Kentucky Hidden Wonders

From Family Grocer To Legendary Grill At B&N Food Market

• Kentucky Hidden Wonders

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A granddad with a butcher’s hand, a grocery from 1970, and a burger that made a town famous—this is the flavor map behind B&N Food Market in Bagdad, Kentucky. We sit down with Buckshot and Ashley Warren to trace how a family store turned into a destination where the Newt Burger, 20‑hour brisket, and blue‑ribbon desserts pull travelers off I‑64 and locals back for seconds. The story runs on work ethic and love: fresh‑ground beef like Newt did it and sides that taste like home.

Buckshot learned the craft shoulder to shoulder with his grandfather, then refined it with a Texas road trip. Tips from pitmasters at spots like 2M Smokehouse sharpened technique without sanding off roots, leading to brisket that stands on its own and pinto beans brightened at the finish with diced tomatoes and cilantro. Ashley adds the connective tissue—community, storytelling, and a steady social presence whose “Not Bad For Bagdad” rallying cry now belongs to the guests who line up from across the globe. Along the way, the coon hunter’s cake and a new applesauce spice cake keep the dessert case stacked with recipes that read like family history.

There’s more than food here. During the pandemic, they served outside, remodeled the 1912 building back to its bones, and doubled down on hospitality without losing pace. Portions stay generous, prices stay fair, and the smoker never sleeps. Whether you come for ribs, pulled pork, bone‑in pork chops, or a slab of fish seasoned only with salt, the promise is the same: honest, scratch‑made comfort that respects the past and cooks for today. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves real barbecue, and leave a review to help more folks find their way to Bagdad, KY.

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🎙️ Kentucky Hidden Wonders is presented by ShelbyKY Tourism.

🥃 Plan a visit to Your Bourbon Destination® at www.visitshelbyky.com. Located in the heart of central Kentucky and less than an hour from Louisville and Lexington, ShelbyKY is the perfect Kentucky getaway. Complete with two great distilleries, action-packed outdoor adventures, and the best vacation rentals near Louisville, put ShelbyKY at the top of your list when planning a Kentucky Bourbon Trail® trip, romantic couples retreat, or a whole-family vacation.

🎙️ Kentucky Hidden Wonders is hosted by Janette Marson and Mason Warren and edited by Ethan Fisher.

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© ShelbyKY Tourism, All Rights Reserved.

SPEAKER_02:

Our guests today are Buckshot and Ashley Warren of Being in Food Market, no relation. But thank you all for being here.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, thanks for having us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So appreciate it. Before we uh jump in, I have to ask, where did the where did the name buckshot come from? We are dying to know.

SPEAKER_03:

That is the burning question.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the story I was told was uh when the day I was born, my granddad came up to the hospital, and uh when they got there, he looked at me, he said, Well, he's no bigger than a buckshot.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh well, there you go. You've had it since birth.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so technically it's my name.

SPEAKER_00:

Legally.

SPEAKER_01:

Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. You had it changed.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

That way I just signed buckshot. Yeah. Yeah, like prints or whatever. There you go. Like print for autographs. That's your real signature. Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

That's so right. His grandfather gave everybody a nickname.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Everybody almost in the family has one. Everybody that came in the store has one. We still have Elmo. We still have name some more for him. What's your what's yours? I never had one. He just always called me girl. Oh, ah. Yeah, I got girl.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. My uncle, his name's Cak. I some. My other uncle's I Sum. I think my brother is Shanghai.

SPEAKER_00:

Alice, Pearl, Dennis, is Peggy, Jack. Everybody had a name. Both family and the public. That is so funny.

SPEAKER_03:

So wonderful. So when I first moved to Kentucky, somebody asked me if I wanted a nickname. And I said, no, thank you. It'll go with me to my obituary. It will, probably.

SPEAKER_01:

Mine came pretty natural.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. People don't know his real name.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Nobody knows my real name. You're like Rumpel Stillskin.

SPEAKER_03:

Right. Or better like Prince. Yeah. Let's go with Prince. That's cool. So let's talk a little bit about BN and how that wonderful restaurant and store got started.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, uh the BN got started in 1970. It was uh my granddad Garnet Newton, my grandmother Betty Newton, and Betty Newton, her dad, my great-granddad James Bailey. He was the B and the B and N, so it was Bailey and Newton.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

