It’s easy to take for granted local access to tasty barbecue here in Minnesota. But before Famous Dave’s opened in the Twin Cities in 1995, some folks were driving all the way to Hayward, Wis.—the location of the first Famous Dave’s—to savor the seasoning and Southern smoked goodness of Famous Dave’s barbecue. Founder Dave Anderson has lived in Edina for more than 30 years. He and wife Kathy raised their two sons here, and their Edina home remains the Anderson family’s go-to location for great backyard barbecue. After all these years, Anderson still loves to cook, still spends hours testing new recipes and continues to win awards for his efforts in barbecue and beyond.
Anderson’s taste for Southern cooking dates back to his days growing up in Chicago. The Windy City isn’t necessarily known for its barbecue, but Anderson’s father was originally from Oklahoma, where Southern fare is more common. “My parents are Native Americans,” says Anderson. “My dad, Jimmie, was from the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma and mom, Iris, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibway in Hayward, Wis.” Anderson tells that his parents were removed from their homes at young ages by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and sent to the Haskell Institute for Indians, a Native American boarding school in Lawrence, Kan. They met in Kansas, later married and eventually settled in Chicago where jobs were more plentiful after World War II.
But the move north didn’t deter Jimmie’s affinity for Southern food. “He would drive Mom south until she learned to cook Southern,” Anderson says. “And in Chicago, Dad would search out all the best barbecue joints in town.” While other kids were going out for burgers and pizza, a young Dave Anderson was developing a lifelong appreciation for pit-smoked barbecue.
Anderson’s business savvy and entrepreneurship would come later. While some business moguls tell success stories of childhood lemonade stands and paper routes, Anderson didn’t believe in his own potential until he met motivational speaker Zig Ziglar in the early 1970s.
“I wasn’t a good student,” says Anderson. “And I was told that I would never succeed. But Ziglar, who is from Mississippi, took a liking to me, I think because of my Southern connection. I took Ziglar’s five-day ‘Born to Win’ course in 1972 and it changed my life.”
Anderson was then inspired to venture into the business world. He tasted success but also some bitter setbacks, including a battle with addiction that he opens up about in his book, Famous Dave Anderson’s Getting Sauced. “I nearly died from drugs and alcohol on more than one occasion,” Anderson says. He poignantly admits he would have never become a successful restaurateur without entering treatment and overcoming alcoholism with the help of God and his wife Kathy. And Anderson believes there is hope for others who fight similar battles.
Anderson pressed on, eventually earning a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University. He delved into various for profit and nonprofit opportunities but never lost his drive to develop the best barbecue flavor. That obsession came to fruition in Hayward, where Anderson would open the first Famous Dave’s BBQ Shack in 1994 . Anderson’s “rib-o-licious” Southern menu and pit-smoked meats became a great success, drawing diners from as far as the Twin Cities. So Anderson decided to open a second Famous Dave’s location closer to home in Minneapolis the following year. The rest is history. Anderson’s recipes and his restaurants have won more than 700 Best of Class awards, including best barbecued ribs more than 50 times. The company went public in 1996 and now has 187 franchise locations in 34 states and a well-attended stand at the Minnesota State Fair.
Along the way, Anderson never forgot his roots. In 2002, Dave and Kathy founded the LifeSkills Center for Leadership to help other young American Indians develop leadership and career skills and receive scholarships for advanced education. LifeSkills is currently run by Dave’s son, James. “I believe the American spirit is about overcoming adversity,” Dave Anderson says. “It’s not about rah-rah. It’s about perseverance. Kids need more than math and English skills. They need to learn about sales and public speaking and creative solutions to problems. That’s some of what students learn through LifeSkills.”
Anderson hopes his story of overcoming adversity might be an inspiration to other young people. He believes so strongly in the concept of overcoming adversity that whenever he interviews a potential employee, Anderson first looks for passion and then for the person’s ability to recognize opportunity in the face of adversity.
