West Tennessee chef competes on Food Network’s BBQ Brawl

MARTIN, Tenn. — A West Tennessee chef is competing for the Master BBQ title on Food Network this month.

Blake Stoker, owner of Blake’s at Southern Milling, competed on the Food Network’s BBQ Brawl, which premieres later this month. Stoker has been in business since before he graduated college and opened his restaurant in spring of 2023.

Serving Texas-style Southern BBQ, Stoker’s restaurant sits on Lindell Street in Martin. He is back in Martin ahead of the release.

“It was really cool, very different than anything I’ve ever done, you know, a small town guy, I’ve done a lot of traveling, been a lot of places, but I’ve never been around, you know, 40 cameras and 75 camera people, and, you know, all that stuff, so it was really cool to see all that from, you know, behind the scenes level,” Stoker said.

Stoker competed against 11 other pit-masters in a battle to win the title of Master of Cue.

“I’ve been doing this 10 years but it’s all very simple and you know, second nature for me at this and a lot of the stuff I was seeing, they came, you know, weaponized to use was way different than, you know, impressive, a lot of those folks are really well trained and had a lot of experience in sectors of culinary world that I’m not as familiar with, so it was cool to, you know, be battling, but also, I was looking around learning myself, so that was cool,” Stoker said.

The twelve contestants are coached by a trio of celebrity chefs including Bobby Flay, Maneet Chauhan, and Brooke Williamson.

Blake’s at Southern Milling is located at 109 S. Lindell St. in Martin. The new season premieres Monday, May 11.