So that was 1970. It got started. They paid his part off pretty soon, I think, after they got started. Because he was a farmer. He didn't have nothing to do with the store. But uh so they ran a grocery store there. It was uh back in them times you didn't have your Kroger or Walmart, so you could have, you know, a full-scale store, like a full still full-scale grocery store. Right. And uh he'd cut up meat in the back, you know, they would get sides uh cows or whatever and cut the meat out. That's how you get your ribeyes, your hamburger. He'd grind the hamburger. And uh he did they did that for I guess 17 years. I think it was 17. 88. So eighty no eighteen years. So from 70 to 88, they ran a grocery store.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, and you probably watched because you the food, people listening, if you have not been to BNN, it is an experience, a wonderful experience. So how did you start cooking and getting into this?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, uh of course when I was a little kid, I would go to the store all the time and uh they finally let me run the cash restaurant. I think I was about seven years old, and I started working almost full time as a little kid. And uh I think about the time I was 12 years old, somebody told on me to the state they didn't like it that I was working there. So that was a big uh that was a pretty big thing because the news they came out, uh Byron Crawford, he used to write for the Career Journal, and he came out and uh because they thought it was crazy because you know somebody's working for their uncle by this time my uncle bought the store. Okay, Rusty. So this was uh but my granddad was still there, so I was working for them. So we didn't think nothing about it until you know somebody tipped the state off. So then my uncle had to how was it?

SPEAKER_00:

Rusty um became his legal guardian. Oh so if you are a person's legal guardian, they can work for you at whatever age. So our kids could work now at the age of five. It doesn't matter, really.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, there are kids, so it doesn't matter. That's why it doesn't matter because there aren't.

SPEAKER_00:

But where it was his uncle as owner, the labor cabinet was like, No, you can't do this. This is a child labor.

SPEAKER_01:

So after the news came out and they asked me, you know, Buckshot, uh, how's it going since you lost your job and I have my shorts on, I pulled my pockets out and they were empty. I was like, Well, here's how it's gone.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and you were 12. Yeah, yeah. The clip is on our social media. I've seen the clip is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's uh that's a real thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So anyway, uh I kept working and you know, back then the store was I think I think we only had lunch, like lunchtime, that was it. And then after that, it was just a grocery store. So uh I I could tell, you know, how the where all the focus I think the main focus was the food there, because that's what drew everybody in, because by this time, you know, as I'm getting older, you know, you got your Kroger, your Walmart, you know, everybody wants to go to town. But uh you had to have something unique, which is what we did was the Newt Burger, which is the the hamburger that my granddad started at at the BM food market. He started cooking cheeseburgers in the back because we have that fresh hamburger. So you know, you just pat it out by hand in the nineties. I think the very early nineties is when the actual cooking started. Okay. Okay. So that would have probably been almost before I even worked there, I would say.

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm. Really close, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But uh, so you got this fresh meat, you know, you grind that up and pat it out and cook it, you know, that's a pretty unique thing.

SPEAKER_03:

Absolutely. And that newt burger is wonderful.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I've eaten several myself. Not bad for Baghdad.

SPEAKER_03:

Not bad for Baghdad.

SPEAKER_01:

But anyway, he would, you know, it's just a basic thing, but you use the best meat, the freshest meat, and you grind it yourself. We still have the same grinder. So anyway, he'd be back there smoking cigarettes, cooking cheeseburgers.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, ass falling on the ball.

SPEAKER_01:

And lines of people, and nobody cared because, you know, my granddad, they called him Newt, and he was kind of like a legendary person. Right. So I just watched him how he done things, and uh my uncle, he uh he was there when I was younger, he was there a lot, but as I got older, uh he had other things to do, so it's just basically me and my granddad there. So I learned how to basically run the whole thing and all while working with my granddad. And uh it kind of just uh it was a lot of long, long work, you know, work, you know. I I kept telling my uncle, you know, I'd like to buy this place one day, and I just had it in the back of my mind, like hopefully I'll get there one day. And so I just kept working. But I mean, when you get to work with your granddad, I mean it's a you just stay in there, you know, it don't matter what you get paid or whatever. I didn't really do it for the money. I just did it because it was like a a family thing and you know, something that I just felt like I needed to do and wanted to do. And even as a child, I always said I was gonna buy the B and N. So it was just kind of a goal of mine in life.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

To be like my granddad in a way, but uh, but it's kind of uh exploded now to something totally different.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, you have you have taken it to a whole new level. He's meant to be there. That is for sure. So these recipes, they are handed down, yeah, right? Yeah. So I'm thinking, I'm thinking of that coon hunter's cake.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my heavens, that is probably my favorite dessert in the world.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the coon hunter's cake was my grandmother's uh recipe. She used to cook all the time, and they would they would sell some at the store, but uh sorry, I taught my but they would they would sell some at the store, and uh we were talking one day at my grandmother's house. I was just sitting there in a chair, it's like in wintertime. I was like, I was looking through her recipes, I was like, you know, I bet this would be uh good to sell. And she's like, oh yeah, they'll go crazy over that. So I started cooking, I started cooking the cake myself, and uh I'd cooked one or two. I think I cooked two the first time, and then before you know it, I'm cooking four every single day.

SPEAKER_00:

How many do you sell on a Saturday? How many pieces?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh I would say, well, on Friday and Saturday, close to a hundred pieces on Friday and on Saturday.

