I’m new(er) to the BBQ world and my eyes have been
opened! BBQ has its own language and I want
to become fluent. Good thing I’m moving
to Texas!
Everyone has their opinion about what makes good BBQ and why
theirs is the best. Is it the rub, the
marinade, the cut of the meat, smoke it, grill it, or the type of wood they use
to produce their tasty morsels? Taste is
subjective, preference is personal and cooking styles vary. Because of that there are so many variations
to BBQ and everyone had a different preference when it comes to BBQ.
The 5th Annual West Coast BBQ Classic at the
Queen Mary was a great introduction into the BBQ world for me. Forty Four BBQ teams gathered to compete for
the coveted Title of Grand Champion and the cash prize of $10,000!
The event was sanctioned by the Kansas City BBQ Society and they were
responsible for the judging and scoring of the Teams. Teams were judged on 4 different categories;
Chicken, Pork Ribs, Pork, and Brisket.
Teams had a 10 minute window to turn in their entries; It was intense 10
minutes watching as teams turned in their items.
With 44 competitors it is difficult to try it all. I tried a lot of BBQ that day. Even though I tried a lot of BBQ a few places
stuck out. I had a few favorites of the
day. The first one would be Triple T BBQ
and their tri tip. Let me give you a
little bit of info about me I was born and raised in Northern California (where
tri tip is king). I am a sucker for a
good tri tip, it is my all time favorite and honestly I didn’t see a lot of tri
tip offerings so I was excited. It was
some of the best tri tip I’ve ever had! Another
favorite that from the day was Que’d Up!
They were serving Frito Pie, and we were lured in by two of the cutest kids so
we couldn’t say no. We ordered our frito
pie; meat, crisp cool coleslaw, meat and BBQ sauce! To wash it down we had a pork rib…moment of
silence…..both were SO good. Another
favorite of the day was West Grove Smokehouse, their bacon wrapped meatballs
“Moink Balls” really caught my attention.
How can you say no to that, meat wrapped in meat topped with spicy BBQ
sauce. After you enjoy that you can move
onto bacon wrapped corn on the cob
dipped in melted butter….I died! In fact
the bacon wrapped corn was the only item of the day that I went back for a
second helping. I’ve had a lot of bacon
wrapped items in my life and this was some of the best, the fat of the bacon
was perfectly rendered leaving it crispy and meaty. Last of my honorable mentions goes to Lady of
Q, she is a one woman team who is in it purely for the competition. We were lucky enough to get a nibble of one
of her brisket burnt ends.
After all was said and done, and pitmasters poured their
hearts out into their BBQ the judges conferred and the winners were chosen!
Overall:
1.
Big Poppa Smokers
2.
Left Coast Q
3.
Land of Q
Chicken:
1.
DG Firehouse BBQ
2.
Porkchop & Bubbas
3.
Smoke Hound BBQ
Pork Ribs:
1.
Left Coast Q
2.
Yard Lobster BBQ
3.
Smoke Hound BBQ
Pork:
1.
Ridge Route Boys BBQ
2.
Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ
3.
Lady of Q
Brisket:
1.
Ridge Route Boys BBQ
2.
Smokin’ Hearts
3.
ZZYZX Bar B Q
So my choices may be a little
different than the official standings but it’s a tough completion and there are
a lot of great pieces of meat that were put out. Thank you West Coast BBQ
Classic for my first BBQ completion experience.
It certainly will not be my last. Texas here I come!
