News

Hardie Davis For President?

by The Insider April 29, 2019

You Don’t Say.

This past Friday many citizens in Augusta were surprised to learn their very own mayor, Hardie Davis, had been elected president of the African American Mayors Association.

Davis’s popularity in his hometown has taken one hit after another since originally being elected to his first term in 2014, winning a landslide victory over a fairly weak candidate, Alvin Mason, with 75% of the vote.

Although the mayor was re-elected in 2018 with 55% of the vote, he again was matched against a weak opponent, 34 year old political neophyte Gould Hagler II.

Although Hagler ran what many agree was a very poor race, he was still able to garner 44% of the vote.

Davis’s disappointing tenure as mayor makes his election interesting. What qualities are the members of the AAMA looking for in a leader?

Examples of the Augusta mayor’s leadership skills are here, here, here and here.

The AAMA was formed from the ashes of the National Conference of Black Mayors, a group founded in the early 1970s as the Southern Conference of Black Mayors.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the National Conference of Black Mayor’s bank records showed that from January 2010 through June 2013 the organization spent $623,000 on women’s apparel, cosmetics, personal grooming, toys, sporting tickets, a youth baseball league and direct cash payments to the organization’s executive director Vanessa Williams and her husband.

Vanessa Williams, former executive director of the National Conference of Black Mayors

Purchases came from high-end shops such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co., Cole Hahn and Louis Vuitton, as well as Toys ‘R’ Us and StubHub, a ticket broker.
Records also indicate that NCBM paid for tuition at a private Christian school. On one day in August, 2012, someone made 13 cash withdrawals totaling $3,600 at Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans. These three above paragraphs should be together, but I know you like the separation.

Former NBA All-Star and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson

The organization was taken over in what many referred to as a “coup” by then Sacramento mayor and former NBA All Star Kevin Johnson. Shortly after being elected president of the organization, he took the organization into Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Johnson then left the group to form the African American Mayors Association (AAMA), and by the end of 2016, the bankruptcy cases were decided and the African American Mayors Association purchased the NCBM’s assets and naming rights.

Presenting himself as a “unifier” during his campaign for mayor, Davis has been anything but. Now that he is leading a group perhaps as dysfunctional as the Augusta Richmond County government, Insiders wonder if he will bring his own brand of ‘unity’ to the fledgling group.

April 29, 2019

Local Entrepreneur Goes Green

by Metro Spirit April 22, 2019

Trent Hubbard works to preserve a dwindling resource.

Reclaimed wood began showing up in Augusta homes and businesses roughly twenty years ago as a design trend, around the same time Clay Boardman took on the renovation of Enterprise Mill. The former textile mill dating back to the mid-1800’s was an example for the community to see what beauty waited to be unlocked in these old factories.

Scrap pieces of heart pine tongue & groove pile up under the moulder at Highland Mills on Sand Bar Ferry Road.

Local wall installation using scrap pieces of heart pine from Hubbard’s mill.

Over the ensuing years it has become much more than a fad. At first, reclaimed wood was common for local businesses like coffee shops and restaurants wanting something different to evoke an artisanal atmosphere. It has now crossed over to commercial buildings and office spaces.

Diablo’s makes extensive use of Hubbard’s reclaimed barn oak.

Diablo’s entryway on Washington Road. The wall features reclaimed barn oak and the light fixture is made using reclaimed heart pine scraps.

More than likely you’ve seen reclaimed wood at one of Augusta’s many restaurants and bars such as Diablo’s Southwest Grill, Becks Oyster Bar, Southbound BBQ, Frog & the Hen or the Arsenal Tap Room to name a few. Local Augusta College grad Trent Hubbard’s sawmill on Sand Bar Ferry Road supplied the lumber for the aforementioned projects, while producing reclaimed flooring for homes and businesses all over the southeast.

Hubbard’s primary focus is reclaimed wood flooring, typically pine or oak.

