Bay Area BBQ Championship & A Food Gal Give-Away

Joanne Pang of Bad S BBQ at last year's event. (Photo courtesy of the Bay Area BBQ Championship)

Get ready to have a smoky, meaty good time when the 2nd annual Bay Area BBQ Championship rolls into the Oakland Coliseum on July 7.

Professionals, amateurs and community groups will be competing to determine who has the best barbecued chicken, ribs, brisket and pork, plus the tastiest side dishes and desserts.

What’s more, in-between sampling all that food, you can take in the A’s vs. Mariners game.

All proceeds benefit Alternative Family Services, a local organization that provides services for foster children.

General admission tickets, which include five tasting tickets each and admission to the baseball game, are $33 for adults, $12 for kids. VIP tickets — which include all of that plus VIP tent and stage seating, as well as a “Blues, Brews & BBQ” party, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. July 6 at the Coliseum — are $78 for adults and $41 for kids.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win two VIP tickets to the Bay Area BBQ Championship on July 7, which includes admission to the baseball game, a total of 10 tasting tickets, and access to the VIP party on July 6. Entries, limited to those who can be in Oakland on July 7, will be accepted through midnight PST June 10. Winner will be announced June 12.

How to win?

Just tell me about one of your favorite times that involved barbecuing or grilling. Best answer wins.

Here’s my own answer:

“It would have to be the rib contest that my friends, Nate and Annie of the HouseofAnnie blog, hosted at their home when they still lived in the South Bay. Not only did they cook their own, but they got take-out from various local bbq joints. The rest of us contributed side dishes and desserts. But the main event, of course, was them bones, them bones. We loaded our plates with rib after rib, took discerning bites, and even filled out score sheets. I can’t even remember which one won. But I do remember it was one fun and filling time.”

Winner of Last Week’s Contest: In the previous Food Gal contest, I asked you tell me about a favorite occasion you’ve enjoyed in which tea was prominent. The winner will receive samples of each of the new three varieties of Tazo Iced Tea Filterbags, along with a pretty glass pitcher to serve it in.

Three varieties of tea come in large sachets for brewing ease.

Congrats to:

D., who wrote, “My family loves to go dim sum and try all the little plates of food and enjoy the chaotic but homey atmosphere of barking waitresses and patrons fighting for the last plate of something delicious. Dim sum has to go with tea, for us we enjoy the darkest tea possible. We weekly fight over the last drop of the tea in the tea pot where the taste is deep and rich and coffee like. When a waiter tries to refill the pot we kindly tell them to wait, while the my Dad and I ensure that every last drop is taken. It is moments like these that I remember that family is important, food is central and our idiosyncrasies make us special. To the waiters we may be crazy, to us this is how it is meant to be done.”

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6 comments

  • What a fun and fantastic event…great cause as well!

  • So bummed to miss the BBQ Championship. Smokey ribs and baseball – now that is good summer fun!
    Have a great week Carolyn,
    E

  • Hmm I really want to go to this bbq championship (I hope I can score some goooood ribs!), but July 7th is a long weekend weekend so not sure… Otherwise it sounds like a really fun event!!

  • What a fun event! Either you guys have really great events or you pick them really well! 😀

  • Carolyn,

    aww, thanks for that remembrance! It was our Ultimate Rib Showdown to find out which rib preparation technique was best: smoked, grilled or boiled/baked. I’m happy to say that smoked won 🙂

    http://www.houseofannie.com/ultimate-rib-showdown/

    That would have been my favorite barbecue experience to date. Too bad I can’t enter your contest as I don’t think I’ll be in Oakland on that weekend 🙁 I’d sure like to go though…

  • As long as there is no laughing or pointing fingers 🙂

    When I was younger, my girlfriend and I went to the Bay Bridge series with some friends and friends of friends. Many of us crammed into a couple of RV’s and then tailgating before the game. After an awesome meal of BBQ chicken and some potato salad that the two of us had contributed (notice I didn’t say made), my girlfriend and I had a brownie from the plate that was sitting on the table. Once we finished our first brownie, we dove in for a second one (ahem, back then food didn’t seem to land on the hips). At that time someone mentioned that we should be careful because they were ‘pot’ brownies. But it was April 1st, so we figured that was just an April fools joke and we each proceeded to finish off our second brownie and eventually head in to watch the game.
    Lets just say we were lucky that we had some friends to watch over us, make sure that we were okay, find us our seats (because by then I couldn’t find my way out of a paper bag) and made sure we got home okay. Pretty much the only thing I remember of that entire game were the dot races (do they still have them) and thinking they were the best thing since sliced bread.
    I wouldn’t eat brownies at pot lucks (no pun intended) or BBQ’s for years…

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