SPEAKER_03:

Wow, wow, and those are good sized pieces.

SPEAKER_01:

And they're like they're they're probably like three pieces in the pieces. So that's a value at$4.99 a piece. You're actually getting three pieces. You are. But yeah, my grandma found that recipe. They used to go to Lake Okeechobee and uh her sister-in-law, which was my granddad Newt's sister, they uh they would be down there and uh they got the recipe from some lady down there, and it's in the recipes, my mammy's recipes like 1981, maybe. So we keep it going. Oh that's so good.

SPEAKER_02:

So let's uh switch gears a little bit from the uh I'll say from the sweet to the savory. Yeah. Uh and uh I think is it fair to say you're best known for your brisket?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I mean, in my mind, I would like to be known for that. Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

But uh we're gonna say that. So we're gonna make it we're gonna make it so.

SPEAKER_01:

So Yeah, my granddad came up with a newt burger. So one winter day when there wasn't nothing going on, no hams to cook.

SPEAKER_00:

I thought, well, yeah, let's wait, let's stop there. When he says there's nothing going on, he's probably just cooked and deboned and wrapped and sliced, probably about 200 bone-in country hams. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01:

Because that was the thing my granddad did back in the day, you know, cook country hams. So I kept the tradition going. And uh so then he gets bored, he says in January. Yeah, because it's January. In January used to be dead or no get out.

SPEAKER_00:

So you bought a what?

SPEAKER_01:

I bought a little, no, uh, I bought a little uh it almost looked like a what do you call them? The roaster ovens. Like a roaster ovens. It was like a roaster oven.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And I got it from Mary Ann, this lady that that works at me, works with us at the store. I was like, Mary Ann I'll I'll buy that from you. And there's a little had wood thing in it. So I cooked a brisket one day.

SPEAKER_00:

It's comical.

SPEAKER_01:

We have a picture of it sitting out in the snow, and you know, the drop cord going out in the snow, sitting inside because I didn't want to smoke up the whole store. Right. Yeah. I didn't know a thing about what I was doing. And I had seen some things like I never even really fooled with brisket, and I just I think it was that Aaron Franklin guy. I seen some videos of him, and I was like, well, I just sit, you know, I just for fun. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

For fun when we've just about like hit pure exhaustion. Yeah. That's what he thinks of what can we do next? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

That's that's why that's it. You have to be working all the time because I uh I would say I inherited uh I didn't inherit money, but I inherited a work ethic from my granddad. Yeah. Well, you would have to because something that's that's invaluable.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, I had never had the brisket until we were together at the state fair. Every time I'm at BN, I always get the Newt Burger, which is fantastic. I keep thinking, I will branch out, I will get the fish, I will do something else. And it, but that brisket, oh, that was life-changing. Yeah, that was so good. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01:

The reason the brisket is what it is is because of Ashley.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, do tell Ashley. Do tell. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh well, she took me on a trip to central Texas in 2019.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like what? I'm not talking about.

SPEAKER_01:

We went to we went to all the legendary barbecue places in central Texas.

SPEAKER_00:

So we planned out a trip where we could go to thr we did we did three cities?

SPEAKER_01:

We started in Houston. Yeah. San Antonio and San Antonio, Austin.

SPEAKER_00:

And Dallas.

SPEAKER_01:

Austin, and then what's that little town?

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know. So we saw like a lot of the biggest.

SPEAKER_01:

That's been a few years ago.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we did a lot of driving. Texas is a huge place.

SPEAKER_01:

It is huge.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, you know, so we uh we saw like four, four of the big time.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we saw I actually saw Aaron Franklin at Franklin Barbecue, but he was on the telephone, so I didn't talk to him. And then uh Gatlin.

SPEAKER_00:

Greg Gatlin.

SPEAKER_01:

We went to hit that's the first one we ate at was Houston, Greg Gatlin.

SPEAKER_00:

And we got off the plane, we went straight to Greg Gatlin's, we took a bite, and no offense to Greg Gatlin, but I took that first bite and I thought, oh my gosh, we've flown all the way to Texas, and we've got brisket just as good as this in Baghdad.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So like why we just went on this huge trip, and yeah. But but the things we learned in Texas.

