For the past 11 years, Whippen has run Wood Chicks BBQ. Citing family reasons, she closed the restaurant Monday.
Lee Ann has appeared in numerous TV, radio and print stories about BBQ including the Travel Channel, The Today Show, 700 Club and People Magazine. She even served BBQ to the Senators and Congressman in the Capitol. However, she is most widely known for TLC’s “BBq Pitmasters” series and the infamous “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” on the Food Network, where she beat Bobby Flay with her mouth-watering pulled pork shoulder.
In 1996 she began competing in BBQ with “Team Boaris,” including father and step-mother Jim and Kathy Tabb. She founded Wood Chick’s BBQ Catering Company and BBQ Competition Team in Chesapeake, Virginia in 2002. Wood Chick’s BBQ Catering Company grew twofold between 2002 and 2004. Due to the growth of the catering, the 24′ trailer with smoker on board wasn’t enough to handle the demand, and the decision was made to open Wood Chick’s BBQ Restaurant in Chesapeake Virginia in 2004.
Chef/Partner Lee Ann Whippen is a nationally recognized BBQ pitmaster. She is also president and owner of Wood Chick’s BBQ Restaurants & Catering Company and has done competitive BBQ for more than 16 years with accomplishments including:
As part of its lease deal with the hotel, Southern Cut is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily; the Southern-style breakfast menu includes a barbecue Benedict, barbecue sliders and breakast tacos, as well as pancakes, omelets and French toast.
The last we saw award-winning pitmaster Lee Ann Whippen, she was whippin’ (sorry) up barbecue for Chicago Q, which is now headed by chef Art Smith.
“Most barbecue places have them in back,” Whippen said. “Here, some people will be within arm’s length of the food cooking. It’s so cool to be able to take meats off the smoker and hand them right to the table; they can watch me work, and I still can touch tables and talk about the barbecue.”
“They’re excited by the product and have a love of barbecue,” Whippen said. “This is like a barbecue match made in heaven.”
Whippen left Chicago Q to work with Frozen Foodies, developing a line of chef-driven frozen barbecue products. And now she’s back.
Lee Ann Whippen of Wood chicks BBQ – TLC Pitmasters Interview
FAQ
Who owns Wood Chicks BBQ?
What happened to Lee Ann Whippen?
What did Buxton BBQ look like?
Physically, Buxton was conceived as a different kind of barbecue restaurant, or rather as a barbecue restaurant that looked and felt like other modern restaurants of its time. Its kitchen was mostly open and, for better or worse, its hogs were smoked indoors and its green beans were cooked in the pork fat as it rendered down.
Does Archer’s BBQ still have ribs?
What we know about the Knoxville restaurant chain The ribs are still the most popular item on the menu. Archer’s BBQ, which opened its newest restaurant just a few months ago, has wiped its website and Facebook pages and no one is answering the phones at any of the barbecue restaurants.
Where did Buxton BBQ come from?
When it first opened in a sprawling 9,400-square-foot space in downtown Asheville, Buxton emerged from the bones of a former skating rink. The restaurant’s menu was built around the whole hog style of barbecue Moss learned from his parents and grandparents while growing up in rural South Carolina.
What happened to Buxton Grill in Asheville?
Buxton put a modern spotlight on whole hog barbecue, created a famous chicken sandwich and built a dining room that buzzed from the beginning, helping to bridge the past and present of North Carolina barbecue. The Asheville restaurant announced it will close Nov. 22, the day before Thanksgiving.