea-stained bunting, antlers, and greenery finished off this stunning display.

You can rent a huge variety of decorative items from our extensive prop room. Becky Streuter, our catering manager, has quite the eye for collecting unusual pieces that will elevate your event and make it extra special.

Fresh salads on display.

Cheeseboard with specialty selections and fresh fruit.

Serving trays made from slices of wood and whiskey barrel staves.

Smoked turkey sliders beautifully displayed on a cutting board, elevated by slices of wood.

The large-scale lighted signs are removed for events that might not have a barbecue theme.

Bulleit bottles repurposed as vases and shot glasses displayed in an upended wooden crate.

Libations station. The bar area is constructed of whiskey barrels topped with an old door.

Layers add interest. Burlap, wood slices, and fresh flowers in mason jars make simple, attractive centerpieces.

Beautiful breakfast display. Inventive use of heirlooms, antiques, and fresh flowers.

Vintage details. Cut glass plates, jadeite cake stands, and layered vintage linens.

Fresh flowers from Twig in the Murdale Shopping Center.

Call 618-684-8902 to schedule an appointment to see our event spaces and plan your party! We’ve gathered lots of ideas on our Pinterest page to help you plan a beautiful celebration.

Photos ©Ken Goodman.

Keep up with us!
Follow our adventures in real time on Instagram and Twitter.
See lots of entertaining and barbecue ideas on our Pinterest boards.
And we post fun things on Facebook, too!

Hogs for the Cause is a barbecue and music event that raises money to provide aid and relief of those variable expenses and economic burdens families face while their child is being treated for pediatric brain cancer. In addition to cooking at the event, we’re committed to raising a minimum of $2,000 to contribute to this worthy organization. If you’re local, kindly consider buying some raffle tickets for a Whole Hog Celebration. We’ll feed you and 100 of your closest friends. It’ll be awesome.

If you live near New Orleans, come and join us at the event at City Park on March 27–28. You can buy barbecue from dozens of top teams and listen to great music. Get your advance tickets here. If you know a family who’d benefit from the good works of Hogs for a Cause, please pass along the grant application information on this page.

Hogs for the Cause is a 501(3)(c) organization, so your donations are tax deductible for the full amount as allowed by the IRS.

Keep up with us!
Follow our adventures in real time on Instagram and Twitter.
See lots of entertaining and barbecue ideas on our Pinterest boards.
And we post fun things on Facebook, too! 

We cut each steak by hand at the 1-17. Check it out this quick video:

 Do Your Valentine’s Day Shopping With 17th Street Barbecue!

These hats and t-shirts are available in our restaurants and in our online store. Click here to buy the hat or t-shirt and we’ll ship them out to you!

Keep up with us!
Follow our adventures in real time on Instagram and Twitter.
See lots of entertaining and barbecue ideas on our Pinterest boards.
And we post fun things on Facebook, too! 

The only barbecue business seminars offered in the industry. 

Produced by Mike Mills, Amy Mills & the 17th Street crew

$375 – Unleash the power of your pit at The Warehouse at 17th Street! This one-day workshop features cooking on a variety of Ole Hickory models and an opportunity to learn Mike Mills and crew’s secrets for cooking ribs and chicken (April 19) or brisket and shoulders (November 8), as well as his philosophy on smoke and spice.  Mike will share the tips and techniques for cooking on Ole Hickory pits that took him years to fine tune. Whether you already own a pit, or are considering purchasing one, you will leave this class with new and valuable information.

This class is scheduled in conjunction with the Business of Barbecue class as a good number of participants tend to register for both.

To register for one of our Legendary Barbecue Classes please call 800-233-9667 or email Elizabeth@OleHickoryPits.com

 $950 – Go behind the scenes at 17th Street. Critical to success in a barbecue restaurant is large-scale meat production and holding. We’ll show you how we prep, smoke, and hold ribs, pork, brisket, and chicken for our restaurants. In between the cooking demos, we’ll discuss branding, marketing, PR, vending, restaurant financials, and best practices. Tour behind the scenes of our restaurants and catering facility, and we’ll share resources and suppliers. Novices and veterans alike will leave with concrete information and excellent ideas that will impact their bottom line.

