Getty Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II after the victory in Week 11.
If you’re a Kansas City Chiefs fan that ever finds yourself in New York City, you got to check out John Brown BBQ — “The Official Kansas City Chiefs Bar of NYC.”
The establishment’s owner, Josh Bowen, caught up with “The Chiefs Wire” podcast and reporter Ed Easton Jr. this week to chat about Chiefs football and Patrick Mahomes, and the conversation took a very interesting turn that ended in a feel-good story.
Patrick Mahomes Credited With Saving ‘Chiefs Bar’ in NYC
As Kansas City began their postseason run in 2019, John Brown BBQ started to pick up with customers. Little did they know, this hot stretch would support them throughout the upcoming global pandemic.
“The Super Bowl-winning run in 2019 brought in a significant number of customers before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Easton detailed on Chiefs Wire, “providing essential help for the restaurant’s future [and its employees].”
Bowen told the humorous yet heartwarming championship story from a first-person perspective: “It was already crazy. It’s already the most slam-packed that [it’s] ever been. We were far, far beyond the fire code. And the craziest thing was — the experience at our place is we have a back patio area with a TV — probably half the people were back there. And I don’t know what happened, like the splitter overheated or something. But the TV went out in the back, which is the only TV, so everybody piled into an already just insanely packed house inside. And then Damien Williams scored that touchdown probably about 30 seconds later and all was just chaos from that point on, which was awesome. So, good times. I hope for a couple more.”
“[The Chiefs] saved my business in New York City too,” Bowen explained to Chiefs Wire. “We had two restaurants at the time, and basically the Super Bowl, the run there was by far the busiest days we’ve ever had. And that happened two weeks before everything went to hell. We sent our staff home on what their full pay is and even a little bit extra for those who couldn’t get their full pay or don’t have the safety net as we could maybe call it. So yeah, basically [Patrick Mahomes] left us kind of like — he saved us. Because I know other people [in the industry] didn’t talk to their employees for six months and tried to pay them a nickel at a time because nobody thought they were going to be closed down and stop making money.”
“Patrick Mahomes saved my restaurant,” Bowen reiterated later in the interview, and imagine all the good that Chiefs Super Bowl run did for Kansas City itself.
The NYC branch of John Brown BBQ is based in Astoria, New York (Queens), and they are known for their “delicious Kansas City Style BBQ.”
Patrick Mahomes ‘Thankful’ to Get JuJu Smith-Schuster Back
Mahomes and the Chiefs will be without wide receiver Kadarius Toney in Week 12 but the expectation is that JuJu Smith-Schuster will return. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, reporters asked the superstar QB if he was “thankful” for that on November 23.
“Yeah, for sure,” Mahomes responded with a smile. “To get a dynamic playmaker back… just to have that energy on the sideline again. Obviously, he’s a great player but [he’s] a great teammate [too] and you always want to get those guys back in the huddle.”
It hasn’t mattered which pass-catchers are out there in 2022, Mahomes has been on the money. Having said that, it’s always nice to get your number-one receiver back on the field.
Either way, we’re witnessing a different caliber of quarterback this season. “I’ve learned to be patient and kind of take the stuff over the middle and the shorter passes,” Mahomes admitted during the Week 12 presser, adding: “But if I have the opportunity to go for the deep shot I’m going to make sure I maximize it because I don’t get a lot of those anymore.”
The second part was a joke based on Mahomes’ smirk, but the statement was an accurate one. The Chiefs gunslinger has matured a bit and his chemistry with Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy has only grown in 2022. The result has been an offense that is firing on all cylinders.
Right now, Mahomes is the clear favorite for the MVP award and who knows, maybe Bowen and John Brown BBQ will be celebrating another KC postseason run this winter.