Anderson also values hard work and recalls a time he overheard a young person tell his friend not to work too hard at their job. Anderson was appalled. “Telling someone not to work too hard may sound good but it’s not doing your friends any favors,” he says. In fact, Anderson is such a fan of hard work, he can’t envision retirement and hopes to continue working well into his senior years. Though he had trouble reading as a young man, Anderson studies two to three hours each night. The bookshelves in his home have overflowed into the garage, where rows and rows of books line the walls. And the awards keep coming. Last year, Anderson was inducted into the Entrepreneur’s Hall of Fame along with Fred DeLuca, co-founder of Subway, Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-Fil-A, and Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx.
Constant cooking, tinkering and tweaking of recipes are still a big part of Anderson’s life. The kitchen in his Edina home is designed to test new menu items. It has a large commercial stove and grill combo with a hooded exhaust fan that stretches the length of an entire wall. Behind the kitchen is a dish room with stainless steel sinks and an overhead sprayer for cleaning large pots and woks, as well as double-deck ovens and a separate scullery and pantry. Outdoors, Anderson has no less than six grills and smokers on hand for grilling an outdoor feast. Both of the Andersons’ grown sons cook, and Kathy prepares the regular family meals. But Dave is still the grill master who loves to barbecue for his family and friends in Edina.
“We moved to Edina for the schools,” says Anderson. One of their sons lives nearby with his wife and children. And Dave says he enjoys winter and snowmobiling too much to ever live in the South. “Edina is great,” Anderson says. “They’ve done great things in the 50th and France area. There is Whole Foods, Jerry’s and Byerly’s. There are also great restaurants and great churches in Edina. This is a great community.”
TIPS FOR PLANNING A MEMORABLE PARTY
• Great parties don’t just happen; they take extra work and need to be well planned and executed. Make sure you have enough time to get things done.
• Impress all five senses of your guests. Ask yourself: What will they see when they drive up? How are they greeted? What will they do when they walk in … stand? Get a drink? Sit down? What music will they hear? What aroma will they smell? What will they taste?
• Fun parties don’t always need main entrées. A bunch of appetizers for guests to munch on is often all it takes to have a successful get-together.
• Do something really memorable like setting up a photo opportunity for an amazing party keepsake.
—Excerpted from Famous Dave’s Barbecue Party Cookbook, Secrets of a BBQ Legend
RECIPES:
Bluehorse Maple Chops with Mandarin Appleslaw
From Famous Dave’s Barbecue Party Cookbook, Secrets of a BBQ Legend
Ingredients:
4 thick pork chops
50/50 blend of kosher salt and fresh coarse-ground black pepper
Bluehorse Maple Marinade
Bluehorse Maple Marinade:
¼ cup pure maple syrup
¼ cup blue agave honey
2 Tbsp. fresh ground horseradish
2 Tbsp. stone ground mustard
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. fresh garlic, minced and smashed
2 tsp. Sriracha sauce
2 tsp. kosher salt
In a large bowl, mix all ingredients for marinade. Place pork chops in marinade, cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours.
Remove pork chops from refrigerator and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Prepare grill with charcoal and a small hickory log. Smoke chops by indirect heat over low smoldering coals and smoking hickory log for about 20 minutes. Open the grill and let the log catch on fire, then quickly give the chops a sear while basting with marinade. Chops are done when they reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees. Serve with mandarin appleslaw.
Mandarin Appleslaw
8 chilled apples, cored and peeled
2 cups chilled mandarin oranges in ½ cup of juice
1 Tbsp. Ball Fruit Fresh Produce Protector
Core and peel 8 chilled apples. Place in a food processor and pulse briefly to turn into a coarse pulp. Do not overpulse and turn apples into mush; you want apples to be rough-chopped, like a slaw.
In a medium bowl, add ½ cup of mandarin orange juice and 1 tablespoon of Ball Fruit Fresh Produce Protector. Mix well and then add appleslaw. Next, rough-chop mandarin oranges and add to appleslaw. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour. Yields about four cups.
Learn more at lifeskills-center.org.