The Process at Highland Mills on Sand Bar Ferry Road

In his first career, Hubbard found himself traveling the country working in the IT industry. Longing for something more tangible, he pursued his interest in reclaimed wood at a local mill. He opened up Highland Mills on Sand Bar Ferry Road and hasn’t looked back since.

After Mr. Sparkles passing, Hubbard has acquired a new mill cat.

In his childhood, his father would pull a car into the garage, close the door and father and son would strip the vehicle down the the last bolt, then reassemble. Hubbard developed the ability to figure out complex systems and machinery, ultimately building his sawmill from scratch. He purchased machinery from defunct mills, figuring out how to transport, assemble, install and operate a host of highly technical machines required to do the work of turning antique wood into precise flooring.

Now he is evolving with the times.

Hubbard’s sawmill has recently converted to go green, investing in equipment and people to begin producing engineered flooring using reclaimed lumber, something not many small, non-corporate mills are capable of doing. Reclaimed wood has become so popular the need to conserve the limited resource has become urgent.

”We’re conserving a resource that we’re never going to see again,” Hubbard says.

“We’re able to get two to three times the amount of output using the same amount of reclaimed by creating engineered flooring.

Engineered flooring, as opposed to solid reclaimed flooring. is much more dimensionally stable with less seasonal movement. “Actually, this goes down easier, it lays better. It’s laser straight.” Hubbard says.

Highland Mills

Sand Bar Ferry Road Augusta GA

trent.hubbard@gmail.com

April 22, 2019

The 500 Block

by Joe White April 22, 2019

Across from the Augusta Museum on Broad Street are three pieces of living history. Vegas Show Girls, Sports Center and Luigi’s.

Join us as we begin our exploration of the 500 block of Broad Street with a Saturday afternoon visit to what many would argue is the best place for a hamburger in town, the Sports Center.

“They left.”

“They left?”

“They left. In your car. With your phone.”

Owner Sandi Watkins has just come out of the bathroom when she gets the news. Her son and grandson have given up on her ever leaving and are circling the block in her Mercedes SUV, impatiently ready to go home. Leslie Ansley is tending to the bar, laughing uproariously as the grandson smiles and waves with each pass around the block.

Just another day at the Sports Center this past Saturday afternoon. Watkins went back to chatting with Quint at the bar about a friend’s recent health issues.

The tiny grill against the window. The two basket fryer. Chairs so old, the number of lies they’ve been exposed to, it’s hard to imagine.

Lest you think this place is truly frozen in time, there is a new 2019 NASCAR schedule taped to the back of the restroom door, and a new spiral notebook on the bar to keep up with the NASCAR pool.

And for the first time in decades and decades, there is no smoking in the Sports Center, along with everywhere else downtown.

The city ban on smoking went into effect on January 1st.

“Has that been different for y’all?” we asked.

“Not really”, answered Kimmy Bailie, pulling a draft beer.

“What about all your customers that used to smoke inside. Does it bother them?” we wondered.

“They go outside.”

Everyone, apparently, enjoys clean air.

“It didn’t hurt us at all. It didn’t make us any busier, any less busy. Didn’t change a thing.”

“And we got the hood vent. So you don’t even smell the fryer like you did before either.”

Not changing a thing seems to be working out just fine for the Sports Center. Except for that quarter.

If you’ve never been, or haven’t in a while, it may be time to hit up the Sports Center now before another price increase. (We kid. You probably have about ten years.)

“How much are your, uh..”

“Fishbowls? $2.75. We just went up a whole 25 cents. It was $2.50 for the longest time.”

Yep. Looks like the Master’s price increase is staying for good. Driving the cost of an 18 ounce draft beer-your choice of Miller Lite, Killians, Blue Moon or Pabst, to a whopping $2.75.

These are Augusta National prices, except here the rich history and aura of the place mixes with the intoxicating smell of hamburgers and onion rings, punctuated by the crack of pool balls, not golf balls.

“That was our Masters price increase, and we kept it.” Leslie laughed.

