2011 NYC Big Apple Block Party

This was not only our first trip to the Big Apple Block Party in Manhattan, but our first time ever to NYC! The party goes Saturday and Sunday in Madison Square Park which is right at 5^th Avenue and 25^th Street in Midtown. We spent Thursday night in New Jersey and stocked up at Sams Club for the anticipated huge crowds early Friday morning. As we came into the city, we went through the Lincoln Tunnel. Those of you who follow our recaps know of my disdain for tunnels and this was the first one I had to navigate under a river which did not ease my tension. I should have planned better because coming out of the tunnel requires a left or right turn. Of course I went left when I should have gone right and got to see 42^nd Street which is right off of Times Square and is the Theatre district. We finally got close and called the organizer who told us to hold tight and he would be over to set us in our space shortly. Of course we were parked in the “No Idling” area which carried a $2,000 fine. To make matters even worse, once we pulled into our spot, the organizer asked where we got the 4 propane tanks that were strapped to the bed of the truck. “New Jersey” was my reply and I was informed that propane was supplied onsite and I could be in really big trouble for transporting propane tanks into the city. The weekend could only get better…

The weatherman called for chances of showers all weekend but especially on Saturday and the rain kept away for most of the day. Until we had our Grillmaster contest that is. Clint Cantwell, guest editor for Kingsford’s grilling.com’s website and Grillmaster in his own right took on the winningest man in Barbeque, Myron Mixon who was cooking brisket with his Jack’s Old South team. Myron’s wife Faye even brought us over a tasty pan of beans with peaches which normally I would not mix but it was fantastic!

Along with Jack’s Old South, there were numerous Pitmasters selling championship BBQ to the New York masses including our friends Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson’s, Mike and Amy Mills of 17^th Street, Tommy and Lisa Houston of Checkered Pig. On Saturday, a couple of friends with Redwood Creek also stopped by. Sue who came out and worked the Redwood Creek tent in Charlotte brought her husband who got into the BBQ spirit by wearing a BBQ shirt and Seth who worked with us in Columbus brought his wife Erika and even took Christine and I out on the town after we shut down for the night. It was our first time in a NYC taxi and lucky me, I got to sit in the middle and watch our cabbie tear down the street and almost clip folks crossing the street. If he honked once, he honked a hundred times while we jetted to Little Italy and ate at the first Pizzeria in America, Lombardi’s which was founded in 1905.

Sunday started a little slow with the crowds but ended strong as we ran out of food and product samples around 5pm. During the weekend, we passed out close to 4000 Bloody Mary and Margarita Lite samples, almost 9000 Weber seasoning packets, 1800 Resers Potato Salad cups and 6600 Tyson Chicken Wings and Cavanaugh Sausage samples. Christine and I did not do this on our own though and were blessed with some great helpers for the weekend, KCBS members Don and James, Long Island, NY locals came out and were invaluable. Don was pushing products under the tent like a pro and I had James manning the grill all weekend long to keep the wings and sausages coming for the long lines of people!

A couple of things stood out from the weekend. Expecting a rough New York crowd, I was surprised by the politeness that we experienced. I had more “Thank You’s” from this crowd than I can recall in quite some time. The fellow who packed his own “wet naps” for clean-up cracked me up. I was quite surprised at all the dogs people were walking in the city. Saturday’s Hari Krishna parade down 5^th Avenue was interesting as they don’t eat meat yet were surrounded by some of the best BBQ in the country!

We couldn’t come to New York without spending some time sightseeing so Sunday night after closing down, we caught a Taxi on our own and headed to Uptown and Times Square to see all the lights and people. The Tony awards were being held and there were bleachers and chairs set up in the street to watch one of the many large outdoor screens. Since we had to be off the street by 7am on Monday, we headed out of town and caught a train back into the city to see Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Central Park. Maybe if we come back next year, we will get to see more of the city that never sleeps…

Rock'n Ribs - Springfield, MO

Rock’n Ribs in Springfield, Missouri has always held a special place in our hearts as this was our first BBQ contest we ever competed in.  Like most years, events in Mid-April have a higher than normal chance of rain and cold weather and this year was especially bad with rain, cold and high winds hitting the event on both Friday and Saturday. The sun did come out right about Brisket turn-in time so the crowds arrived at just the right time for the 8,000 lbs of pork and brisket that the teams prepared for the public sampling.

Because this is our home event, Christine and I get to compete in addition to running the BBQ Tour. While at most contests, we pack up and stay in a hotel, I had an early Friday morning segment on KOLR-10, the local CBS station so I stayed onsite Thursday night and watched the bad weather come across Oklahoma heading straight for us. I did get some sleep until a couple of transformers popped at 3:15. That will sure wake you up out of a sound sleep! I cooked ribs for the reporter and let him chow down during one of our spots.

Friday night at Rock’n Ribs is the VIP party night for adults only. While the rain kept most of the crowds away, the die-hards  made it out to listen to the bands and try some public samples.  Saturday was turn-in day and we got in two very well attended demonstrations for the crowd. The nice thing about Saturday at Rock’n Ribs is the public sampling and people line up like ants going from booth to booth to get their free food samples. This year the event used text voting for people to vote instead of paper ballots like in the past. Team “Here Piggy Piggy BBQ” which is sponsored by Davis Cellular had their members in line teaching people how to text in their vote and had twice as many votes as the second place team. Pretty sure they had good BBQ also since they were voted People’s Choice Winners. As a matter of full disclosure, “Here Piggy Piggy BBQ” is Christine and my cooking team so I can vouch for the good BBQ.