SPEAKER_01:

But the best part of the whole trip was the best place of the whole trip was a place called 2M Smokehouse in San Antonio. Uh this uh tall uh guy waited on us and you know, cut our stuff up. He looked, I mean, he was like a professional head. I was watching every detail, and uh, that was the best place we ate it. And I was like, man, that pool of pork just melting your mouth. So I ended up uh texting them on Instagram. I was like, how y'all do that pool of pork like that? And you know, it took them a while, and then uh one day I looked and they liked one of my cheeseburger pictures on Instagram. I was like, oh my god, actually, uh two M Smokehouse likes my stuff. And then before you know it, the guy that owns the place, uh, he wasn't there that day, but uh SO Ramos, he texted me and told me how to do the pulled pork. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, I love it when people share. Yeah, so it's a good thing. And then his pit the guy that waited on us there, his pit master, Dusty, uh, he followed us on Instagram and he would give me tips on ribs because I mean they had the most beautiful. I would sit and look at I would look at their stuff, I mean, even over Aaron Franklin and all of them, and I was like, man, that they just made everything look so good. I mean, it was just like picture perfect, and uh if it hadn't been for them, I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

They've shared a lot of tips, a lot of advice, a lot of, you know, like we can complain about pricing and you know, just the market and small business stuff that only other small business owners understand.

SPEAKER_01:

And they're both very And I mean they I just worked, I just kept doing it, kept doing it, kept doing I mean, every day, every day. And uh I finally got in a rhythm now where I about halfway know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, it is perfect just and you quit all just all the way there, all the way to Texas to find out that yours is yeah, just as good. It really is just say better. Yeah, it is another text story.

SPEAKER_01:

She got me uh a thing to go to uh Barb's barbecue brisket class. Oh and this girl, she's like big time now Michelin star.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, she just got like chef of the year and uh what's that called? Was it James Beard or yeah, James Beard, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, Southwest.

SPEAKER_01:

So she's very recognized, this girl. She worked at Goldie's Barbecue, which was ranked number one on Texas Monthly's list a few years ago. And anyway, so uh we go we're going to Texas to go to that barbecue class. And uh we st of course we have to stop in San Antonio first before we go there. So I go to 2M and uh SO, he was like, uh, why are you going to a brisket class for? I said, Well, Ashley bought it for him.

SPEAKER_00:

Blame me, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I think you've got it absolutely perfected. Yeah. And you guys, you are so good at your social media. Yes. Both your videos. Ashley, talk a little bit about how I mean, just you're like pros. Whatever you do, that's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00:

It's all him. And I think that like people see it and they'll except for the post about me, I let her do that.

SPEAKER_01:

That wasn't it. That is true. He does not brag about himself.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_01:

But let everybody know.

SPEAKER_00:

But I think that like he, you know, he comes off with like these one-line things and these zingers and these like not bad for Baghdad, which is like a hashtag that other people are using now.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that that's one of the biggest slogans I've ever come up with.

SPEAKER_00:

It's just one of those things he's so much like his grandfather. Newt just had these one-liners that he would say, and that's why people loved him. And but it's the thing is it's not put on. Yeah, it's just who they are, just all natural.

SPEAKER_01:

Like the not bad for Baghdad thing. I think it was we were nominated. What was it? Best in the state for best burger, best uh down home restaurant, best barbecue. And I I tell people, well, that's not bad for Baghdad. That's where it started. And then you say, that's good. Back it is a town of about what'd Rusty say? 400? I think so. Including cats and dogs.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Sounds about right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So I mean, that's not bad. Yeah. That is definitely not bad.

SPEAKER_01:

And another let me tell y'all this real fast about the Texas thing. The the one of the greatest things that ever happened to me in my life, food life, yeah, is it was a rib Wednesday.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh. He had just had COVID.

SPEAKER_01:

I had had the COVID, and I had come and I came back to work that day, and I was struggling. And uh it's a wonder he was even at work that day. And but you know, I had to go to work because I had to get the job done. But anyway, I look up in the line, and there's that guy from 2M Smokehouse.

SPEAKER_03:

The guy that we met, the very first trip that cut our brisket in that line. That's amazing. He must have really been taken by your pictures, by your conversation. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

But I didn't know he was coming.

SPEAKER_00:

No, and they so him and his girlfriend of the time, they're now married, but the girlfriend they had gone on a road trip, he's now opened his own pizza place. That's a whole other story. But they went on this huge like excursion from New York over into Michigan. They literally planned their trip out back to Texas so that they could come see him at BNN.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they stopped in thus before they went to Nashville.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

But uh when your rib hero comes, yeah, your rib hero comes out. That was like the best.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, that's almost like if you were a little kid and Michael Jordan came and shot ball with you or something.

SPEAKER_03:

Wow, that that is that is amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Dusty Dwarak, he now owns the best pizza restaurant in Texas. Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_03:

So who's some other? Sorry, Mason. You may be wanting to ask the same question. I don't know. Name some other surprise guests that have walked into BN.

SPEAKER_00:

Michael Bush, the athlete.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh yeah. Met Michael Bush.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh or where's the farthest?

SPEAKER_01:

Rick Tartino's lawyer. Met him.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh that's funny.

SPEAKER_01:

Um he likes his bologna sandwich, thick as a mule's lip.