“She ( Sandi) was going up anyway.”

We wondered if there was a fishbowl beer mug we could photograph.

“You want one with beer in it?” asked Leslie.

“Well sure, I guess.”

“It just looks prettier with beer in it.” Marketing 101.

“Oh is that for him shooting a picture?” Kimmy asks, walking up about to pour a beer.

“Yeah, yeah.” we answer.

“You can have it when he’s done shooting it.” Leslie says helpfully. “I knew it wouldn’t go to waste.”

“I stuck my finger in it.”

This is Sandi’s husband Bill’s second time owning the Sports Center we learned from Leslie. “Sandi will have to tell you the truth, cause I don’t know the truth. Bill told me he lost it the first time in a bet. It would not surprise me.”

“Cause all that back there used to be the gambling room. But I also know Bill is full of shit, so..” (One thing is for sure. These two women have great laughs!)

“He probably just sold it and opened Riverside. You remember Riverside? That was Bill’s. Going across the 5th Street Bridge, down there in the middle, where the restaurant was that burned down? Probably about 1980.”

“Cause when that burned down Bill came back here. I don’t know why that happened then. Don’t know what made it burn down.”

Fire? Hot stuff?

“Something hot.”

Down at the end of the bar a customer approaches Kimmy.

“You got a quarter machine?”

“No, I’m sorry.”

How many times a day must that poor woman hear that question.

“Dang..”

“How many do you need?”

This sounds like a thing going down.

“A bunch.”

“A bunch?”

“A bunch.”

“You want like a $10 roll?”

“Yeah. That’ll work.”

Quint at the bar chimes in, “That’s what it’s all about. Making it easier.”

“Sold!”

Leslie finishes her story. “Bill and Sandy have had it since 1980. And it had been here a while when they got it.”

As we wrap up our visit, we ask how Master’s week was for them.

“We did great!” Kimmy says.

Leslie calls out from the other end of the bar, “She (Sandi) usually does sixty to eighty everyday. For Masters week we did about 120.”

Kimmy nods in agreement. “There you go. So that’s 120 burgers at a half a pound apiece. It’s a good amount. I know there was giant bags. I didn’t think I was ever gonna be done squishin’ them. The hamburger meat comes in giant bags from Lanier’s.

Someone asks, “How do you know if you have the right amount of meat? Do you measure it?”

“No, she does. Sandi does.” Kimmy says, as sure as the rising sun. “She’s been doin’ it for 40 years. She just knows. Like, her and Mr. Bill ball it up for us. And then we have to, we squish it. If Bills here he’ll sit here and squish ‘em out too. He sits up here and watches Westerns and squishes out his burgers. Been doing the same thing for like 40 years.”

“So you say you ‘squish’ them out?”

“Well, she balls them and we have a little handle thing…” (more laughs).

MS: Is that a technical term?

“Well yeah, I guess, or pattying it I think?”

Pattying it?

“Yeah. Don’t listen to me for technical terms.”

The Sports Center

594 Broad St, Augusta

(706) 724-9307

What are your hours again?

We open at 11. We do NOT have a closing time.

No Sundays.

We do NOT have a closing time.

April 22, 2019

Local Chef Shares Cookbook Love

by Joe White April 19, 2019

I enjoyed spending some time with Todd Schafer over the past few months while he oversaw the renovation of his restaurant, Abel Brown Southern Kitchen in Surrey Center.

One afternoon last month we were in the kitchen as I described a dish I had seen recently. He said “hang on a minute, that reminds me of something,” walked off and quickly returned with a big ‘ol honkin’ cookbook.

He set it down on the make table, squared it up and gazed at the cover a second before cracking it open. He slowly flipped through the well thumbed tome featuring beautifully photographed small plates that could have passed for contemporary art.

He was talking to himself the whole time while looking for the image he wanted to show me. “I love this book” “look at that!” “look at that!” “look at that!” “look at that!” “wow!” “my God!”.

