Kenny and I are back from this years American Royal. It truly was a week of Gluttony for us as we dined like kings and drank like fishes. This was the second year we we have been to the royal and I always look forward to going. I enjoy hanging out in KC as much as I do participating in the contest. I think Kansas City is great restaurant town. I do always have a dilemma as I only really have 1 “free day” and I spend it trying one new place that I haven’t tried before and one place that I like and look forward to eating at. This year we decided to try 2 new places.
First we went to Grinders for lunch…Man o Man was I blown away with their chili bomb pizza. We had what they call Le hog which is a white sauce pizza with all lines of different pork and since it was chili bombed it had chili, tater tots and nacho cheese built in a mountain in the center of the pizza. That was a first for me and it CERTAINLY won’t be a last. We also met stretch and hung out with him for a while which was treat. We also spilt a cheesesteak that went down easy. For dinner, we decided to try Q39. I have ate BBQ all over and had several named places in KC and I can say with confidence Q39 was the best restaurant BBQ experience I have ever had. It is more like a great restaurant that serves BBQ. What I mean by that is the usually the sides are disappointing at most BBQ places, I actually like sides. Q39s beans and slaw were outstanding. The ribs and brisket easily could have been turned in at a competition and would have done well. Now I have the tough decision next time I am in KC do I try a new place or do I go back to Q39 and Grinders?
As far as the comp goes everything went great. My ribs came out a looser than I like on Sundays cook and the judges scored accordingly otherwise we could have had a very special day. Even with a 222 place ribs we still managed to finish 18th overall out of over 550 teams. Our chicken finished 3rd and our pork finished 5th and that carried us to the high placement. In the invitational we finished 26th out of 150 grand Champion teams. After not hearing a call for any 4 categories we were very happy with those results.
However the Royal is a more than results its also a great place to meet people that you talk to over then internet. I met several people that I knew from Facebook or emails but had never met in person. That was a highlight as well as the wonderful happy hour Kingsford hosted. We also enjoyed seeing several people we only see once a year which is usually at the Royal.
I took a few shots of video along the way and compiled a videography of the trip – if you watch it and enjoy it please give us a thumbs up on you tube. Thank you KC and American Royal for a great week!