SPEAKER_00:

That was uh that came from grandfather. That's okay. Okay, okay. Uh um, the furthest would be the guy that we met at the state fair, but then who came, South Africa.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh no, the furthest away, uh that guy from Japan or something. Oh, yeah, true. And then there's a guy from Dubai. He got something to do with uh Porsche. Uh he stopped in when he follows us.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, it's international, y'all. Yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I mean, there's so many people.

SPEAKER_00:

I I there's uh I mean it's uh it's name some from last week. Some places.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you just this morning, Michigan. Yesterday, Michigan, the day before that, Minnesota.

SPEAKER_00:

But I'm talking Ireland. Yeah, Ireland was about a week ago.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, Germany was a few weeks ago. But at least uh like I said, that's not bad for Baghdad. Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_02:

That is not so uh is it fair to say uh, with the exception of the brisket classes, uh that you're a self-trained chef.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I would say I don't know if you would say the word chef, but self-trained, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

No, I I would consider you head chef. Uh executive chef there.

SPEAKER_01:

I kind of consider myself the head baloney slicer. But don't short, don't short yourself. Yeah, I uh I mean I learned from S.O. Ramos, who is a two-time James Beard nominee. I mean, and he's a barbecue man for and got a Jane or nominee for James Beard. I mean, yeah, in the food world, that's like big time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but I think we gotta go back because it all though boils back to Mammy and Newt. Because that's what people are coming in for. Like, yes, no discredit to S. I will, James Beard, whatever. But like everybody just wants to eat like what their grandmother cooked. That's what people really want. And we don't get that anymore. Yeah, right. People cook less and less and less, and the world changes. And so if you can go eat a meal that might taste like your grandmother cooked, yeah, yeah, that's what everybody wants.

SPEAKER_01:

One of the best compliments I got uh was one of my cousins, uh my mama Bailey, which was part of the was James Bailey's wife. She uh she was like one of the greatest cooks of all time. And uh my cousin came in and she said, Yeah, Buckshaw, she said that chocolate pie reminds me of Mama Bailey's. Oh and I was like, man, I mean that's pretty strong there.

SPEAKER_03:

That's a good that's a great compliment. That's pretty strong. So you are so popular. BN is so popular. I mean, it is crowded almost every time I've ever been there. Have you ever thought of expanding a little bit? Or we'd have to add a second floor.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't even know how you do it, but it's just so hard. I mean, the hardest part, like the people that we have working, I mean, they're going home exhausted. They, you know, that's the thing. It's like not that we don't want to like welcome more people in. It's just it's just such a fine line. Yeah. Right. Like you can go too big, then you lose some of that uniqueness. And then we're already like asking these people to work so hard. And, you know, they're giving up. I mean, they're some of these women are sacrificing their bodies because I know when they go home, they are hurting, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, a lot of them had surgery and everything else.

SPEAKER_00:

And so it's just a fine line.

SPEAKER_01:

I try to exercise every morning before I go in, so I stay in shape.

SPEAKER_00:

Lifting that brisket. That's right.

SPEAKER_01:

But yeah, uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

It's a fine line.

SPEAKER_03:

But now that we're talking about it, I like it just the way it is. I mean, it's yeah, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like, how do you I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it's I think it's cool the way it is because we're out in the middle of nowhere, y'all.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And we got people from all over the world and they're lined out the door and they don't care to wait because yeah, they know what's at the end of the yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00:

They know what's always think like people sometimes people get upset, you know, standing in line. It's like, well, you would sit in your car and line at McDonald's. Exactly. So you can wait for this, which is like real cooked.

SPEAKER_01:

This is all real, it's all homemade, you know. Right. Uh I mean, my grandmother, I suspect most of the stuff I make is really all her stuff. Yeah. And based basically all that and the stuff I learned in Texas, so you're getting like uh I mean uh something you ain't never had before. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03:

And everything fresh from the beef to I mean, it just has a much wonderful, better taste than that.

SPEAKER_01:

I still buy from the same distributors my granddad did.

SPEAKER_03:

Mm-hmm. Wow, that carries on the tradition. So what's what's coming up new for BN? Any new recipes or you've uncovered a long-lost recipe from somebody that you want to try out?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, the the newest thing I did, uh we just ate that last night was the Gene Kemper cake.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. So we got a local um farming family we've all known forever. Her name is Jean Kemper. She enters, she's a fantastic baker. Anybody out in Baghdad that like ever needs a cake, you're getting Jean to make her birthday cake and cupcakes. And she wins so many blue ribbons at the state fair for pies and cakes.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00:

So one of our favorite things, Mammy's favorite cake.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

When Newt turned, was it 90?

