UPDATE: J.J. McBrewster’s, post-Guy Fieri

Way back at Mile 408, our first BBQ stop at J.J. McBrewster’s in Lexington, KY, we met with a restaurant staff on pins and needles. 

It was last Saturday afternoon when we visited, and the restaurant was two days away from being showcased on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.” The exposure would likely change the restaurant forever.

Now that the show has aired, we wanted to check in with owner/chef Susan Mirkhan a week post-DDD.

KEVIN: Tell me where you were Monday night at 10 p.m.

SUSAN: My husband and I watched the show together with our two little puppies. The show was great. And complete honest truth, I cried. My husband laughed, and I cried. It was just a great moment.

KEVIN: And what happened Tuesday when you opened?

SUSAN: We were absolutely slammed. It was maybe triple our usual business. Wednesday was more like double and a half. We’ve seen a lot of online sales, and now we’re bracing for the weekend. And we’re ordering almost five times the ingredients of what we’ve done before. We want to be completely prepared and brace for everything.

KEVIN: I mentioned in my original story that your restaurant has been divided into before and after. You’re part of an exclusive club now, you know? You’ve been officially blessed by the hands of Guy Fieri.

SUSAN: When the producers of the show first contacted me, they said, “Welcome to the Triple-D family.” I had no idea what that meant. But now I do. People come in here, who’ve traveled hours to visit us, come in and have all these great Triple-D stories. And then I’ve started contacting a lot of restaurants that have aired on the show, and we’ve networked and visited with each other since. It feels like one big family.