To register for our Business of Barbecue Class, please call 781-799-7202 or email Amy@NowOnCue.com

 $950 – Dive deep into the subject of catering. The 17th Street crew, along with guest instructors John Delpha and Andy Husbands, will demo new recipes and share a multitude of ideas applicable to all levels of catering. You’ll learn how to price and execute events for maximum profit and customer satisfaction, and gather dozens of ideas to strengthen your bottom line, elevate your best practices, and help your catering business soar.

To register for our Catering Master Class please call 781-799-7202 or email Amy@NowOnCue.com

In addition to these classes, we also offer private and on-site consulting services. For more information email Amy Mills or call 781-799-7202.

This Saturday at 1-7. If you’re local, please join us for a delicious and fun evening!

Catching up and capturing some memories from our 28th annual Praise the Lard® Murphysboro Barbecue Cook-off back in September. These unique blown glass apples are crafted for us by the Douglass School Art Place, a nationally renowned glass studio in Murphysboro.

Both the KCBS and MBN Grand Champions received one of these chainsaw-carved pigs, created by Bear Tracks of Brownstone, Illinois.

Thanks to Matt Price and Arthur Agency for creating our logo and graphics. People kept stealing the posters and table tents — the sign of a popular design.

Mike McCloud of MMA Creative in Nashville was on hand as creator and host of the World Food Championships super regional which we hosted during our event. Local cooks and teams competed in three categories, vying for Golden Tickets to the finals in Las Vegas.

Each team took home one of these hospitality baskets, filled to the brim with delicious Mileur Orchards apples, apple and peach butter, and Alto Vineyards wine, along with cases of beer, soda, Rule of Pie apple hand pies, moonshine, and bags of Royal Oak Charcoal. We’re known for having some the best swag on the circuit.

It takes two people to carry them back to the cook site.

Mike and the Luckhart girls on the way to the Dairy Queen. Sweet.

The Kansas City Barbecue Society honored us with Legacy Contest designation.

Crimson Express, the Murphysboro High School’s award-winning marching band entertained us on Friday afternoon …

… and they marched through the midway as their grand finale.

Key Club volunteers helped serve at our Fish Fry and Grand Champion Buffet.

We really appreciate their help and it’s a great way for them to get involved in community events.

Debby and Bill Gage and Carolyn Wells are our ace KCBS reps, overseeing the KCBS side of the contest.

Melzie Wilson and Rollie Williams, our ace Memphis Barbecue Network reps, keep things running smoothly on the MBN judging side.

The live music and street dance draw big crowds.

The band was Jackson Junction, a Southern Illinois favorite.

On Saturday, after the judging, Nine88, a local bluegrass/folk band, provided entertainment on the stage.

We partnered with the Brews Brothers Taproom and Grand River Spirits to hold a Bloody Mary Contest. The winner received an apple trophy, along with some moonshine and other gifts.

Just before the award ceremony, the St. Louis Praise team performed a rousing rendition of gospel songs, cleverly peppered with references to barbecue. We can’t wait to welcome them back this September.

The 2015 contest dates are September 24-26, 2015. Forms will be up on our website shortly. We’ll also be a super qualifier for the World Food Championships, and there are a few more fun things coming down the pike. Stay tuned for more details!

Photos ©Troy Brown.

Keep up with us!
Follow our adventures in real time on Instagram and Twitter.
See lots of entertaining and barbecue ideas on our Pinterest boards.
And we post fun things on Facebook, too!

