- Hot ribs to the warmer!
- [Men] Hot ribs.
- Hey everybody, I'm Phillip Goodman,
from the Nevada Real Estate Group
at Kelly Williams Group One, Inc. in Reno, Nevada
and this is the recap of the 2019
Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook Off.
(music)
The event takes over Victorian Square
in Sparks every Labor Day week,
bringing together rib masters from all over the country.
I caught up with some of the people
who make the Best in the West Nugget Cook Off
the premier summer party.
First, I got to meet some of the talent
that rocked the Plaza Stage.
The Wesley Orsolic Band,
based in South Lake Tahoe,
Wesley Orsolic and Liz Broscoe
were thrilled to be included
in the rib cook off for their first time.
Now, I read in your bio that you were LA based,
what part of LA?
- Well, you know,
I'm actually from Croatia, originally.
- I was gonna ask about your accent.
- Yeah, I moved.
Yeah, that's right.
I moved to LA long time ago
and I spent some time there
and then I kinda to be honest with you, didn't like it.
So, I moved a little bit to Vegas, didn't like there.
So, I moved to San Francisco.
In mean time, I travel with my other band
and ended up in Tahoe,
'cause I played in Tahoe quite a bit with my other band,
and I just love it there.
So, yeah, we ended up here and we love it.
You know, this is our first gig,
actually, in Reno.
We do quite a few gigs in Tahoe.
Around that area, North Shore, and you know.
Truckee and all that area.
But we're really excited to be here.
- Now we're talking to Liz Broscoe,
the drummer for the Wesley Orsolic Band.
What compelled you to be a drummer?
- I started drumming when I was 10,
my brothers used to tell me I drummed in my sleep.
And I just got into it in high school and then
I continued on through college and 40 years later,
I'm still doing it.
- And who are your favorite drummers?
- Steve Gadd.
- From?
- Steve Gadd is a well recorded artist,
played with Paul Simons, Steeley Dan, John Bonham, of course.
- Oh sure, Led Zeppelin.
- Yes, and Karen Carpenter was my inspiration
when I was a little girl.
- And that's where we get the mix of your
drumming and your singing on many of these tracks
that we're hearing today.
- Yes
- Oh fantastic, so how did you get
connected to your Wesley? - To Wes?
- We met in another band in Tahoe 20 years ago,
and we left that band
and started recording albums
and cumulatively we've got about seven albums we've
done on and off together.
So it's been 20 years of working.
- Well you can definitely feel and hear
and sense the synergy with all of you guys on stage.
It's been a fantastic performance
here at the Nugget Rib Cook Off,
you should definitely check out their website,
and go see one of their shows in Tahoe.
And hopefully you'll be back down the hill
here in Reno, performing again. - Oh, we hope so.
(upbeat music)
The Wesley Orsolic Band set the stage
for a jam-packed weekend filled with
delicious food and lots of local vendors.
These tents were stocked full of Nevada gear,
home decor, art work, jewelry, and other unique souvenirs.
Finally, as the weekend came to a close on Labor Day,
the awards ceremony gave some rib competitors
the bragging rights they came here for.
Cook off winners are chosen by a panel of judges
consisting of city officials and local executive chefs.
These judges are sequestered in a Nugget ballroom
where rib runners will retrieve the competitors ribs
and bring them to judging panel.
The runners issue the competitors a numbered ticket
that corresponds to the rib tray being delivered.
This makes the process an absolute secret,
until the winners are revealed onstage
by the number on their pan.
- Alright, let's get some winners
crowned here, we're going to start off with best sauce.
It looks like our rookie contestants here, Git-R-Smoked
coming out strong with best sauce,
come on up here guys!
(audience cheers)
- [Phillip] This was Git-R-Smoked's first year
at the Nugget Rib Cook Off.
Owner, Kevin McFarland talked about what goes into
an award winning sauce and business.
- A lot of hard work, a lot of sugar,
we'll just leave it there, sugar.
Some of the events we've catered,
I mean we do everything from the Wing Fest,
all the way down to the Reno Rodeo.
All our food is cooked on site,
so we can cater a party
from 20 to 10,000 people.
- 10,000?
- 10,000.
- 10,000. - How many smokers do you have for 10,000 people?
- Six.
- [Phillip] Where did the logo concept come from?
- It was a dream I had one night,
so we incorporated it into our barbecue rub,
and then from there the wife said,
"Okay, let's turn it into our main banner."
- You dreamt that Godzilla and a pig
merged together and decided to cook?
- Henceforth, Porkzilla.
- Porkzilla, so I was close!
Excellent.
Here are the rest of the winners.
- Okay, ladies and gentleman,
we have 12 professional judges to come in
and pick the actual winner, but in my mind,
you guys are the winner, this is the real winner,
this is the people's choice for the third year in a row,
Back Forty Texas Barbecue.
