By OWEN MORRIS
I went down to the Royal Saturday night to see what was cooking and check up on who-did-how in the invitational. My bus driver (hey, I practice what I preach and took the shuttle) said that Friday night had been "crazy busy" including a couple of out-of-control people on his bus who left "souvenirs" on some of the seat backs. Saturday, he said, was slow. I was the only bus rider he had all night.
At the Royal, a sizable crowd was milling around in front of the food stands and watching the band but there were very few people in the barbecue lot. As I explained in the Pitch Forks newsletter last week, the health department does not allow these barbecue teams to give out samples, so unless you're invited to the party of 400-plus participants, you're out of luck.
The eight barbecue teams I talked to weren't thinking about the crowds. They were all focused on the open that was coming up Sunday morning.
A quick overview: The barbecue is actually two different events. The invitational is held Saturday; securing an invitation usually involves placing high in a regional competition or having professional credentials. This year 108 teams competed in the invitational. The Sunday competition is open to anyone regardless of experience or credentials. Around 500 teams compete in the open. All teams that compete in the invitational may compete in the open (most do) but not vice-versa.
As the teams prepped their meats and prepared their smokers, the other big topic on their minds seemed to be the Kansas City Barbecue Society, which makes the rules for the judging and keeps tracks of the points. There was a fair amount of griping about the fairness of the system, but mostly about how disorganized it was.
This seems to have been a complaint of the judges as well. Or as Plaza Jen calls it in this good round-up of how things were from the judges point of view, a "hiccup."
One group from Texas that was competing for the first time asked me if I knew how the judges could announce the winners by name if the system is truly double-blind. I didn't know, but I'm sure there's a good explanation. They also complained that presentation instead of taste played too big a part in the judging. I got the feeling they hadn't won. (They didn't.) Another group didn't mention the judging but said that they were confused about the guidelines and what the judges were looking for and that that the chef's meeting had been too informal. (Apparently, the guidelines are on a compact disc and they just played the disc.) That team did not win either.
Not all was doom and gloom. Lenexa resident Joe Barber of Smokin' Joe's Barbercue was competing in his 11th year and said that he was really enjoying just talking to fellow teammates and sharing tips and tricks. Same for Chris Lilly of Decatur, Alabama, who I caught right before he was beginning to walk around and talk to friends. Lilly, though, had reason to be happy. His team "Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q" placed fourth overall in the invitational.
Click here for a complete list of invitational results.
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