To this day, even after all the tragedy that has transpired, remembering what his wife Joy said that got the whole award-winning backyard barbecue phenomenon started still brings a warm smile to Chris Blatchford’s face.
It was 2020. The young couple had just moved into a historic old house in the Salt Lake City Avenues, which they paid a lot more for than the people who first built it in 1896.
Joy turned to Chris and, with a grin, said: “This place is kinda hard for us to afford; you need a side hustle, buddy.”
She followed that with, “You make really good barbecue; why don’t you sell some of it on Facebook Marketplace?”
Chris was all for it, for two reasons: He loved to cook, and he loved Joy. If she said it was a good idea, it had to be a good idea.
Neither of them knew the neighborhood sensation they were about to launch.
As it happened, the state of Utah, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, had passed legislation that year that made it legal to run a restaurant out of your home, as long as you didn’t hire outside employees and passed inspection.
Blatch’s Backyard BBQ, near the corner of I Street and Fourth Avenue, was soon open for business.
And, man, was Joy right about her husband’s barbecue. Soon, lines were forming out the door and up the block on the Wednesdays and Fridays they were open for dinner.
Then Joy had another suggestion for Chris: make sure their vegan and vegetarian friends had something to eat, too.
Chris took on the challenge like Edison figuring out the light bulb. He experimented with so many ingredients, herbs and spices, including 14 different kinds of smoked mushrooms, that by the time he was finished he liked his vegan version better than the meat version. It wasn’t long before it was all he served. Blatch’s Backyard BBQ became Blatch’s Backyard Vegan BBQ.
The restaurant won numerous Best of Salt Lake and Best of Utah honors in both the BBQ and the vegan categories.
This past August, a national website, “Only in Your State,” wrote this review:
“Would you believe that the best barbecue in Utah is plant-based? Before y’all accuse us of blasphemy, saddle up to the counter at Blatch’s BBQ.”
But then came the part that brought everything to a screeching halt.
The fire was first. On Wednesday, Sept. 3, Chris was getting everything ready for that night’s serving when he walked into the garage to check on the inventory. In his hand was a small Bic lighter. Those lighters can be temperamental, so he decided to see if it worked. At that very moment, due to low blood sugar (Chris is a Type 1 diabetic), he fainted. The lighter worked. It landed on some paper on the floor.
Joy, who was at home working in her office, bolted out of her chair when the six propane tanks in the garage exploded. She called 911. The fire truck was there in three minutes and the fire was out in 20 minutes, saving all adjoining houses and properties. But by then the garage and everything in it was destroyed, including a brand new $15,000 commercial smoker, several fridges and freezers, other equipment and inventory, and a 2021 Subaru Outback. Added together, the losses totaled $200,000, and the Blatchfords only had liability insurance.
Chris crawled out of the garage, although he still can’t remember how, and escaped with his life. He was rushed to the hospital and treated for third-degree burns.
He was still recovering when it was Joy’s turn to go to the hospital.
An otherwise robust, healthy, cheerful woman, Joy, who worked as a much-loved administrator at the University of Utah, suffered from hemorrhoids that had caused her to put on several pounds of water weight. In pain and barely able to walk, she finally, at Chris’ insistence, went to the hospital, where she underwent numerous blood transfusions. When she was released, they told her that she seemed to be doing better, that it was going to take some time to get the water weight off, and that she should go to physical therapy and rest.
The next day, Thursday, Nov. 20, a week before Thanksgiving, she took a nap and never woke up. She died as Chris was trying to revive her.
For Chris, the last month has been pure survival. Trying to make sense out of life.
“I don’t want to say it’s destroyed me, but it’s really done a number on me,” he says, “just so much loneliness, so much sadness. Everything’s gone from ‘us, us, us,’ to ‘oh, that chapter is over.’”
All he has left that was truly theirs together is their cat Zeus and the backyard barbecue.
“The night before (she died), we were making plans on how to expand,” he says. “We always had big, ambitious goals.”
It’s why Chris has decided to continue to serve up his barbecue — albeit on a limited basis as he processes his grief — and continue to explore ways to find a full-time location and replace what was lost in the fire.
He doesn’t want to stop what Joy got started.
“She’s just as much a part of it now as she was before,” he says. “She just doesn’t have as much of a physical presence anymore.”
For anyone who would like to help, Chris and Joy’s friends have set up a GoFundMe campaign. It can be accessed at https://gofund.me/6501520d8.
