After three annual attempts, a change of venue, buckets of sweat and hundreds of slabs of grilled livestock, a South County team led by the Hollman family took home the Grand Champion prize at the No-Bull BBQ Cook-Off in Morgan Hill Saturday.
Huminie’s Hogalicious, based in Gilroy, was awarded the top prize for the best overall barbecue presentation, taste and texture by a panel of 36 judges.
Sherry Hollman, wife of Huminie’s pitmaster Adam Hollman, couldn’t hold back her tears after the team was announced as the winner. “A lot of hard work” was what she figured led the judges to their decision, she said.
“It will help us continue our barbecue dream,” Sherry said of the $900 cash prize.
Morgan Hill team Dads Doing What They Love won second place overall, or the Reserve Grand Champion. They also placed first in the chicken category.
Huminie’s also won in the locals-only “side bet,” in which three judges from the community – Mayor Steve Tate, Morgan Hill Unified school superintendent Wes Smith and Times editor Robert Airoldi – voted on the best barbecued ribs among six South County teams, some of whom participated only in the local contest.
The third annual cook-off was held at the Outdoor Sports Center on Condit Road. The contest, which draws thousands of people from the general public each year, featured 43 competitive barbecue teams, a full day of live music, and a “kick-off to the cook-off” Friday night which featured the Shane Dwight Band.
Some attendees complained the barbecuers ran out of food available to non-competing spectators through the “people’s choice” competition.
But they still enjoyed the sunny afternoon, and the competitors preferred the grassy surface at the OSC to the asphalt they competed on last year and the year before at the downtown Community and Cultural Center.
“They could have done better at ensuring the expected attendance was communicated to the barbecuers,” said Morgan Hill resident Larissa Overbey.
Last year’s cook-off drew an estimated 18,000 spectators and barbecue team members, and organizers said this year’s contest drew an equally sized crowd. The event organizer, the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce, moved the contest to the OSC this year to accommodate bigger crowds and keep traffic out of the downtown area.
Gilbert Roman, also of Morgan Hill, attended the cook-off to eat, just like thousands of spectators, but he and his friends were disappointed to learn most of the people’s choice vendors had run out of meat before they arrived Saturday afternoon.
“We came here for the food, and I’m starving,” Roman said. “If you want to make (the event) great, bring in more vendors.”
But Roman noted, “We’re still having a good time,” as he held a cold beer in each hand. “It’s a great event. It brings everybody out.”
Chamber director Jeff Burrus said the vendors who were selling their barbecued cuisine did not run out of food, though organizers noticed that food and alcohol sales were down from last year’s event. That’s likely due to Saturday’s hot weather.
“Sales of alcohol and hot food decline with any weather over 85 degrees. That’s an axiom,” Burrus said. “That means less revenue than we hoped, but it was still a very successful event.”
Burrus added that most of the people’s choice competitors ran out of samples by the end of the day. Ten such vendors started serving Saturday morning, and by the end of the event that number was down to three.
“Unlike the first year, we and the vendors have done a much better job at preparing the food. The fact that some did run out, means we exceeded the expected number of attendees,” Burrus said.
Frank Portera, a lifelong Morgan Hill resident, competed in the No Bull contest for the first time, with his father and his uncle on his team, which he called Porktera.
“We usually argue our way through a barbecue,” Portera said of the family’s backyard methods.
The Porktera pitmaster added that he built his own barbecue, which he “just finished” the previous morning.
“It’s working like a charm,” said Portera, a project manager for a mechanical contractor.
Another spectator, a self-described “pitmaster” from Fremont who cooks for her friends and hopes to hit the road to compete in No Bull and similar events in a few years, said she came to do her own judging.
“I learned that I’m pretty good,” laughed Valerie Draeseke, originally from New Orleans, who said her specialty is barbecued pork ribs. “I like checking out their equipment. The competitors are really focused, so they’re not so open to sharing their techniques.”
The competitors’ list was thinner this year than last year, with 43 teams competing in the official contest sanctioned by the Pacific Northwest BBQ Association. Last year, 65 teams competed, and the contest was the largest on the West Coast up to that date.
Competitors were judged in four categories – chicken, ribs, pulled pork and brisket – and for the best meat overall. The people’s choice contest allowed attendees to purchase five tickets which they could redeem for a barbecue sample from teams who entered that part of the contest, and a ballot to vote on their favorite.
Judge Dick Good, a Kansas City Barbecue Society judge, said the competition was still impressive despite the lower turnout of teams.
“About 50 percent of the teams were new, but if we had any teams that didn’t know what they were doing, they weren’t here,” Good said.
Good is from Sacramento, and spends his summers judging similar contests all over northern California. He has been a judge three years running in the No Bull competition.
The number of competitors likely declined from last year due to similar competitions taking place in other areas in California in the coming weeks, and many of last year’s No Bull participants might have chosen to save their resources and energy for one of those events instead, Burrus said.
It was also the first non-sports related event held at the OSC since the city-owned facility opened decades ago. Soccer players and their families competing in a tournament in adjacent fields didn’t seem to mind, except for the unexpectedly crowded parking areas they found on their arrival Saturday morning.
“I didn’t know the event was going on, but it seemed like there was enough parking (overall),” said Norm Bumgarner, whose 16-year-old son was competing in the tournament on the Santa Clara Sporting team.
“It seems like they’re just using the north fields for soccer, so it’s not that big a problem,” Bumgarner said.
Burrus added that access going in and out of the OSC was easier than the cramped downtown site at previous contests, and the impact on nearby residents was likely less than it was at the community center.
Plus, he added that the cooperation between the Chamber and the OSC’s operator, the Morgan Hill Youth Sports Alliance, in hosting the event is an example of productive community collaboration.
Adam Hollman, who works as a tech support manager by day, added a positive review of the grassy venue.
“I think it’s good for the public,” Hollman said.
– Grand Champion: Huminie’s Hogalicious, Gilroy
– Reserve Grand Champion: Dads Doing What They Love, Morgan Hill
– People’s Choice winner: Big Ed’s Buzzard BBQ, San Jose
– Locals contest winner: Huminie’s Hogalicious, Gilroy
– Best pulled pork
1. OG BBQ
2. Too Ashamed to Name BBQ
3. Casual Smokers
– Best Brisket
1. 155 South Bar-B-Q
2. Too Ashamed to Name BBQ
3. Smokey’s Bar-B-Que
– Best Chicken
1. Dads Doing What They Love
2. Chain Smokers
3. Royal Smokin’ Hot BBQ
– Best Ribs
1. Bad S. BBQ
2. 155 South Bar-B-Q
3. Cecil’s Smok’n BBQ
– For Each Category (x4)
10th place $100
9 $125
8 $150
7 $175
6 $200
5 $250
4 $300
3 $350
2 $400
1 $450
$2,500 (x4)
– Overall
5th place $100
4 $200
3 $300
2 $500
1 $900
$2,000