I realize we’re well into 2015 – hello, February! – so please bear with me as I catch up and document the rest of an amazing 2014. I’m not sure what we did without camera phones to capture every interesting plate of food put before us? Scrolling through my photo album and remembering plates of food – and with whom I shared them – makes me inexplicably happy. Most of these are moments I didn’t document elsewhere on this site and I want to remember them.

We served these barbecue parfaits to groups of VIP guests at Memphis in May. Layers of tortilla chips, slaw, and succulent strings of pulled pork, drizzled with a bit of sauce.

Beet carpaccio at Cherche Midi. Red and golden beets sliced paper thin and layered with brebis and sprinkled with a pistachios. One of my favorite NYC nights in 2014. I will never not order this at Cherche Midi. Shane McBride is brilliant.

Sizzling, balsamic-glazed Brussels sprouts at The Pig in St. Louis. Loved these.

Michael Symon’s burger at the Burger Bash at South Beach Wine & Food Festival. So good.

Cheese board at Craftbar. Accompanied by lots of rosé and great friends.

Cornish game hen and waffles with cayenne-spiked syrup. Fun take on the standard chicken and waffles. At Cody’s Bistro in San Marcos, Texas with my whole pit crew and Keith Schmidt of Kreuz Market.

Gus’s fried chicken. A must during Memphis in May.

A sleepy Sunday afternoon at The Lodge at Giant City State Park with my daddy. All-you-can-eat fried chicken and all the fixin’s. A family tradition.

Bruleéd grapefruit at The Breslin at the Ace Hotel. A life-changing breakfast meeting. Must remember how big the possibilities seemed at that moment.

Lobster tails, carried fresh from Maine by DennyMike Sherman, and grilled during the National Barbecue Association convention in San Marcos, Texas.

Simple and fresh salad of butter beans, fresh South Carolina shrimp, and a light lemon vinaigrette. Monza, Charleston, SC.

Buttery buns stuffed full of fresh, tender lobster. An early morning treat handed over the fence during the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party by Ed McFarland of Ed’s Lobster Bar in Manhattan. Go there.

Beet salad and a bottle of rosé at Balthazar. Always a special treat.

Razor clams with apple, radishes, and bright with cilantro at The Ordinary in Charleston. We ordered pretty much the entire menu and it was all so, so good.

Slices of the very best Big Bob Gibson pies, carefully carried by Carolyn McLemore to Memphis in May. Peanut butter, coconut, and chocolate. Feels like home.

Sugo’s is one of my favorite places in St. Louis. My great college friend and Mizzou J-school cohort introduced me to this spot. Next to my favorite shopping spot and hotel, I go there often when I’m St. Louis. Great salads, wine, and pizza. Mike Del Pietro creates great dining experiences.

Softshell crab at Lorenzillios in Cancun. My first vacation not attached to a business trip in 20 years. Slow learner.

Celebrating a big deal with our Coolfire partners. Really great burnt ends sandwich at Bogart’s in the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis. Also the deviled egg potato salad. Bravo, Skippy!

Breakfast does not get much better than this. Big Bad Breakfast in Oxford, during SFA, with my partners in crime.

And, the triple tower. During eight visits to Charleston in 2014, The Ordinary became our go-to celebratory spot, with the triple tower as the centerpiece. The memories of each of these evenings, and the people gathered around the table, are seared into my mind. Moments as big as years. Looking forward to many more of these evenings in 2015.

Keep up with us!
Follow our adventures in real time on Instagram and Twitter.
See lots of entertaining and barbecue ideas on our Pinterest boards.
And we post fun things on Facebook, too! 

Registration is open for the
4th Annual Whole Hog Extravaganza/
Brisket Bonanza/BBQ MBA!

January 18-20, 2015 | Murphysboro, IL

Just 40 seats are available, and last year we sold out just before Christmas* so don’t wait – reserve a spot now!

