I table captained at the Oaktown Throwdown on Saturday August 2. It's the first year for this BBQ competition and was organized as part of the 14th Annual Art + Soul Oakland festival. Downtown Oakland was packed with people enjoying music, art, and sampling authentic barbecue. Congrats to the organizers for bringing this event to Oakland, a city with a deep barbecue heritage, and for doing such a good job in their first year.
There were 22 professional teams and 11 backyard teams. There was also a Dessert category in which all teams were invited to compete.
I showed up early Saturday morning knowing that I would not be a tasting judge because I had not signed up early enough for a slot. But I wanted to help support this new event, fairly close to my home in San Jose, and I knew that CBJs and other interested folks are always welcome to help as volunteers in some capacity, whether to receive entry boxes and renumber them, serve as a table captain, handle the leftover meat boxes, process judges' comment cards, etc. So I ended up helping out as a table captain. It's something I had never done before but have watched others do several times, and with some helpful instruction from KCBS rep Kelly McIntosh I think I did just fine for my first time!
Congratulations to all the teams that walked, but a special congrats to my buddy Ric Gilbert of Ric's Righteous Ribs for winning Grand Champion! Ric and I go way back to 1997 when we first met at a Paul Kirk BBQ class in Los Altos, CA. Couldn't be happier for Ric and Kyle to get this big win.
Kudos to Scott and Pam Hares of Too Ashamed To Name for taking RC and Harry Soo of Slap Yo' Daddy BBQ for finishing 3rd overall--both WSM users in competition! Also, a shout-out to Mike Davie of Smoakland for taking 1st place in Pork using the WSM!
Finally, a sweet congrats to Donna Fong of Butcher's Daughter and her daughter Miranda for a perfect 180 in the Dessert category for a wonderful cheesecake!
I'll post some photos later today...stay tuned.
There were 22 professional teams and 11 backyard teams. There was also a Dessert category in which all teams were invited to compete.
I showed up early Saturday morning knowing that I would not be a tasting judge because I had not signed up early enough for a slot. But I wanted to help support this new event, fairly close to my home in San Jose, and I knew that CBJs and other interested folks are always welcome to help as volunteers in some capacity, whether to receive entry boxes and renumber them, serve as a table captain, handle the leftover meat boxes, process judges' comment cards, etc. So I ended up helping out as a table captain. It's something I had never done before but have watched others do several times, and with some helpful instruction from KCBS rep Kelly McIntosh I think I did just fine for my first time!
Congratulations to all the teams that walked, but a special congrats to my buddy Ric Gilbert of Ric's Righteous Ribs for winning Grand Champion! Ric and I go way back to 1997 when we first met at a Paul Kirk BBQ class in Los Altos, CA. Couldn't be happier for Ric and Kyle to get this big win.
Kudos to Scott and Pam Hares of Too Ashamed To Name for taking RC and Harry Soo of Slap Yo' Daddy BBQ for finishing 3rd overall--both WSM users in competition! Also, a shout-out to Mike Davie of Smoakland for taking 1st place in Pork using the WSM!
Finally, a sweet congrats to Donna Fong of Butcher's Daughter and her daughter Miranda for a perfect 180 in the Dessert category for a wonderful cheesecake!
I'll post some photos later today...stay tuned.
