Husband-and-wife team Pat and Gina Neely, stars of one of the Food Network’s most popular programs, “Down Home With the Neelys,” will bring their trademark humor, stories and good food to She: An Expo for Women on Sunday, July 11. They’ll sign cookbooks at 12:30 p.m., then give a cooking demonstration at 2 p.m. on the closing day of the expo at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
Twenty-two years ago, Mr. Neely and his three brothers — Gaelin, Tony and Mark — opened their first barbecue house in downtown Memphis with just a few tables and one pit. Within four years, their reputation for good barbecue had spread throughout the River City.
“We were taught the art of cooking barbecue from our grandfather, mother and old, handed-down recipes,” Mr. Neely said. “We also spent a lot of time in our backyard experimenting with different recipes and cooking techniques.”
The brothers opened a second restaurant in 1992, and within a few years, Mrs. Neely joined her husband and brothers-in-law in their growing barbecue enterprise. In 2001 they opened a third restaurant in Nashville.
If you go* What: She: An Expo for Women, featuring Pat and Gina Neely.* When: Noon-6 p.m. Sunday, July 11.* Where: Chattanooga Convention Center, 1 Carter Plaza.* Admission: $30 (two-day ticket good July 10-11)-$170 (VIP package with guaranteed autograph and reserved seating for cooking demonstration).* Website: www.timesfreepress.com/news/she2010.Fast factThe Neelys now have three restaurants, two in Memphis and one in Nashville. They also have five locations in the Pyramid Arena in Memphis, as well as two gift shops in the Nashville airport, where flyers can buy their signature sauces and rubs.
Twenty years after opening the Memphis restaurant, Pat and Gina Neely debuted on the Food Network with “Down Home With the Neelys,” which spawned a cookbook of the same name and a second show, “Road Tested With the Neelys.”
And the Neely enterprise keeps rolling. Eight months ago, the couple launched an online business, www.neelysbbq.com, that offers merchandise, apparel and barbecue that can be shipped anywhere in the United States. Shoppers also can get the Neelys’ three flavors of barbecue sauce and dry rub in grocery stores across the country.
The couple said they’re working on a deal to open another restaurant in a major city, and they’re halfway through writing a second cookbook. This year they’ll hit the road several times for events such as She.
“We enjoy meeting so many wonderful people who watch our show daily,” Mrs. Neely said. “But we also have to keep in mind that we still have a 15-year-old daughter (at home), and it’s important to spend as much quality time as possible with our daughters. It’s a true balancing act.”
A focus on family meals is a theme of their shows and cookbooks.
“Eating together as a family is one of the most important elements to keeping a family together and close,” Mrs. Neely said. “We were both raised that way, and we have always shared meals with our daughters, Spenser and Shelbi, on a nightly basis.
“When they were very young, we would come home and cook meals together as they sat at the table doing their homework. During dinner we would talk about their social life and activities. On special occasions, we typically have the extended family over. These events keep us very close and fill the house with plenty of love.”