Here are Just a Few of Our Speakers & Pitmasters:

• Coolfire Studios
  St. Louis, MO
• John Delpha
  Rosebud American Bar & Grill   |   Somerville, MA
• Sam Jones
  Skylight Inn   |   Ayden, NC
• Ken Goodman
  Ken Goodman Photography
• Kat Kinsman
  Tasting Table
• John Lewis
  La Barbecue   |   Austin, TX
• Pat Martin
  Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint   |  Nashville, TN
• Wayne Mueller
  Louis Mueller Barbecue   |  Taylor, TX
• Mike Mills
  17th Street Barbecue   |  Murphysboro, IL
• Amy Mills
  17th Street Barbecue & OnCue Consulting
• Craig Nelson
  Proof   |  Charleston, SC
• Barry Sorkin
  Smoque   |  Chicago, IL
• John Stage
  Dinosaur Bar-B-Que   |  New York

Whole Hog Extravaganza
& Brisket Bonanza Demos

Whole hog. Beef ribs. Brisket. Sausage. You’ll learn about regional traditions and, best of all, you’ll be able to taste the different flavor profiles cooked with a variety of wood, spices, and sauce.

The BBQ Story

BBQ MBA Speaker Series

Barbecue is about so much more than the food. Values, family, personal experiences, and dreams create a narrative that’s unique to you. Learn from industry leaders as they discuss telling the barbecue story. Here are just a few of the sessions we have planned:

Ace the Audition

Coolfire Studios, producers of a number of award-winning shows, as well as the Mills family’s upcoming series, shares casting advice and a behind-the-scenes look at making compelling television.

All About the Book Deal

John Delpha, Ken Goodman, and Amy Mills share insight into the publishing game. They’ll discuss their book deals, the writing and photography process, and what happens once a book is published.

Telling the Story Through Images

Celebrity chef/food photographer Ken Goodman gives five simple steps for improving your smartphone photos.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Sam Jones, Amy Mills, and Wayne Mueller talk about being raised up barbecue, their roles in their family businesses, and how they’re taking it to the next level.

Field Guide to the Barbecue Life

Industry luminaries discuss the barbecue lifestyle, and the principles and ideals by which they’re guided.

More to be announced shortly!

To learn more or to register, just email Amy Mills.

*Thinking of gifting a registration to someone? Whole Hog Extravaganza Gift Certificates are available! Just email Amy.

All veteran’s are invited to join us at our Murphysboro and Marion restaurants for a free barbecue, beans, and slaw lunch on Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Follow our adventures in real time on Instagram and Twitter.

See lots of entertaining and barbecue ideas on our Pinterest boards.
And we post fun things on Facebook, too! 

Just a few spaces left!

Join Mike, Amy, the 17th Street crew, and special guest instructor Andy Husbands, co-author of Wicked Good Barbecue and chef/owner of Tremont 647, for this two-day session where you will learn how to price and execute catering jobs for maximum profit and customer satisfaction, and gather dozens of ideas to strengthen your bottom line, elevate your best practices, and help your catering business SOAR!

We’ll delve deep into the world of catering:

• Creating Specialty Meats
• Signature Sides & Desserts
• Developing Delicious Menus Priced for PROFIT
• Purchasing, Planning, Pricing & Logistics
• Staffing
• Equipment & Decor

Remember…it only takes two or three new ideas or bits of information to add thousands of dollars to your bottom line. This is an investment that will reap huge dividends.

$950 per person (class size limited)

Email Amy or call 781-799-7202 for a registration form and travel/schedule details.

Held at the Ole Hickory Pits Test Kitchen one day before our Catering Master Class, the Legendary Barbecue class is usually attended by about half of the Master Class attendees.

• Cook on 3 Ole Hickory models  
• Unleash the power of your pit
• Learn Mike’s secrets for cooking ribs, chicken, brisket and shoulders
• Hear Mike’s philosophy on smoke & spice

$375 per person 

To register call 800-223-9667 or email elizabeth@olehickorypits.com