SPEAKER_01:

And we had a birthday party at the store. Remember they had the oxygen tank on his back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So Jean made the cake. The everybody's favorite cake was this applesauce cake or spice cake. And so he asked Gene, can we have the recipe? And he's just started it probably a month ago.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and when I made it, I made sure to give her a piece, and she said, I've never eaten this before. From somebody else. And yeah, from somebody else, and she thought it was wonderful. Yeah. Oh, that's good. If she thinks it's good, then I was like, Well, I like it better than the coon hunter cake.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I can't imagine. Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Now I don't know. I don't know, Ashley. I mean, you can say that.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, I can.

SPEAKER_01:

They're like two different things.

SPEAKER_03:

They are very different. But that coon, I so have to see spice so good. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01:

The coon hunter cake sells. Coon hunter cake sells. Well, the spice cake is new. So they're gonna be different. I mean, right. I ate one last night and I mean I was about to explode.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Again. Triple serving. Triple serving. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And the Dyson was, I mean, y'all. Oh, that's yeah, an inch thick. Yes. Yeah. Oh my goodness. And it's all made from scratch.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Well, everybody is gonna be hungry. Yeah. We're all gonna so uh being in, what are your hours if there is by some chance somebody out there that has never been?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, our hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. And on Sundays we are close because me and Ashley, when we had twins, uh the B and this is another thing about my granddad and my grandmother, they would work Monday through Sunday, and it used to be all day long. But now since I had twins, uh I we'd like, well, we just need to at least take one day off. Oh, absolutely. So unfortunately, we are closed one day a week, but but we are humans, and it's I think you've earned a day off.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

But I'm not I'm not necessarily off on Sunday, but the store is closed. Right, yeah because you gotta keep smoking all the time. Like people don't understand when you're uh cooking briskets like that 20 hours. It takes 20 hours to cook a brisket like I do. I mean, you can cook them faster if you want, but I'm just used to cooking them that way. And uh you gotta be there every day. You gotta be thinking about the next day. And now I do ribs every day. Okay. So I gotta get them on every night. The bone and pork chop, I do them every day.

SPEAKER_00:

It's a lot.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the bone and pork chop, it's thick.

SPEAKER_00:

No, I meant all the work is a lot. Oh, okay. So you deserve something.

SPEAKER_01:

But I don't really think about the work because it's more like uh it's just all natural to me.

SPEAKER_03:

Like are your twins interested in cooking at all?

SPEAKER_00:

I know they're little, but um no, but they do love being there, they love making the videos for social media. Oh, yeah, they're super cute.

SPEAKER_01:

They're really good models.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, they are. They sell that ice cream. That's right. They want the ice cream every day. Yeah, they would take the ice cream over a meal.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, but they uh if I was five, I probably would at Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Same. And I'm not gonna fight it. I'm like, whatever. Just it's fine. Yeah. Um I don't know. The girls will see. We'll see how that what happens.

SPEAKER_01:

But they know how to have it. It's in their blood say that for you. Yes, they do. They're definitely born with it. Yeah. But yeah, it's uh just a family thing, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

How many uh we'll just go briskets. How many briskets do you think you go through in a year?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I don't I don't know about that. I would say during a week, I probably sell 40 or 50, maybe. Wow. Yeah, so which is small, 50 which is oh yeah, this is petty. Uh, because like down at San Antonio, I'm sure if I text SO, he'd be like, Yeah, I'm selling 40 or 50 a day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, but again, not bad for Baghdad. But it's yeah, it's not a different scale. Yeah, yeah. But also, you got to give yourself more credit because Texas is doing just barbecue. So he's doing barbecue and the new burger. Yes. And usually another special.

SPEAKER_01:

And I have to make all the sides too, and all the desserts besides all the barbecue.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's why you're in so many categories. Yes. Your best of, right? Not just the barbecue, but the hamburger and all the other.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, like if you come out there, if you don't like brisket, well, I got pulled pork. If you don't like it, I got bone in pork chop.

SPEAKER_00:

If you don't like that, there's burgers, there's another daily special. There's so much.

SPEAKER_01:

But the cheeseburger, you could eat it every day. Yeah. And you can eat a bologna sandwich if you want that, too. I mean, that'd be good too. Yep.

SPEAKER_03:

I haven't had bologna in a long time. But I'm sure your baloney is better than any that I've ever had. Yep. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Just ask Rick Patino's lawyer. Yep. There you go.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my gosh. Anything else that you would Want to add for um people maybe that haven't been to BN or um just some tidbit or something you've thought of that you really wanted people to know about your fabulous, fabulous store and restaurant. I should say.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I feel like some people might hear the Baghdad or think like, Oh, that's so far out, but it's really not. No, you know, we're 12 minutes from Shelbyville, if that in some spots, you know. So like it's not, it's a beautiful drive out.

SPEAKER_01:

And we're right in the middle of Lexington and Louisville.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And I guess Cincinnati. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

We are in that golden. We are, we are.

SPEAKER_01:

So it's you know right off 64, about the exit 43.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Exit 43, and it's like eight miles.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's really a straight shot from 44.

