A lot went into the planning of the Joe Lamb Jr. Outer Banks BBQ Showdown, but there are some things you just can’t plan for. The weather, although a little windy at times was really quite nice and perfect for sittin’ around the smoker, chatting with friends new and old, listening to some great live music, drinking a beer and of course eating some of the best BBQ, Chicken and Ribs this side of the Mississippi! Big (and we mean huge) thank yous to all of the restaurants that generously gave out their food and made this day truly awesome! Jonny Waters and Company Band were truly great, playing everything from Zeplin to Joe Johnson…super talented group that we will be seeing more of. Outer Banks Photobooths was on hand letting folks jam into the booth and take wacky picts and sending them home with a special memento of their day. Of course Joe Lamb Jr. Realty was there with their sponsorship and giving away free swag and talking to folks all day. Big thanks to our Taste of the Beach volunteers and of course to the Sea Ranch Resort, Manager Barbara Gusler and John Romm, their entire staff of hotel and Beachside Bistro restaurant who tirelessly did whatever was asked. So many people coming together to put this on…too many to mention. Oh let’s not forget our over 350 attendees!! Now down to the nitty gritty…the food and the awards.
We had three expert judges sequestered away carefully (and blindly) sampling every dish prepared under the watchful eye of our Judge Facilitators. Scoring was done on 4 taste points with each judge scoring a possible total of 40 points for each dish. Then add in the people’s votes (cuz they count a lot!) and double them to make it more evenly balanced between judges and peoples choice….that’s how we did it, and it worked really well in the end, even though it took a little longer to tabulate than we planned….but like we said earlier, some things you just can’t plan for…just have a beer and wait for it! The winners were folks that scored well with the judges and people in a balance of opinions and points.
The winners are:
Best Outer Banks Pork BBQ – Stripers Bar & Grille
Best Outer Banks Ribs – Pigman’s BBQ
Best Outer Banks Chicken – Sooey’s BBQ & Rib Shack
Best “Other” BBQ Meat – Coastal Provisions (Smoked Pork Belly Pastrami sliders)
Not to be outdone the second place finishers were right behind them and they deserve some mention too.
Second place Pork BBQ – Crazy Johnny’s!
Second Place Ribs – Sooey’s BBQ & Rib Shack
Second Place Chicken – SaltyDawg Smokehouse
Second Place “Other” Meat – SaltyDawg Smokehouse (Brisket)
Check out all the points and placers here:
