Andy Husbands is an award-winning pitmaster who began developing his own style of cooking upon opening Boston's Tremont 647 in 1996 and later, Sister Sorel. His latest venture, The Smoke Shop, pays homage to his extensive background in the competitive barbecue circuit. His honest, approachable fare makes Smoke Shop Boston Magazine 's "Best Barbecue Restaurant," and the restaurant has been praised in The Boston Globe , Wine Spectator , Star Chefs , and more. After three decades in the restaurant industry, Husbands serves as one of Boston's most celebrated culinary leaders and foremost authority on regional Barbecue. He competed on FOX Television Network's fiery Hell's Kitchen and is internationally-recognized for his BBQ team, IQUE BBQ, which became the first New England team to win the World Champions of BBQ title in 2009 at the Jack Daniels World Championship in Tennessee. Husbands is an active board member of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, which named him the 2014 Chef of the Year and a Rodman Celebration Restaurant Chair. He has also co-authored several cookbooks, including Pitmaster , Wicked Good BBQ , Wicked Good Burgers , Grill to Perfection ,and The Fearless Chef. Pitmaster William Salazar is Chef De Cuisine and director of day-to-day culinary operations at The Smoke Shop BBQ restaurants.

Salazar studied Culinary Arts Management at Johnson and Wales University. Wanting to broaden his education and skill, Will staged all over Europe, notably at Guy Savoy and Taillievent. He moved to Boston in 2001 to work under the tutelage of Geoff Gardner and Frank McClelland at L'espalier and Sel de la Terre. Will's role at the Smoke Shop is to further define Andy Husband's vision of "City Q" and to help others master the craft of BBQ--one of his favorite parts of the job. Ken Goodman is a freelance photographer based in New York City. He specializes in food and chef photography, concerts, events, portraits and cookbooks. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone magazine and Art Culinaire , and he has photographed Mario Batali, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, Michael Stipe, The Edge, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Mariska Hargitay, Stanley Tucci, Jon Bon Jovi, and Anthony Bourdain (among others). Prior to his photography career, he spent 20 years in the restaurant industry as a classically trained chef, culinary educator, and restaurant consultant.