Big Time BBQ Contest at Leatherback

M.A. Dworkin

St. Croix - Can you smell it? Whoa baby! Nothing in the world smells quite like great BBQ. Nothing! You could be two blocks away and still know whose ribs and chickens are a’ cookin’ on the grill. So, let’s get at it! Head out to that BBQ Competition at Leatherback. Grab some lunch and take a big dogie bag home for dinner! Which is exactly what was on the mind of a couple hundred BBQ mad aficionados as they invaded the lovely and serene grounds of the Leatherback Brewing Co. this past weekend and set siege for Luciano Entertainment’s BBQ Competition which was assisted by, the Kings of VI Homemade Beers, Leatherback Brewing Co. 

Call it mouth-watering, call it fall-off-the-bone, call it lip-smackin’ good, but the contestants who had their grills fired up were not amateurs, that’s for sure. They are known in the BBQ trade as the Pit Masters, the Cookout Queens, the BBQ Artistes, the Smoke Chefs. And best you be nice to them because they will dish you out the best cuts, the juiciest pieces, BBQ that will keep you wanting and dreamin’ about BBQ for days to come.

So the tension mounted during the afternoon: Who would take home the big prize? The Best of the Best! Who would win the great raffle prizes? With the Caliche band pounding out the sweetest of tunes, from the bandstand, their Latin-based soft rock and island-inspired originals kept the whole place in a “BBQ Groove” on a beautiful, breezy Saturday afternoon.  

The Fire Dancers “PuraFire” did their thing and lit up the night with their wild and glowing performance when the Sun went down. And it was all Wings, Sliders, Ribs, Brisket, Fish and Veggie flying off the hot, hot grills, day and night. And that’s about all that needed to be said from the friendly crowd hunkered down at Leatherback’s picnic tables. Just Keep it coming! That’s right, keep it coming!

Because, every BBQ Aficionado knows all too well, there’s not much to be said when you’re stuffing your mouth with great BBQ. Yet, one of the Pit Masters, Derek Shupe from Shupe’s on the Boardwalk, probably summed it up best as he picked his head up from tending his hot grill, smiled wide and proclaimed to the St. Croix Times: “Perfect weather. Great day for 

Bar-B-Que!” 

And of course every day is a great day for BBQ. So after a day’s worth of sticky BBQ fingers and BBQ sauce blotched t-shirts, the winners of the Luciano Entertainment Inaugural BBQ Competition were finally announced in the seven (7) categories:

• Chicken Wings - Shupe’s on the Boardwalk

• Ribs - Lost Dog Pub

• Sliders - Misfit Island Munchies

• Brisket - Lost Dog Pub

• Veggie & Fish - Misfit Island Munchies

• BBQ Sauce - Sean Skerrette (from Sejah Farm)

• Crowd Favorite Mention - Sunset Grill at ALMA

And Luciano Entertainment certainly does not want to forget the great businesses who donated some super prizes for the raffle; Home Depot, Cost-U-Less, Molly’s and SCUBA, Mutiny Island Vodka, Sublime STX, The Landing, Cottages at the Landing, Tap Deck, Cheese and Bread, and finally everyone’s favorite beer drinking pigs joint - Domino Club.

Big Time Note: Next year Luciano’s has promised a new category - Pulled Pork.