Andy Husbands is an award-winning chef, restaurateur, author and television personality. Currently, he is the chef and owner of The Smoke Shop BBQ restaurants, Boston Magazine's “Best Barbecue Restaurant” 2018 and “Best Barbecue 2018 & 2017” by The Improper Bostonian. With locations ranging from Cambridge's Kendall Square and Seaport's Fort Point to Somerville's Assembly Row, Husbands is "smoking" the competition. After nearly 30 years in the restaurant industry, Pitmaster Andy Husbands serves as one of the city's most celebrated culinary leaders and foremost authority on regional Barbecue and live-fire cooking in New England.
Biography
Born and raised in Seattle, Husbands moved to Massachusetts with his father in 1984 at the age of fourteen. That was the year he took an after school job working at a neighborhood bakery. In 1992 he became sous chef at the nationally renowned East Coast Grill under mentor Chris Schlesinger after graduating from Johnson & Wales University. In 1995 he took a cross-country trip on his motorcycle. He worked in several San Francisco based restaurants and lived on a New Mexico farm during his travels, these experiences greatly influenced the seasonally-focused menu at his beloved Tremont 647; Husbands first restaurant which opened in 1996. Over time Tremont 647 became a South End staple, from Pajama Brunch & Taco Tuesday's, to their seasonally-influenced dinner menu, everyone knew the corner of Tremont and West Brookline Streets. Hailed “Boston’s Meat Maven” by The Boston Globe, Husbands first came into the national spotlight competing on Season 6 of FOX Television Network's fiery Hell's Kitchen, and has since appeared on CBS This Morning, The Food Network and Fox & Friends. He is the co-founder of internationally recognized BBQ team, IQUE BBQ, which became the first New England team to win the World Champions of BBQ Title in 2009 at the Jack Daniels World Championship in Tennessee, and has co-authored five coveted cookbooks, including “Wicked Good Burgers,” “Wicked Good BBQ,” “Grill to Perfection,” “The Fearless Chef,” and his latest, “Pitmaster: Recipes, Techniques & Barbecue Wisdom,” recently awarded “Book of the Year” by National Barbeque News.
Charity
Husbands is concerned about childhood hunger and donates his time and money to Share Our Strength, the national hunger relief organization. Husbands has also hosted the organization's direct service program annual Operation Frontline dinner at Tremont 647 for 20 years. He is honorary chair of Share Our Strength's Boston Taste of the Nation annual fundraiser and is on the restaurant committee for the Rodman Ride for Kids an annual event that raises money for children's charities. He is also an active board member of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, for which he was honored as MRA's Chef of the Year in 2014, as well as a Rodman Celebration Restaurant Chair. In September 2017 Husbands joined forces with restaurants East Coast Grill, Firefly's BBQ, BT's Smokehouse and Blue Ribbon BBQ to host Operation BBQ Relief. A fundraiser benefitting those effected by Hurrican Harvey and Hurricane Irma. Together Husbands and his team raised over $11,000 for the charity.
IQue Barbecue
When not in the kitchen and working with his favorite charities, Husbands is competing with his internationally recognized BBQ team: IQUE BBQ. IQUE became the first New England Team to become world champions of BBQ by winning the Jack Daniels World Championships in Lynchburg, Tennessee in 2010. In 2007 IQue took 1st place, out of 510 teams, in the brisket category at the Kansas City Royal.
Cookbooks
Husbands' first cookbook, The Fearless Chef: Innovative Recipes from the Edge of American Cuisine was released in 2004. Husbands collaborated with iQue BBQ teammate, Chris Hart, for his second cookbook, Wicked Good Barbecue, released March 2012. April 2014 saw the release of Grill to Perfection with Page Street Publishing. And of course, “The Fearless Chef,” and his latest, “Pitmaster: Recipes, Techniques & Barbecue Wisdom,” recently awarded “Book of the Year” by National Barbeque News.
Awards
Husbands was a semi-finalist in the James Beard Award's Best Chef category in 2008 and 2009. Other honors include: Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence, grand prize in the National Poultry Council's Grab Bag Contest and several "Best of Boston" awards from Boston magazine and several other Boston-area periodicals. In 2000 and 2002, he was named one of Boston nightlife's most influential people by Stuff at Night magazine. In the spring of 2005, he was one of only 5 "Celebrated Chefs" chosen by the National Pork Board. He participated in the Board's national media tour for its "Pork, the Other White Meat" campaign. A particular passion for Husbands is participating in barbecue competitions, which he has done from Vermont to Tennessee, capturing numerous trophies with his team. Most notably in 2007, Husbands' team took 1st place out of 510 teams in the Brisket category at the Kansas City Royal.