The namesake kitchen in Abel Brown’s Southern Kitchen

I felt like I was having déjà vu all over again.

Last night I came across an article Todd wrote for the Metro Spirit a decade ago, and realized I had been in that exact situation before with him.

How interesting it is that he has a shelf in his office stuffed with thick hardcover cookbooks that he flips through regularly. I’m in a lot of kitchens and that is not something I ever see.

If you enjoy knocking around in the kitchen you’ll enjoy the following piece from 2011, before the flip of Bistro 491 to Abel Brown’s.

Oh, by the way, in a conversation this morning Todd said one to add to the list that he really likes is Happy in the Kitchen by Frenchman Michel Richard.

A used hardcover copy starts at $3.50 on Amazon.

Considering Cookbooks

Written by Todd Schafer

I was 13 when I discovered my love of cookbooks. My mother had quite a collection, and they varied from huge tomes like “The Joy of Cooking” and Julia Childs’ “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” to small, notebook-type cookbooks like “Tea Time at the Masters” and “Betty Crocker.”

“The Joy of Cooking” started me on my way to being a chef. It taught me about exotic ingredients, cuts of meat and all the differing cooking techniques, from braising to roasting. The art of French cooking was a complete mystery to me at that age. I had no experience with French food, my mother being either to busy or too confounded to cook Julia’s offerings, and it inspired me to discover all I could about French cuisine.

It sparked my imagination with words like poele, ris de veau and charcuterie. There was a whole other world of cooking out there, and I wanted to find out everything I could about it. The first cookbook I ever bought, at the age of 15, was by Escoffier, the father of modern French cooking. It was completely over my head, but I slogged through it and, in the years to come, especially while I was at the Culinary Institute of America, it proved an invaluable resource. “On Food and Cooking” by Harold Mcgee was required reading at the CIA, and it gave me the science behind cooking. I still refer to it to this day, even though it is somewhat dry and reads like stereo instructions.

“I still look to them for ideas and inspiration, whether I am cooking dinner at home for three, or at the restaurant during Masters for 2000.”
Todd Schafer

Even after all these years, I am still inspired and excited by cookbooks. I still look to them for ideas and inspiration, whether I am cooking dinner at home for three, or at the restaurant during Masters for 2000. I have written countless menus in the last 20 years or so, and cookbooks help me every time. They provide me with ideas on which way to go with an ingredient or a technique that I previously hadn’t thought of.

My new favorite is “The Flavor Bible” by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. It is a veritable encyclopedia of ingredient affinities. Does caviar go with cantaloupe? You bet it does, and you can find that paring in “The Flavor Bible.”

I don’t always go for books by famous chefs, but you can’t go wrong with anything by Thomas Keller or Charlie Trotter. I like to call it cookbook porn, because of its incredibly striking images that make you hungry instantly. These books are not for the novice cook because of the intricate techniques and ingredients used, but they help you imagine what food can become when it is at its highest form.

My favorite all time cookbook author is James Peterson, for his intricately detailed information on sauces, soups, fish and shellfish and his cuisine-specific book, “Glorious French Food.” For all things sweet, I have only one book to recommend: “Desserts” by Pierre Herme. The man is a genius. It is remarkable to me because it is just his “basics” pastry guide, yet everything in it is flawless.

For those of you with a love of cooking, cookbooks will be an invaluable resource of inspiration and guidance. They are the best way to discover your inner chef.

Todd Schafer is the owner and executive chef at Abel Brown’s Southern Kitchen in Surrey. The upscale oyster bar recently re-opened after an extensive remodel.

Abel Brown’s Southern Kitchen

491 Highland Avenue/Surrey Center

Monday- Thursday
5:00pm-10:00pm

Friday & Saturday
5:00pm-11:00pm

706.738.6491

April 19, 2019

I’m On a Roof!

by Metro Spirit April 18, 2019

Checking out Augusta’s two new hotel bars

Rooftop bars have seen a resurgence in recent years as hotel operators find it increasingly important to find ways to generate revenue outside of rooms. With rooftops they are able to activate a space that was previously-well-a roof.

