KCBS News FeedBBQ Tour Stop #9: Washington, DC
July 6, 20102010 Washington DC BBQ Battle Recap
On the way to DC, Chris and I stopped by Pittsburgh and visited our oldest daughter and son-in-law. They took us to an incline that takes you up to Mt. Washington, with beautiful views looking down on the city. We hung out long enough for the sun to set and watch the lights of the city come to life giving us new and spectacular views.
The next day, it was off to the DC area for a couple of days of sightseeing before loading into the 17th Annual DC BBQ Battle held right on Pennsylvania Avenue down the street from the White House. We stayed in Rockville, Maryland and rode the Metro into the city. We tried to get a White House tour but couldn’t get in. We did manage to visit the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of American History (which is the home to Betsy Ross’ flag), Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Monument, Vietnam Memorial, the Capitol, the National Archives (where we saw the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights), the National Zoo and even spent some time at President Washington’s Valley Forge overlooking the Potomac River.
Since the event closes down 5-6 blocks of the street and erects a six foot high fence while trying to not disrupt life in general, things can’t really start setting up until after business hours on Friday. Our load-in time was 8:10pm and as we drove down Constitution Avenue, we passed 20 some BBQ teams staging for their load-in. Our site was on the corner of 11th and Pennsylvania right across from the kids’ area and around the corner from the Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile! After setting up the stage, we walked to our hotel around 10:30pm. The teams still hadn’t loaded in but we were sure to see them the next morning.
On Saturday morning, we entered at the 14th Street entrance and walked through teams that were set up. The Pork Barrel BBQ guys even brought Pork Barrel One and were cooking both the KCBS and MIM events. Rub, Smoke, Eat, Cancer Sucks Chicago and DCFD were set up on Pennsylvania Avenue along with Jack’s Old South and probably a dozen other teams. The rest of the teams were camped on 12th Avenue.
Just like the rest of this year, it was HOT in D.C. With a record high of 99 degrees on Sunday, hydration was extremely important and it drove people to our booth to taste the Master of Mixes Bloody Mary and Margarita mix samples.
At the end of the weekend, Quau walked away with the Grand Champion and another $1,000 Kingsford Points Chase check in the KCBS event. Yazoo’s Delta Q swept the three categories in the MIM contest. Local favorite Pork Barrel BBQ won the People’s Choice for best BBQ Sauce!
Overall it was a hot but extremely successful weekend and it was great to visit our Nation’s Capital!
Mike (& Chris) Peters