SPEAKER_01:

Straight shot from 64. Yeah, and downtown Baghdad.

SPEAKER_03:

On the weekends, there's been music.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Baghdad has really come alive. Yeah. Yeah. We've had summer concerts, and there's a whole rejuvenated um like girls' softball happening in Baghdad. It's really funny.

SPEAKER_01:

I actually has a school in Baghdad right beside the store. Really?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I do a cottage school right beside the store. I teach yoga right beside the store. So Baghdad is really growing and changing, but like in a good change.

SPEAKER_02:

In the right direction. Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. Absolutely. This is kind of funny. I when I was at my previous job, I found out there was a Baghdad, Kentucky. And I was saying, Oh, I would love to be tourism director for Baghdad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Here I am. Oh, here we are.

SPEAKER_00:

Massive good tidbit to share. I mean Baghdad Iraq when there was the war. Oh no. This is a good one. My career Baghdad.

SPEAKER_01:

There, like I got all these scrapbooks my grandmother gave me, and my granddad, he was like, I mean, he was in all kinds of newspapers. National Inquiry. And she was at Kroger one day. She said, I opened up National Inquirer and there's garnet. But tell them why. Uh, because of Baghdad Iraq. So the war in Iraq. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Somebody from France or somewhere called him one morning, like four or five in the morning. He had to have a like an interview on the phone.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, because they were comparing Baghdad, Kentucky to Baghdad Iraq.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, and I think and I've met soldiers in the store that's been to Baghdad Iraq and are in Baghdad, Kentucky, and they say Baghdad, Kentucky is a whole lot better than Baghdad Iowa.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm sure. I am positive that that is the case. Absolutely. That's right. Absolutely. You should do. Do you ever do postcards? You could, oh gosh, man, postcards for Baghdad. That'd be amazing. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00:

Anything else? I don't think so. You got anything else you want to say?

SPEAKER_03:

Um, this has been fascinating.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, there's so much to do. I know. I feel like we could just go over through history forever. But uh I just hope uh that my grandmother and granddad, you know, I I'm just glad that I can carry on the family tradition in their way and in my way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Because 2020, the pandemic hit, and uh I was like, well, we need to make the kitchen a little bit bigger. I had that always in my mind because we kept selling so much food. And then I got to then uh that one day Ashley's like, yeah, we're gonna have to close. I was like, huh? Because you know they had all them rules, right? And then at the store, you know, six foot apart, that ain't gonna work. Yeah. So I got my employees together one night and I was like, Well, we're gonna have to close. And uh y'all better be ready to work because I don't know if we're gonna be working much longer because we're just gonna serve everybody outside. Cause see, we had twins in the hospital that was just born December 23rd, which was right before the pandemic, and uh, we was scared, you know, they were already compromised, so we didn't want to make anything worse. Right. So I was kind of in a rock and a hard place.

SPEAKER_00:

That's when Mama Bear said we're closing the doors.

SPEAKER_01:

So it was so I had to go up to the store, I was like, you know, uh hope we make it, hope y'all are here to help me. And by golly, we made it. Yeah uh we got busier. Yeah. And uh that's when I think we started getting bigger on social media a little bit. And that's when we redid the whole building inside during the pandemic, yeah, because there wasn't nobody coming in, so we made the kitchen bigger, and I made it instead of a grocery store with the aisles all going up and down. I made it, I just opened it wide open. And uh one day uh me and my mother-in-law were in the back, and I was like, Oh, look how nice that ceiling looks, and she said, Oh my god. And I said, Take it all out.

SPEAKER_00:

So they had put a drop ceiling in in the 90s to you know to help with heat and stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So we got a ceiling from 19 and 12 with 10 on it, you know, that people would love to recreate, but this is all a rich that it's amazing. So I made the building, I looked at an old picture, what the what it looked like in 1912. The building was built in 1912, and I basically made it look like 1912 again.

SPEAKER_03:

Wow, it is adorable and historic and delicious, and well worth the drive. And well, the drive is not far.

SPEAKER_01:

No, yeah, and and uh you'll know you're there when you see my granddad on the side of the building. Ashley got me for my birthday two summers ago uh a painting. This girl from Chicago came and painted a portrait of my granddad on a building.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, it that's wonderful as well.

SPEAKER_01:

That way people will know who Newt is. I wanted to make sure keep you know let them know you gotta keep history alive so people don't forget. Especially somebody like him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Always well. I wanted to know the second I walked in what is a Newt burger and what is all this. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, is there anything else you want to do the questions about anything about being in? I'd be glad to answer.

SPEAKER_02:

Is there anything we haven't gotten to yet that uh you want to make sure we get out there?

SPEAKER_03:

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01:

We talk about ribs, brisket.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we've talked about what's new.

