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David Bancroft

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Meet David Bancroft, Prime Cuts host, chef, and owner of Auburn, Alabama-based Acre and Bow & Arrow restaurants. Born in Alabama and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Bancroft’s passion for food began at an early age, namely through the influence of his grandparents’ cooking and farming practices. In addition, his family’s own approach to homestyle dining played into his love of food. And, lucky for everyone who’s ever eaten a Bancroft-prepared meal, he figured out how to parlay this into a passion for farm-to-table cooking.

Southern Inspiration

Bancroft first drew knowledge and inspiration from his grandfather who farmed cattle, catfish, cotton and peanuts in South Alabama. While Bancroft spent time hunting and fishing on on his grandfather’s Alabama farm, he also learned how to smoke brisket and barbecue in South Texas. All of this laddered up to a deep appreciation for procuring and caring for meat.

After finishing high school, Bancroft attended Auburn University. While there, he served as kitchen steward for his fraternity before becoming head chef at Auburn’s Amsterdam Café his senior year. Under Bancroft’s lead, Amsterdam Café established farm-to-table dining in East Alabama, as well as recognition as one of the state’s Top-10 restaurants. And, it was here that Bancroft honed his culinary craft and sustainable cooking approach. It’s also where he began developing a name for himself.

Feeling confident in his experiences to this point, Bancroft then began looking for a way to utilize his self-taught skills as a farmer, forager and chef. In August 2013, he opened Acre restaurant with his wife, Christin.

Farm-to-Table

Situated on one acre of land, Acre reinterprets the rich heritage of Alabama cuisine. The restaurant’s seasonally influenced menu focuses on celebrating sustainable ingredients. It highlights an abundance of herbs, fruits and vegetables, along with poultry, meat and seafood. The land that Acre sits on is an edible landscape. It includes three on-site gardens and fruit orchards designed to provide fresh, seasonal harvest to create delicious offerings. Bancroft supplements this with ingredients received from friends and family in the local community.

Bancroft was a  2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef—South” award semifinalist. In addition, he won Food Network’s 2017 Iron Chef Showdown competition. In November 2018, he opened his second restaurant, Bow & Arrow, in Auburn. Bow & Arrow is his interpretation of a South Texas smokehouse with the communal dining approach of an Alabama potluck. The menu offers up an assortment of smoked meats cooked over a custom-built, live-fire Kudu grill. These menu items can be paired with a selection of southern sides like tater-tot casserole, collard greens and cream corn, to name a few.

When Bancroft isn’t focusing on his culinary ventures, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two children. He can also be found hunting and fishing on his family’s lower Alabama farm.

Backyard Life Q&A with Renowned Chef and Prime Cuts Host, David Bancroft

Joe Thomas

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Joe Thomas has long been regarded as one of the sportfishing and hunting industries’ most respected competitors, entertainment personalities and authors. Joe credits this success to his rural southwestern Ohio upbringing and the lifetime he’s spent studying the natural world’s connection to it.

Over the course of his 30-year career, Joe spent 25 years as a B.A.S.S. touring pro and five years as an FLW pro bass angler. Beyond fishing, he’s also hosted and produced numerous high-profile hunting industry shows. These include Outdoor Channel’s High Places, Ultimate Hunting, Outdoor America, The 29 and American Archer—America’s longest-running bow hunting TV show. As the co-founder of Reel Outdoors TV, LTD—an outdoor recreation video production company—Joe also has produced top-notch sportfishing series, too.

His experience behind the camera—coupled with his expert knowledge in the field and on the water—has helped Joe earn product endorsement partnerships with stalwart brands like STIHL, Ranger Boats, BRP and Pelican, among others.

Backyard Life Q&A with Joe Thomas

Brian Latimer

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Long before becoming one of professional bass fishing’s brightest stars, Brian Latimer was known for his on-lawn skill and expertise. And, the leading role he played in the growth of his family’s multi-generational landscape contracting and retail businesses. Brian’s love for both outdoor landscapes and fishing were instilled in him at an early age. “I began working in the family business as soon as I was old enough to safely operate a zero-turn. And, I can’t even recall the exact point in my early childhood when I began fishing alongside my dad,” Brian recalls.

