Champion BBQ pitmaster Chris Lilly of Alabama’s Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q team will be golfing at next week’s Bob Hope Classic celebrity tournament in La Quinta, CA. This year’s Hope Classic lineup includes Snake Plisskin, Agent Dale Cooper, Detective Kevin Bernard, and Subliminal Man, to name just a few. Personally, I hope my friend Chris plays circles around Dr. Phil.

Chris dropped me a note to say,

“It’s great to hear from you and I would love for a bunch of my California friends to drop by and see me!! Yes it is true. I will be playing in the BHC and cooking all week as well.
To pull this off I am bringing my right hand man, Ken Hess, to help with the pits during the week. Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q will have pulled pork sandwiches available all week for the public Wednesday-Sunday during the tournament. I will also be doing a short cooking school on Sunday at about 9:00 or 9:30am at Hope Square…samples available. [ed - Hope Square is located between the Nicklaus Private Course and the Palmer Private Course, directly behind the practice facilities at PGA West]“

For those who can’t make it to the Palm Springs area, you can watch the tournament all week on the Golf Channel. Lilly’s legendary pork shoulder just won’t taste as good on the telly.

January 18- 24, 2010 La Quinta, CA
Bob Hope Classic

According to the OC Register, the delayed opening of gourmet grocer Dean & DeLuca has been cancelled permanently.

Nice timing on the annoucement, food Grinches. May Santa leave reindeer turds in your stockings.

A Denver marijuana dispensary has opened the country’s first restaurant with a menu laced with pot.  The Ganja Gourmet sells brownies,  chocolates,  lasagna, and a goat cheese and sausage pizza.  Let’s hope their ganja cookery tastes better than those oddly green, haybale-tasting brownies you made in college.

Colorado is one of the states that allows medical marijuana patients to buy pot with a doctor’s recommendation, so all customers must have their doctor’s permission before ordering anything off the menu. The Associated Press reports that goat cheese and sausage pizza sells for $89, which might make it the most expensive pizza in the county.  I wonder if I can just buy a slice and sprinkle on a little extra “oregano” from the shaky jar instead?

Trickest tailgating vehicle ever, if you’re young, male, and Asian. Two out of three ain’t bad in my case.

Kogi BBQ Scion

Toyota built a show car with a built in grill, refrigerator, and sink for the 2009 car show circuit inspired by their friends at the Kogi BBQ truck. See the story at the LA Times