I’m on a roof!

Two new hotels opened recently, offering Augusta two rooftop bars worth exploring, the Hyatt House Augusta and Crowne Plaza North Augusta.

The Hyatt House, located on Broad Street next door to Frog Hollow, is essentially built on top of a parking garage. You and your car enter the hotel, leaving behind the hassle of finding a parking spot and dragging luggage. Very smart.

The Crowne Plaza, located next to SRP Ballpark in North Augusta, features a full service steak house, Salt + Marrow Kitchen, on the first floor and lots of al fresco seating.

Each features a rooftop bar offering stunning views of the river and downtown. The actual bar servicing the rooftop area at the Hyatt House on Broad is indoors, whereas the Crowne Plaza’s is outdoors with the customers.

There is seating for approximately 70 guests at the Hyatt, 66 across the river at the Crowne.

Hotel guests, and just as importantly locals, are able to gaze at 360-degree views of downtown Augusta while enjoying a drink. Hotel operators will tell you being popular with the locals is key for the success of a hotel bar or restaurant.

It’s an exciting time to get out and explore the new offerings of Augusta. Check it out!

April 18, 2019

It Used to Take a Village

by The Insider April 16, 2019

Now it IS the village.

Twenty-five years ago last Tuesday the Augusta National was bursting at the seams with over 80,000 golf fans. Back then anyone could just walk up, buy a ticket and magically find themselves on the CBS set.

Bars pretty much anywhere in Augusta were looking forward to being packed, regardless of where they were located or what they offered. From high end to low, everyone in Augusta, it seemed, was making money.

As is still the case today, the city would begin to come alive a couple of weeks prior to the tournament, as personnel from all over the world would begin to reconnect the infrastructure supporting the annual event.

In addition to the technical crews in town, there was the annual influx of secondary market professionals (read scalpers) in beat up Mazdas and sun faded visors. They would begin posting up at bars, looking for opportunity, whatever that may be.

Masters week the neighborhoods surrounding the golf course were completely packed with visitors and their cars filling up pocketbooks and yards. The volume of people thrilled to be in our city created an electricity and sense of pride that was palpable.

These are remembered fondly as “The Good Old Days” for local business owners, and by the fellows at the Augusta National Golf Club, an abomination.

That Tuesday 25 years ago turned out to be a major turning point for the way the Masters Golf Tournament operated, beginning a methodical, well executed plan to bring the focus back to the event itself.

They wanted the circus to leave town.

2012

The stampede of 1994 resulted in major changes for following year. Golf fans were no longer able to walk up and purchase a ticket for the practice rounds. The ANGC created a lottery system that distributed a total of 50,000 tickets for the three days leading up to the tournament.

Yet visitors still flocked to town expecting, and mostly finding, a way in.

As patrons left the course at the end of their trek through the towering pines and exploding azaleas, they would usually hand over their badges to fans hoping to get in, happily paying it forward at the expense of a great keepsake.

Even that practice was too much for the National.

In 2012, Canadians Dave Rawlings and his wife Dianne were leaving the course on the Tuesday of practice rounds when a plain clothed officer with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department approached them.

“We were walking out and this guy came over and asked if we were finished with the tickets,” Rawlings was quoted by the Metro Spirit as saying. We were going to give them to him for nothing, but he gave us $50 because he didn’t feel right taking the tickets for nothing.”

That’s when the plain clothed officer showed his badge and asked them to come with him. “He took us up to a building on the side and made out all the citations and then we got driven down to the jail.” Rawlings said. They were arrested at Augusta National at 1:15 and ultimately got out of jail at 7:30.

The message was very clear, and a sign of what was to come. The secondary ticket market was in the cross hairs of the ANGC.

This year each ticket or badge was allowed a maximum of two gate entries per day, down from three entries in 2017 and 2018.

