(03/30/08)

Competition Grilling: Dirty Dick Wins Snowshoe (with guest chef Robbie Richter); Wildwood BBQ Makes Contest Debut

Local team Dirty Dick and the Legless Wonders were the grand champions at the 15th Annual Snowshoe Grilling Challenge (Abington MA) on Saturday. The team from Norwell MA also took the first place trophy in the beef category. Familiar to many as a barbecue competitor on the Versus Network, Richard "Dirty Dick" Westhaver also had a familiar guest teammate for the event: longtime friend Robbie Richter, the opening pitmaster at NYC's Hill Country and soon-to-be pitmaster at Zak Pelaccio's Southeast Asian BBQ joint in Brooklyn, tentatively called Fatty 'Cue. The reserve grand champion trophy went to Cape Cod's Dr. Frank 'n' Swine.

Robbie Richter experiments with some halibut.

Also making the trip from New York were Lou Elrose ("Big Lou") and Matt Fisher ("the Hampton Smoker"), the executive pitmaster and pitmaster, respecively, at NYC's Wildwood BBQ, the latest B.R. Guest restaurant scheduled to open on April 21.

Lou Elrose and Matt Fisher of Wildwood BBQ.

Wildwood BBQ preparing an entry box.

New Yorkers Matt Fisher and Robbie Richter remind New Englanders

who won the Super Bowl. But who won the World Series?

The Snowshoe was a well organized event, run by Gary and Michelle Taft of the Lunchmeat BBQ team. From raffle sales alone, the event generated more than $6000 in groceries for the Abington St. Vincent DePaul Food Pantry.

Top 5 Finishers By Category

The Snowshoe drew an extremely competitive field, with 14 different teams getting calls and none of the teams walking more than twice.

Fish

1 Boneyard BBQ
2 Pokey Smokers
3 Dr. Frank 'n' Swine (Reserve Grand Champions)
4 Feeding FriendZ
5 I Smell Smoke!!!

Sausage Fatty

1 Que Ball
2 I Smell Smoke!!!
3 Lakeside Smokers
4 Dirty Dick and The Legless Wonders (Grand Champions)
5 Boneyard BBQ

Beef

1 Dirty Dick and The Legless Wonders
2 Transformer BBQ
3 Yabba Dabba Que
4 I Que
5 Porkaholics

Vegetable

1 Yabba Dabba Que
2 Uncle Jed's BBQ
3 Dr. Frank 'n' Swine
4 Feeding FriendZ
5 Purple Turtle Catering Company