This was the 12^th year for Rock’n Ribs and after all the money is tallied, they should be able to top the $1,000,000 mark for donations to Children’s Charities of the Ozarks since inception. It takes close to 900 volunteers and is directed by the local Rotary clubs to pull off this massive event that fills up a Bass Pro Shops parking lot. This year was also special since there was an International team competing from Puerto Rico – BBQ Freaks! They even brought rum along to help teach the locals about their home spirits and even conducted some rum tasting. They weren’t quite used to the cold weather though but I am told that rum warms the innards…

At awards time, the sun was shining on all the teams who got calls, especially Quau with their first place Chicken, 3 Brothers with Different Mothers with Ribs (they said Dad sure got around), Belly Brothers, last year’s GC with first place Pork and Dead Pigs Tell No Tales edging out family Quau for first place Brisket. Belly Brothers ended up with a second place Reserve Champion trophy while Quau won their second Grand Championship in a row (won Columbus, MS the week prior) along with another big Kingsford check. Mike even ran up to Jefferson City on Thursday to compete in the Butt to Butt Championship. Christine and I took home a 5^th place Brisket trophy and will hang up our cooking aprons for another year before we hope to defend our People’s Choice award!

Grilling on the River - Columbus, Mississippi

Christine (yeah, Chris is going by Christine since some folks last year came to events looking for the two “dudes”, Mike and Chris) and I rolled into Columbus on Thursday morning prior to the 5^th Annual Grilling on the River contest. This contest raises funds for the Columbus area Humane Society. On Friday, the event didn’t open until 4 but since this was our first stop for the BBQ Tour, we showed up early to get things set up. This year we have a new smoker – the Good-One Marshall which is the “middle child” of the Good-One family with a larger grilling area than the Open Range model we used the last two years and four smoking racks available to smoke up whatever we might need at events which also doubles as a nice holding oven for all our meat samples.

Speaking of meat samples, we will be feeding the masses again this year and need the extra holding space for all the good eats. Tyson chicken wings are on the menu with three varieties – Buffalo Hot, Honey BBQ and Tequila Lime, Cavanaugh Sausages brings a nice smoked sausage, Kielbasa and spicy smoked sausage to the party along with Weber Gourmet Burgers! Nobody should go away hungry from one of our demonstrations!

Master of Mixes is along for the party again this year and we are really excited to help promote their Margarita Lite Big Bucket! We had two cases shipped into the hotel and on Thursday night when we got in, I called down to the front desk to ask if our margaritas had been delivered. The front desk clerk thought I was pulling a prank on her until I explained that the shipping confirmation said it was delivered to the front desk. The next morning, we did find our margarita’s next door at a different hotel. Personally, I think the Fedex guy was splitting the “booty” with their staff if nobody claimed it…

Columbus was also the first stop that Redwood Creek Wine would be joining us so we prepared a special Malbec marinated flank steak for our Saturday demonstration which came out beautifully and was the tastiest dish of the day!

I would like to mention the beautiful weather that we experienced in Columbus but that isn’t the whole truth. There was no rain but the temperatures rose to 90 degrees which would not have been so bad had the humidity not been close to 90 percent. Holy cow it was HOT! Not used to that type of weather, especially for our first stop out on the tour but it sure beat rain or cold.

At every event, we have folks come out to help us pass out samples and interact with the crowds. Harvey Myrick, the event organizer lined us up with students from East Mississippi Community College who were in the schools culinary program. They were fantastic and even came out Friday in their chef jackets and long pants. After setting them up with t-shirts and explaining that Saturdays attire was shorts, they settled in quite well and helped pass our Margarita Lite samples, Reser’s Potato Salad samples and all the other sponsor samples that we pass out at each event!

Congrats to Mike & Beth with Quau on their Grand Champion and Kingsford win! Late Night Whiskey Smokers from Lynchburg won Reserve Grand while 2 Men and a Pig, Heavenly Manna, Wild Bunch Butt Burners and Quau had category wins in Chicken, Ribs, Pork and Brisket.

Next stop is our home event in Springfield, MO for the 12^th Annual Rock’n Ribs event. This is their “Million Dollar” year where we hope to top the $1,000,000 mark for total donations over the 12 year run of the event all going towards Childrens Charities of the Ozarks!

Getting ready to hit the road!

I gave a lot of thought into how to "brand" the BBQ life that Christine and I live. While I guess I could be considered a "pitmaster", I am not a trained Chef. When I think of Billie Mays, the "original" pitchman, he could sell just about anything. Each year we have new and additional sponsors and I get the pleasure of selling their product to the masses. BBQ Pitchman just makes sense...

Columbus, Mississippi is the first stop on the Great American BBQ Tour this year. If you look at our schedule kcbs.us, you will notice some new stops and four fewer than years past. Christine and I will be going to 21 stops with the flexibility to add new locations. Along with these 21 stops, we will do retail stops between the events. The plan this year is to not only recap events but gather more information for a book about the tour. My vision is part travel book and part recipe book. I want to highlight the cities that these events occur in, the history behind the BBQ competition, BBQ joint reviews along the road and asking winners to contribute recipes. Not only looking for chicken, ribs, pork and brisket recipes but since there is sauce, dessert, drink and side contests, I would like to include some of them all with the only criteria is the recipe must come from a 1st place category win team or Reserve or Grand Champion.

I hope you come back often and I will share tidbits along the road.
Mike