Downtown Morgan Hill’s own Trail Dust BBQ was the recipient of a popular radio station’s listener-driven contest to determine who has the best barbecue in the South Bay.
On Thursday, July 2, KFOX 98.5 FM afternoon DJ “Big Rick” Stuart and engineer Chris Quiles helped Trail Dust staff and customers celebrate by broadcasting live from the restaurant, located at 17240 Monterey Road. Stuart said the annual contest encourages listeners to vote on the radio station’s website in a number of different categories for the best in the South Bay, which stretches from Milpitas to Morgan Hill. Trail Dust received about 48,000 votes in the “Best Barbecue” category.
“The contest is tailored toward where regular people go,” Stuart said. “It’s an organic way for our station to connect to the community. In radio, this is the thing we have over streaming (Internet) radio—we want to know the community and be part of it too.”
Trail Dust owner Eric Ingram said he was surprised by the honor. His family purchased the restaurant in 2003. In last year’s KFOX contest, Trail Dust won only about “three or four percent” of the vote, whereas this year they gained about half the overall tally, he said.
“It’s got to be the meat,” Ingram said when asked why he thinks Trail Dust was voted the best in the South Bay.
