West Coast Barbecue Classic at the Queen Mary Waterfront Events Park

Team Woodshed members that competed at the West Coast Barbeque were from [l-r] Chau Nguyen, Brad Blancett, Renea Teasdale, Steve Newhouse, Toni Newhouse, Jas Torres, Jorge Ugalde, and Eric Miller.

Grill masters from around the country gathered at the Queen Mary’s Waterfront Events Park to compete for the title of West Coast’s Best BBQ this past weekend at the West Coast Barbeque Classic.

The event was billed as an official California-State-Certified, KCBS-Sanctioned, BBQ Championship.

The Events Park, an entire grassy area just north of the majestic Queen Mary, was abuzz with over 55 competitor tents, 20 vendors, and of course a nice bar area with both kid and adult beverages.

Grill masters competed for a top cash prize $2,500 and the title of “Grand Champion.” $1,500 and the title of “Reserve Grand Champion was next. The “First Prize” winner received $500.

For Grill master Steve Newhouse of Team Woodshed, this was his first major competition. “We are all very excited to be in this competition, it is a lot of hard work but also very satisfying.”

The competition began Saturday morning, but for Newhouse and others, the competition started the night before at 11 p.m.

“We started the wood at 11 p.m. last night, we were up all night cooking because of the turn-in schedule,” said Newhouse.

Turn-in is the time that the completion food must be brought to the judge’s area. The chicken turn in was at 12:00 p.m., ribs turn in 12:30 p.m., pork turn in at 1:00 p.m., and the brisket turn in was at 1:30 p.m.

Team Woodshed had by far the most elaborate set-up in the competition including a “whole hog” Santa Maria style barbeque and a full competition “trailer smoker.”

In front of the whole hog barbeque were bags of special wood; almond peach, red oak, cherry, and grape wood used in the cooking. The wood is sold by the team namesake The Woodshed which is located in Orange, CA.

Team Woodshed officials said they bought at least 100 pounds of pork and 100 pounds of tri-tip to feed hungry festival attendees.

They charged $2 for a nice-sized portion of pulled pork and tri-tip. Both were very tasty and tender.

Friends of the team also gathered behind the scenes for a “Team Woodshed Support Party.”

“It was nice to see so many of our friends come out and support us,” said Toni Newhouse, Steve’s wife, “it really helped us out because the competition was a little stressful.”

That might have been, but Team Woodshed’s food and hospitality was out of this world.