Having competed in more than 170 of fishing’s most prestigious pro events, the FLW-turned-B.A.S.S phenom has reeled in two career tournament wins, 10 career Top-10 finishes and nearly $250,000 in winnings since breaking on the scene in 2004. Brian, wife Rachelle, and their three children, Brevyn, Brooks and Mia, continue to reside in his hometown of Belton, SC. When Brian’s not competing on tour or providing marketing services for numerous industry sponsors, you’ll likely find him and his sons ripping up the custom backyard motocross track Brian built. Now that’s a cool dad!

Backyard Life Q&A with Brian Latimer

Austin Dillon

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Born into the legendary Richard Childress NASCAR Racing family, Austin Dillon has continued to build upon the family’s long-standing reputation for on- and off-the-track professionalism and success.

The 2020 season marks Dillon’s seventh year driving the #3 Dow, Bass Pro Shops, American Ethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for his grandfather’s legendary race team, Richard Childress Racing. To boot, Dillon’s list of prior accomplishments and accolades is a lengthy one.

Backyard Life Q&A with Austin Dillon

NASCAR’s Austin Dillon Career Highlights

  • In 2018, Dillon won the prestigious Daytona 500 with a dramatic, last-lap pass for the win.
  • Memorial Day weekend 2017, Dillon earned his career-first Cup Series win in NASCAR’s longest race of the season—the Coca-Cola 600. This happened to take place on his home track in Charlotte, North Carolina.
  • Dillon is a former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion (2013) and NASCAR Truck Series champion(2011). And, to top it off, he is an 18-time winner in NASCAR’s top-three touring series.
  • Dillon has six career pole awards in the NASCAR Cup Series. Most notable, he earned the pole award for the Daytona 500 in the Dow Chevrolet in 2014.
  • Dillon is a two-time NASCAR Rookie-of-the-Year Award winner (2010 in the NASCAR Truck Series and 2012 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series).

Austin Dillon’s Backyard Life

These days, when Austin Dillon’s not trackside, you can find him living the backyard life outside of his renovated barn home in Welcome, NC. Here, Dillon resides with his wife Whitney and two dogs (French bulldog, Gucci and Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Jake). And, when he’s not racing, his life centers around his family, friends and dogs. As well as hobbies like hunting, fishing, fantasy and e-sports. But, that will soon change as the couple is expecting their first child in June. Still, for a workout, he enjoys playing basketball and his favorite TV shows include Game of Thrones, Damnation and Yellowstone. While his favorite musical artist is Garth Brooks. And, a little-known fun fact about NASCAR’s Austin Dillon is that he played in the 2002 Little League World Series.

Michael Waddell

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Creator of the beloved Bone Collector series and regular collaborator on shows and DVDs such as Monster Bucks, Realtree Road Trips and The Incomplete Deer Hunter With Jeff Foxworthy, Michael Waddell is one of the industry’s most skilled hunters, and arguably its most popular personality. If it gobbles, quacks, bugles or grunts, chances are he’s chased it more than a time or two. Michael’s expertise and relatable personality engages and entertains outdoor enthusiasts the world over, as evidenced by his more than 1.5 million social media followers and fans.

Michael is extremely proud of his rural southern roots, and is quick to recognize the dues he’s paid to gain recognition and fame. His start in the hunting industry came after winning a Realtree turkey calling contest and, later, guiding and filming hunts. Before Michael knew it, he was a camera operator for Realtree—an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of TV production.

Growing up in the backwoods and backwaters of Booger Bottom, Georgia, Michael wasn’t exposed to crowds or strip malls, but rather wide-open spaces where he could get dirty and simply be a boy. In Michael’s own words, he’s simply “a guitar pickin’, blue-jeans wearin’, backstrap grillin’ good ol’ boy who was born to hunt.” Beyond Jesus, his father, mother and family, Michael’s heroes include the brave men and women of our Armed Forces. As well as a handful of truly hardcore hunters like Fred Bear, Ted Nugent and Chuck Adams. Michael insists that he does what he does because, “they inspire me to be myself and keep walking the path I’m on.”

When he’s not out chasing deer, turkey, elk and anything else he can legally wrap a tag around and fill the freezer with, Michael can be found enjoying the sprawling pecan farm that he, his wife and their five children proudly call home.

Backyard Life Q&A with Michael Waddell

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