Slo Cooking Spine New York City Style

In September 2010, TSB posted a blog entitled; "Thrilla in Manilla, Is Centinel Spine on the Ropes?"  This post was in response to news that an English court's ruling in favor of Paradigm BioDevices had placed financial pressure on Centinel.  In the proceeding weeks, leading to today's blog, what we have learned from other industry platforms is that it's business as usual at Centinel, witnessed by the recent article dated October 18, 2010 in OTW.   TSB would not expect anything otherwise from that milquetoast publication.  But the question that needs to be asked is, is it business as usual, or, is something new being cooked up at Centinel?  So TSB called his good friend Tyler Florence and asked him if it was true that barbeque brisket, chicken and pulled porked was coming to the Ritz in New York City this weekend, and, was he going to be the Master of Ceremony?  Unfortunately, Tyler is tied up in Marin County and in San Francisco minding the store and cooking up his own storm on the West Coast.

Could there be an Iron Chef competition going on in New York City that TSB was unaware of?  So I called my friend Alton Brown at the Food Network.  Alton responded, that he was not aware of any cook off in the Food Network Studios.   Bobby Flay was my next phone call.  Bobby conveyed to TSB that he wasn't doing a Throw Down this weekend due to other obligations.  So out of desperation, TSB called the Neely's in Memphis.  Pat and Gina love to cook barbeque, and have a great show of their own, and after 22 years in the business told me that they would know if something was slo-cooking.

At some point in time TSB felt like he was looking for Waldo.  Usually I get an invitation to various Food TV ceremonies across the country.  So it was much to my chagrin that I found out that there will be an unveiling of a new Bar-B-Que Sauce this weekend in NYC.  No fellow bloggers, TSB is not softening up the spine industry's favorite blog site.  It seems that the V-Brothers are branching out of the spine industry and going into the food industry. Saturday, October 23rd is their maiden voyage into food, with John Viscogliosi being the master of ceremony in launching their new company and sauce called Purple Pork Eaters.  So the question that must be asked is, will it be North Carolina or Kansas City style bar-b-que, or will it be City Slicker Sauce?  TSB has usually had his slo-cooking pulled pork parties around his bar-b-que pit with plenty of 'slaw, a choice of homemade NC/KC sauce and plenty of cerveza.  But these guys are hilarious at the expense of their investors.  A bar-b-que at the Ritz in NYC?  Will y'all be dressed in your designer clothes?  Tony is probably going to play the character of Mitch Robbins,  John will proably be Phil Berquist and Mark will be Ed Furillo.  Could Mitch be having a mid-life crisis?   This is definitely right out of the movie City Slickers.

You know fellow readers, if you can't make it in spine with all the money that these boyz have raised, what other options can a man have?  Times must be bad at Centinel.  With a projected 60% decrease in revenue in 2010, a limited amount of available cash in the bank, and a ton of outstanding debt, could this be a going away party for the investors?  On many occasions, TSB has been criticized for speaking out on the irrational behavior that exists in spine, and rightfully so.   I guess the way to a man's wallet is through  his stomach.  So come on down all you big Wall Street, private equity investors and city boys and make sure you wear your Levi's and Cowboy Boots (no designer jeans at this party),  its time to grease your hands and open your wallets, sounds to me that there's more cooking on the bar-b-que than we know about.  TSB wants to know if there are any press passes available, I'll bring Waylon and Willie along for the ride.

Hopefully, the employees will get some left overs to take home and feed their families.