SPEAKER_01:

I would like to talk about the beans. Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

Let's talk about the bean. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01:

My granddad taught me how to do the pinto beans, and uh one uh I think it was around Thanksgiving time or Christmas time, we was fooling with hams, and I text uh uh SO and San Antonio, I was like, I got pinto beans and they're good, but I was like, I've been to your place and I was like, how's how's a way I can, you know, doctor them up, you know, make them take them to another level. And he told me and I tried it and uh took it to another level.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. That's a perfect example of this whole new James Beard chef world combined with the old school keeping it like traditional world with the pinto beans.

SPEAKER_03:

It's a lesson for the day. Well, I will definitely have to try your pinto beans now as well.

SPEAKER_01:

One of the one of the tricks is I'll tell y'all, is you gotta chop up cilantro, but don't put that in there till you get ready to serve them and then dice tomatoes.

SPEAKER_03:

Interesting. And that was it? That was his trick? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

No, not everything. I'm not telling the secrets.

SPEAKER_00:

So that's a little tit, it's a little piece of it.

SPEAKER_01:

But that's that's what changes them up. I mean, that's amazing. When I first did it, people some of the local people, they were like, I don't want no salsa in my beans. And then you get these people from all over the world and they're like, Oh my god, that's the best beans I've ever eaten in my life. Oh yeah. So sometimes you have to broaden your horizons a little bit. Yeah. So the beans, the the pinto beans, everybody wants to know what that salsa is in them or whatever. It's what you call diced tomatoes and cilantro. And secrets, additional little sprinkled in it. See, my granddad always used Joel Bacon and all the my granddad was real particular about sides too, because uh most people cook, they don't put enough salt and stuff. So he always put Joel bacon and salt. So uh we put Joel bacon and salt in basically every vegetable we got. So and everything has taste and everything is good. Yeah, everything does have taste.

SPEAKER_03:

Absolutely. Well, we hope you're gonna be with us at the state fair again this year.

SPEAKER_00:

It's so fun. Oh, you're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank y'all for doing that for us. Well, uh, we wanted to share BN with so many other thousands of people that had never been there. That was really you all were a hit.

SPEAKER_01:

So it was it was fun cutting brisket for people.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Well, and hearing what they had to say about the brisket and people that had already been there, what they were saying.

SPEAKER_01:

And I guarantee you, we were the only barbecue people there that day that didn't bring barbecue sauce with them either. Yeah. That's another thing about being in. You don't have to have sauce, you don't have to add salt and pepper to nothing.

SPEAKER_03:

And you said that, and uh yeah, I try it was like, oh my gosh, you are so right. No nothing. No, just don't need any sauce.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, if you put sauce on the brisket, I mean, you're I'd cook that thing for 20 hours and you're gonna put sauce on it. If you want something sweet, eat a piece of the coon under cake.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my gosh. That's how I feel at some restaurants when I order fish and I ask for tartar sauce. You know, yeah. So I will not ever put anything on your food because it's wonderful.

SPEAKER_01:

Now the the fish, I will give a secret out. We we've seasoned it with salt.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

That's it. That's it.

SPEAKER_03:

All right. That was the secret. That's a good cure, folks.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, because when you get a good piece of meat and you just put salt on it, that's all you need because that fish is legit. Well, the fish is huge. Yeah, yeah. Uh it's it's close to a foot long now. The other day, a lady said, uh, Buckshot, my fish is is small. I said, Okay, buy another one. Oh God. So if if if one ain't enough, we'll we'll be glad to sell you another one. Yeah, there you go. I can see the thing. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So I'm gonna this week actually he does get a tape measure on this week.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Really? Really? Oh my goodness. But I mean, if you're getting an okay, if if you're getting a nine-inch piece of cod fish and you're getting two sides, and you're getting hush puppies, and you're getting bread. I mean, that should be plenty of things.

SPEAKER_00:

But I like it's mostly people eating lunch. That's their lunch.

SPEAKER_01:

But to me, and another thing about BN, if you eat at BN, like say you get the dinner, you're not gonna have to eat for another week, several hours. Yeah, yeah. And or you can you can uh basically a meal at BN is for two people. Yeah, yeah. And it's only$15.99. Yep. We try to keep everybody on the Brotherhood plan.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, you guys do amazing. It kills me when I hear people say there's nowhere to eat. It's like, what? Or things are too expensive because you oh my gosh, well, just go to BN.

SPEAKER_01:

Talking about expensive, they ought to see my bills that come in. Yeah. If they want to talk about something expensive. No, it's really hard.

SPEAKER_03:

I bet. Well, we love BN. We love you guys so much. And thanks for being partners with us. And thanks for all you do for having a great store and wonderful restaurant because it makes just makes Shelby County even better. Yeah, we love it. We love Shelby County, we love that good. Well, thank you all for being here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Thanks for having us.

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Janette Marson

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Mason Warren

Host