2013

In 2013 Rolling Thunder descended on Augusta like a hammer. Officers from around the state set up DUI checkpoints on twenty two nights over a three month span. Roadblocks on Washington Road, Riverwatch Parkway, Wrightsboro Road-from the Hill to the ‘Hood. Hundreds of flashing emergency lights, drug sniffing dogs circling cars and paddy wagons idling on the roadside.

Many business owners feel it forever altered peoples patterns and behaviors, having a huge negative impact in the F&B industry in Augusta. It seemed to mark the end of an era.

2014

Augusta National re-routed Berkman’s Road, the final piece of the parking puzzle. The move allowed the ANGC to create a vast parking lot capable of handling a majority of Master’s visitors. Where once the guests in town for the tournament parked in the neighborhoods surrounding the course. Homeowners were able to make thousands of dollars each parking cars in their yards, and it was those visitors buzzing through our neighborhoods that created such an electricity. That connection is all but lost today.

Nowadays long-standing Masters week festivals are struggling to attract paying customers. Bars and restaurants still see a spike in business, just as long as they are in the right spot.

Insiders say Big Money has little faith in the ability of the local market being able to create an event befitting the Masters Golf Tournament experience. It makes sense as well. After all, Augusta is essentially a big small town, albeit a striving one, and simply can’t maintain the infrastructure of talent it would take to put on a proper week long party spread across the region welcoming golf’s choicest party.

A sputtering line up of altering events and locations, late announcements and high ticket prices does not instill confidence in the host’s city’s ability to take care of the fun stuff. No wonder so many out of town interests have taken over a large chunk of the Master’s week hospitality business from the locals.

So, corporations are building their own mini compounds all over town and leaving fewer and fewer golf patrons venturing out to explore Augusta.

We’ll always have the Masters Golf Tournament. Magnolia Lane will always be 20 feet from Washington Road. Now if we, as a community, want to keep a seat at the table, so to speak, in what visitors are exposed to Masters week a more refined approach and strategy may be in order, or we may end up losing to outside interests altogether.

April 16, 2019

Augusta Hosts 2nd annual Robotics Camp

by Metro Spirit April 10, 2019

The City of Augusta’s Information Technology Department is excited to sponsor its 2nd Cyber & Robotics Summer Camp. The camp is open to upcoming 6th graders through 8th graders who are residents of Richmond County.

The Cyber & Robotics Camp will be held in two sessions. Each session runs for two weeks with the first week focusing on Cyber and Security and the second week focusing on Robotics: Session One will run June 17th through June 28nd and Session Two will run July 15th through July 26th.

The Cyber & Robotics Camp will be held in the Augusta Municipal Building at 535 Telfair Street, Augusta, GA 30901. Camp hours are 9am-4pm with early drop off beginning at 8:00am and late pick-up until 5:30pm.

Space is limited to 25 students per session and applicants can apply online at the City of Augusta’s Information Technology Department website. Applicants may begin applying online Monday, April 15th. The deadline to apply is Friday, May 10th.

For more information, please contact Shelly Good at (706)-821-2522 Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30am and 5pm.

April 10, 2019

REC TEC Grills Heat Up

by Metro Spirit April 10, 2019

The local company has grown to a “lifestyle brand“

Evans High School graduate Ray Carnes and his best friend Ron Cundy started Rec Tec Grills in Augusta in 2009. At the time Carnes was in the used car business when the recession hit. “Well, in 2008, one day you just couldn’t sell a car. The bottom literally dropped out” Carnes said.

Big, loud and boisterous, Carnes wasn’t your typical teenager. In Augusta you buy boats, four wheelers and trucks. “When I was 18 my friends would always pick at me because I always had a very nice grill. I was always buying grills, buying grills, buying grills.” Carnes and roommate Cundy would work “Thursday, Friday and Saturday night all we would talk about is what we were going to experiment with on the grill. We were just passionate grillers.”