Come on, let's hear it for these guys!
(audience cheers)
Okay next, we're going to have our fifth place winner.
Locally here, Famous Dave's, come on up guys!
(audience cheers)
Comin' up next, we have our forth place winner of $1,000.
Austin's Texas Lighting, give it up for this family,
Come on up, guys!
(audience cheers)
Congratulations, Texas Barbecue Lightning!
For third place, we're looking for ticket number 5-5-4-7-5-3-3.
Okay, let's hear it for Hole in the Wall Barbeque!
Come on up, folks!
(audience cheers)
Okay next, we're gonna crown our runner-up.
Okay, looks like Checkered Pig is your second place winner!
Congratulations!
Okay now, for the information you guys are all looking for,
not only is this winner get the tallest trophy,
they get $10,000,
but most important, they get bragging rights
as the number one rib cooker in the 2019 Rib Cook Off.
Okay it's official, back-to-back winners,
Montana Barbecue Company!
Let's hear it for 'em guys!
(audience cheers)
- It was an exciting win for Montana Que
as they accepted their second consecutive championship
trophy for Best Ribs.
Owner and operator Tom Moua, was more than happy
to talk with us with this year's trophy.
I am with the back-to-back grand champion, Tom Moua.
Tom, congratulations!
- Thank you.
- I was talking with Randy,
the director of communications for the Nugget,
and they haven't had back-to-back champions in decades.
How does it feel?
- Oh man, I'm so shocked right now, you don't understand.
I'm on cloud nine.
- Well, once again you've put out a spectacular
product, the line is through the village again.
Did you do anything different or were you able to
mimic exactly what you did last year?
- You know I always try to mimic it, every time,
I cook ribs the same way.
I never change the recipe,
I keep it the same.
Like I always tell people, if it ain't broken,
why fix it, right?
So even if I don't win, I will still do the same way,
'cause it's won me more times than lost.
- Now, of course, the first thing I did
when I got to the Rib Cook Off, the first day,
was to come after your bison ribs, and there was
something a little more magical this year
about the ribs that you you're going to tell me about.
- Yeah, on the Bison ribs, you know they are a little bit
special, I had my son help me make the rub.
And I mean it's kinda oops, but actually we did
a little more flavoring to it just so we can bring out
that sweetness, of that meat, of that bison rib.
- And it was fantastic, and a steal at
only $5 a rib, do you have any left today as we're
nearing the end of the Rib Cook Off?
- Man, we're probably, being honest with you, probably gonna
run out, like you know, today we weren't expecting a win,
so we kinda just kept it conservative, because we don't wanna
get hung up with a bunch of ribs,
so yeah we always try to be conservative,
we try to just cook it to where we think it's gonna
be enough, and that's you know, then you will
have to wait until next year to get us again.
- Well I can't wait for next year anyway,
I hope that you win a third.
Congratulations once again.
- Thank you very much.
- Always a pleasure.
Tom moua, Montana Que, don't miss it!
After the awards ceremony, Randy Kennedy,
the director of communications at the Nugget Resort
Casino, revealed what makes the Rib Cook Off run
so smoothly, and safely.
- We know from past years we serve
240,000 pounds of ribs,
that's a couple years old now, it's probably closer
to a quarter of a million pounds of rib.
So, 125 tons give or take,
of ribs go out at this event.
This is our 31st year of the event,
we've had all kinds of different crowd estimates
over the years, we know it's a few hundred thousand people,
over the six days at the event total, so,
probably somewhere in the neighborhood
of four to 500,000 people.
- [Phillip] I've heard the estimates around a half
million mark, talk about how you coordinate with the city,
and make it such a safe environment too.
That's been one of the key differences I've noticed,
with giant trucks parked at the end,
huge police presence, everybody feels very comfortable here.
- Well it's a little bit of a different world
we live in these days, and safety is first
and foremost on our mind.
It's difficult to coordinate something this massive
that's also this open,
I can't say enough about the Sparks Police Department,
the city of Sparks, the council people, they are out here
all the time, tirelessly.
- [Phillip] Well I certainly enjoyed every moment
of the Rib Cook Off, and I hope you did too!
If you didn't make it out this year, the Best in the West
Nugget Rib Cook Off will be back again August 30th
through September 5th of 2020.
Make sure you hit the like, subscribe, and notification
button so you don't miss more event recaps,
as well as our monthly series,
"Things To Do in Reno."
For the Nevada Real Estate Group, at Keller Williams Group One, Inc
in Reno, Nevada.
I'm Phillip Goodman. I'll see you around town.
(blues music)
♪ You say that it don't matter ♪
♪ You say that it don't count ♪
♪ Love is all that matters, or your bank account ♪
♪ Now I know ♪
♪ See it in your smile ♪
(outro music)