My wife Julie and I attended the Santa Anita Park 4th Annual Winners' Circle BBQ Championship (SAWC4) on March 20-21, 2015 in Arcadia, CA, near Pasadena of Rose Parade and Rose Bowl fame. Set against the San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Anita Park is often described as one of the most beautiful race tracks in the world. It is certainly a great venue for a barbecue competition, with the teams set up in the grassy infield and the dirt and turf racing tracks circling the infield. Weather was warm and pleasant, the Santa Anita staff kept everything running smoothly, and organizers Ben Lobenstein and Ric Gilbert of Fire It Up! BBQ Events did an outstanding job of bringing all the pieces together.
With $15,000 in prize money at stake, SAWC4 topped out at 100 teams, making it the first KCBS-sanctioned competition in California with teams in the triple digits. Teams and judges were excited to be a part of California barbecue history!
We visited the venue on Friday afternoon, walking the grounds to get familiar with the place and to say hello to some of the teams. We also spent time watching the horse races and placed a few bets. Something new this year was a Kids-Q event intended to bring fresh new faces into competition barbecue. TVWB and TVWBB had the privilege of providing Weber Smokey Joe Silver grills to the six young competitors who grilled either burgers or steaks provided by Whole Foods. Each competitor picked their own team name and had their entries judged by KCBS CBJs in the judging tent just like the big boys. The kids got a visit from Troy Glass (semi-finalist on MasterChef Jr Season 1) who provided encouragement and advice, and sampled their entries. Plaques were awarded at the awards ceremony and the kids got to take home their Smokey Joes, to boot.
I want to thank Ben and Ric for the opportunity to support the Kids-Q event, and a special shout-out to Patty at The Woodshed in the City of Orange for delivering the grills to Santa Anita and providing wood chip sample packs for each contestant. The Woodshed sells premium smoke wood and more, delivered to Orange and Los Angeles counties and via mail order at www.sharpegourmet.com. Please patronize The Woodshed whenever you can and tell them TVWB sent you!
On Saturday morning, I judged the event and my wife volunteered to do leftover duty, consolidating all the leftovers into boxes for the table captains and other volunteers to enjoy. It was great to say hello to judging friends for the first time in 2015, but given that there were 102 judges (17 tables x 6 judges) there were many faces I did not know. You should have seen the line for the "Southwest Shuffle" in which judges line-up by experience level and are then randomized so as to mix experienced and less experienced judges at each table...the line snaked on and on outside the tent!
This contest drew an extremely talented group of teams, the level of barbecue was high, and the judges got to taste some excellent entries. In fact, The Pit Crew BBQ of SoCal got a perfect 180 in pork--congrats to them! And congratulations to Grand Champion Smokin Mo's BBQ and Reserve Grand Champion Knock Ur Sox Off BBQ!
Crowds attending the event setup blankets, chairs and umbrellas on the manicured infield grass and enjoyed some great barbecue from a wide variety of People's Choice teams and browsed products and crafts from vendors. There was a live music stage at one end of the infield with plenty of craft beer nearby, and chef demos by Rahm Fama (Food Networks's Meat & Potatoes), Bev Lazo (Hell's Kitchen Season 12), and Troy Glass (MasterChef Jr Season 1) at the Mak Grills demo stage.
Everyone seemed to have a great time and I know this event will just get bigger and better next year. I plan on being there, hope you will, too!
With $15,000 in prize money at stake, SAWC4 topped out at 100 teams, making it the first KCBS-sanctioned competition in California with teams in the triple digits. Teams and judges were excited to be a part of California barbecue history!
We visited the venue on Friday afternoon, walking the grounds to get familiar with the place and to say hello to some of the teams. We also spent time watching the horse races and placed a few bets. Something new this year was a Kids-Q event intended to bring fresh new faces into competition barbecue. TVWB and TVWBB had the privilege of providing Weber Smokey Joe Silver grills to the six young competitors who grilled either burgers or steaks provided by Whole Foods. Each competitor picked their own team name and had their entries judged by KCBS CBJs in the judging tent just like the big boys. The kids got a visit from Troy Glass (semi-finalist on MasterChef Jr Season 1) who provided encouragement and advice, and sampled their entries. Plaques were awarded at the awards ceremony and the kids got to take home their Smokey Joes, to boot.
I want to thank Ben and Ric for the opportunity to support the Kids-Q event, and a special shout-out to Patty at The Woodshed in the City of Orange for delivering the grills to Santa Anita and providing wood chip sample packs for each contestant. The Woodshed sells premium smoke wood and more, delivered to Orange and Los Angeles counties and via mail order at www.sharpegourmet.com. Please patronize The Woodshed whenever you can and tell them TVWB sent you!
On Saturday morning, I judged the event and my wife volunteered to do leftover duty, consolidating all the leftovers into boxes for the table captains and other volunteers to enjoy. It was great to say hello to judging friends for the first time in 2015, but given that there were 102 judges (17 tables x 6 judges) there were many faces I did not know. You should have seen the line for the "Southwest Shuffle" in which judges line-up by experience level and are then randomized so as to mix experienced and less experienced judges at each table...the line snaked on and on outside the tent!
This contest drew an extremely talented group of teams, the level of barbecue was high, and the judges got to taste some excellent entries. In fact, The Pit Crew BBQ of SoCal got a perfect 180 in pork--congrats to them! And congratulations to Grand Champion Smokin Mo's BBQ and Reserve Grand Champion Knock Ur Sox Off BBQ!
Crowds attending the event setup blankets, chairs and umbrellas on the manicured infield grass and enjoyed some great barbecue from a wide variety of People's Choice teams and browsed products and crafts from vendors. There was a live music stage at one end of the infield with plenty of craft beer nearby, and chef demos by Rahm Fama (Food Networks's Meat & Potatoes), Bev Lazo (Hell's Kitchen Season 12), and Troy Glass (MasterChef Jr Season 1) at the Mak Grills demo stage.
Everyone seemed to have a great time and I know this event will just get bigger and better next year. I plan on being there, hope you will, too!