So when the recession hit, Carnes needed to come up with a new career path. Carnes was by this time in his late twenties. “So I called my old roommate Ron Cundy, who now is a very prominent attorney in Atlanta. He’s used to me calling with crazy ideas and it was his job to poke holes in them. Well, I called him with the grill idea. I want it to be the ultimate grill, the best thing since sliced bread, and after a couple of days he called me back and said I’m in.”

The two pals began REC TEC Grills in 2009 in a small warehouse off of Bobby Jones Expressway in Augusta and within a few years REC TEC became one of the fastest growing pellet grilling companies in the country. Today, REC TEC Grills has grown into a lifestyle brand with a ten person promotions department cranking out daily content for their Youtube channel and social media properties.

When the company began, Carnes and Cundy went direct to consumers with a storefront website and started promoting heavily on social media. 80% of sales came from having the product explained over the phone, one call at a time. The approach worked.

“Everything was call us, call us, call us. They tried some national things. There was a national syrup brand that they put a “necker” on that they thought was going to blow them up. They got one call from this national pancake syrup campaign but nothing ever worked except the internet and getting somebody to call.” explained marketing manager Trey Enfinger.

Around 2013 things really took off.

“The first year he sold 60 grills. And now we can sell 200 in a good, really banging day” Enfinger said.

“We have six warehouses now and by the end of the year we’ll consolidate and move into 250,000 square feet of the former Quad/Graphics in Columbia County. We went from 2009 having one flagship model to now having nine models, two of which aren’t even pellet grills-the Matador which is a gas wok, and the WyldSide, which is an Argentina style cooker, so logs, charcoal, whatever you want to burn in there basically.”

Ray and Beth Carnes at the inaugural REC TEC Cooking Academy held at Evans Towne Center Park.

These days Carnes spends a little less time at the office, enjoying time with his family and pursuing hobbies. But his cell phone number is still given to every grill buyer, and yes-he still happily answers his phone.

We couldn’t help but follow the comments on this story on Facebook. Within an hour of posting this piece, here is a sampling of the feedback:

Amazing company had my 680 for 7 years now. Absolutely the best customer service in the industry.

Brian B

4/10/19

I remember those early Rec Tec days on Enterprise Drive… my store was across the street. They would cook every Thursday and have prospective customers there. The aroma wafting across the street made our mouths water. Great job Raymond Carnes and Ron Cundy. You hung in there and now look where Rec Tec is! Happy for you guys. (I own the Bullseye and Matador and bought the RT300 for my son as a gift… son-in-law owns the RT680… we are a Rec Tec family!)

Mike T

This company cannot be touched….Amazing the care they take after the sale to educate and keep us tuned in…What an awesome family….proud to be associated with such fine folks

Mike V

It took a while to change my mindset on what my Bull was – not just a smoker but an outdoor wood fired convection oven which also happened to be a smoker. I use my indoor oven much less now, the Texas climate helps that and not heating up the kitchen!

Whoever heard of doing pizzas on a “smoker” – with the Bull I can do three at a time and they come out great as just one example….

My current favourite though is tri-tip at 225 until IT of 135 then finish with a Searzall (saving pellets and wait time!).

Now just need to find some more time and recipes for my Matador…

Stuart M

Love it! Stand up guy! REC TEC LIFESTYLE!!!

Michael W

We happily gave you , REC TEC, some of our hard earned money this week! Can’t wait to get our new Stampede!! Love the attention to putting out a quality product!! Smoke on!!!!

Shara U

Kick ass story, kick ass company, and a kick ass family. Love being a part of the RecTec lifestyle. Smoke on !!

Diamond Dave G

Doing something right – ““The first year he sold 60 grills. And now we can sell 200 in a good, really banging day” Enfinger said. “

Stuart M

Great Company!!…Thank You Ray and Ron for all your efforts, as well as the amazing staff that you have assembled! Awesome Grills, Awesome Company

John B

Great company and great people! Best customer service I’ve ever got! Thanks Ray Raymond Carnes! I love my RECTEC!

