Pitmaster Pride

Best New Chef Bryan Furman is about to embark on a new adventure.

- Caroline Hatchett

WHEN BRYAN FURMAN WAS NAMED a 2019 F&W Best New Chef, he wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about—he'd never even thought of himself as a chef. But his perspective shifted at the awards ceremony, where Furman learned he was the first-ever pitmaster to receive the recognition. “That meant a lot,” Furman confesses. “A tear went down my eye.”

Furman, a welder turned pitmaster, started his decade-pluslong barbecue career smoking whole hogs at his first restaurant, B’s Cracklin’ Barbeque, in Savannah, Georgia. His old-school technique, freewheeling style, and devotion to heritage-breed hogs quickly made Furman the de facto king of Georgia barbecue: There were lines out the door. B’s Cracklin’ was forced to shutter after a fire in 2015, but one year later, Furman built a second location in Atlanta, where he gained national recognition. Then tragedy struck again: Just months before his Best New Chef win was announced, his Atlanta pit caught fire, and for a second time, Furman lost his restaurant.