Narib Z

I just have to say I love my RT-340. I’ve cooked steaks, pork ribs, beef ribs, bacon wrapped chicken, beer can game hens, pork shoulder, pizza, a fatty, roasted vegetables, and even made my own bacon. Still to come is brisket. Oh and the ability to start the grill when leaving my grandsons T-ball game so it’s ready when I get home is, to say the least, AWESOME!

Scott L

April 10, 2019

Moonshiners Found in Downtown Augusta

by Metro Spirit April 9, 2019

Monday 2nd City Distillery finally opened its doors for a soft opening. The 2:00 get together at the small batch distillery was promptly interrupted by a busted hot water heater, which Master Distillers and co-owners David Long and Cal Bowie aptly pointed out could have happened at any time over the past ten or fifteen years.

Timing is everything, especially in their line of work, and opening during the Masters was the ultimate goal for the team behind 2nd City. Not to be discouraged by a leaking tank, the moonshiners were obviously very happy-and quite relieved-to have the project finally completed.

The second location of small batch distillery Carolina Moon, located on Court House Square
in tiny Edgefield South Carolina, was years in the making. Long and Bowie, along with their cousin, Bill Hatch, obtained a custom-made pot still and first started cooking in 2013. They personally oversee each and every batch from start to finish, something you won’t find with major distillers.

The artisanal distillery is officially open for business today and guests will be able to buy distilled spirits by the glass or bottle, as well as tour the facilities to see how the hooch is made.

2nd City Distillery is located at #4 8th Street, Augusta

April 9, 2019

Augusta National and the Badge

by The Insider April 9, 2019

The Augusta National Golf Club continues to tighten its grip on the Masters Golf Tournament experience.

How much longer will the April Masters party continue? Over the past fifteen years or so the Augusta National has been working towards a goal of securing the area surrounding the immoveable course and killing the secondary market for tickets. The first goal has largely been fulfilled with the purchase of acres and acres of land, once covered with pesky homes and businesses surrounding the course. They were torn down and replaced with ANGC landscaping.

The second goal of “owning” the visitors is slowly creeping up and may catch fans by surprise. The optics of scalpers hustling on the roadside runs counter to everything the National stands for. Not only that, the leadership feels the tickets being sold on the secondary market are rightfully theirs to do with as they wish. For years, the ANGC has been purchasing tickets on the black market, dividing them into daily badges. Now they are also allocated to Berckmans Place as well.

Before smartphones, the raucous atmosphere of Masters week was both anticipated and dreaded in equal measure by residents. The doors to every bar in the city were flung open and the great washed entered by the Docker full. Money flowed and lies were told. Spring break for nerds turned into a great excuse for Augustan’s to party. Regardless of your social status or background, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco De Mayo, Thirsty Thursday and Masters WEEK were set aside for getting hammered. This Augusta birthright, along with free parking and no cover charges, is what created our sense of community.

Social mores and social media have settled things down a bit, but in coming years it is feared our city will become more and more disconnected from what is already a very thin relationship. The National scratches a check each year for a fraction of a percent of their revenue, and lock the front gate until next year. And we rejoice that WE have Augusta.

The “list” of names receiving badges to the Masters is much like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Augusta National has hidden a pair of Golden Tickets inside non-descript pieces of mail. The recipients are rewarded with a tour of the golf course (with an adult of their choice) and a lifetime supply of tickets. The patrons are unaware, however, that the tour is also a competition to test their character. And unfortunately, many have failed the test, cashing in their tickets and going on vacation. Insiders say the 1970’s era ticket list will soon be scrapped and the tickets distributed on a lottery basis each year. The announcement will coincide with many good deeds and wonderful programs the National is planning, amounting to a good public relations campaign for cover, much like their annual tip to the city.

As the golf fans become more and more removed and less reliant on residents, many fear the city will be but a host, not invited to attend its own party.

April 9, 2019