Naperville Ribfest 2008

I'm wondering about how many people who read LTHForum, are going to/have been to the Naperville Ribfest this year, and what your thoughts are about it.

I was there early on Thursday, so no long lines and possibly fresher food. Overall the ribs were much better than last year, it seems like they have gone back to the rib type they used in 2006.

I should note that while I am a fan of "true cue" I am not a complete hardass on the subject and do, in fact, enjoy Carson's (particularly the tips), from time to time.

I went to 2 booths with ribs that were good enough that I would want to make a meal of them:

Texas Outlaws: Meaty, moist, good smoke flavor, nice sauce glaze, OK texture. Not up to Honey One at it's best but better than HH1 when it's not so good. The main booth, where the cooking is done, is by the South Gate, the ribs by the Northeast gate tend to cool off by the time they get there. Order these without extra sauce.

Uncle Bub's: Good smoke flavor with a sauce glaze that was on the sweet side. These were inconsistent from piece to piece. Overall I liked Outlaws better but out of six ribs I did have two bites that were absolutely top notch. No need to add sauce.


There was one booth that seemed like they might have the ‘cue chops but misfired on the ribs I had:

Australian Barbecue Team: Meaty and moist but overly smoked and I didn't like the teriyaki- like glaze.


The following I found unacceptable:

Pigfoot : Fall off the bone, poor texture, harsh smoke.

Howlin' Coyote: My notes just say “Worthless”

Armadillo's: Very harsh smoke taste and a strong thin sauce that didn't mate well with the meat.

Butch's: Unpleasant smoke flavor, poor texture, threw most of it away.

Fast Freddy's: Boiled, waterlogged in sauce. Not worth eating for free.

Oooh, thanks for the report. We're headed there tomorrow.

you guys are pretty rough
armadillos won two awards at naperville this year ( the second biggest ribfest in the country besides reno)
their 387 and 388th national award

and butch beat bobby flay in a bbq throwdown

baby ray wrote:you guys are pretty rough

Well, to be fair, it was one guy and it was his first and only post here so far.

baby ray wrote:you guys are pretty rough
armadillos won two awards at naperville this year ( the second biggest ribfest in the country besides reno)
their 387 and 388th national award

I certainly don't want to get into a BBQ argument with you of all people. Perhaps you can use your experience to confirm or deny some of my thoughts.

The contestants hand picked the ribs they turned in for judging and these may not have accurately reflected what someone would typically get at the booth.

Some vendors may have made changes in their process between Thursday (when I did my tasting) and the Saturday judging.

Is it possible a vendor used one procedure for the booth and a different one for the judging?

The judges may not be as astute as me. I don't really have any idea of how experienced the judges were, but you never know.

By the way, the only results I could find at ribfest.net were for 2007. Where can I find the 2008 results?

baby ray wrote:you guys are pretty rough

Throwdown is a TV show and Naperville Rib Fest is vendor event.

scottsol wrote:I don't really have any idea of how experienced the judges were, but you never know.

2008 "also judges include Ribfest Chair, Mayor of Naperville, police & firefighter of the year, and some of our largest sponsors including, Pepsi, Miller/Euclid Beverage, Viant, and Exelon" I'm surprised they didn't have the Naperville Rib Fest Beauty Queen a judge as well.

To put the contest in perspective, in 2007 Famous Dave's took second in ribs. Yes I've been, no I did not go this year, though in a ironic twist of fate I was close enough to hear the music Sunday as I entered Sullivan's Steak House for a Naperville central mediocre meal of my own.

you bet they put more effort to the turn in ribs
we arrived at 3 am day of turn in after closing at1115 the night before
we skinned the ribs
we cooked the best 12 slabs we could find in our boxes
we cooked 6on a southern pride
6 on a back woods smoker
we gave them the tlc they need

but what does that have to do with anything

in most instances you are getting fresh ribs taken out of the smoker
from the guys who cook more ribs every year than anybody
i cooked 32 cases of ribs on thurs at naperville
mr johnson next to me cooked 87 cases of ribs on a thursday
i am an expert on ribs and bbq in general
and to make exacting judgments on a non exacting sport or event
doesnt make sense to me
how can you enjoy yourselves when all you want to do is stand in judgement
the famous daves guy told me he works up to 95 hours a week and this is a relative of dave anderson the founder of famous daves
and is a expert at bbq as is every vedor out there
many of them are at the very top of their profession been doing it for 20-30 years
there is a passsion and commitment to bbq that these guys have that you guys dont have a clue about
i have eaten more bbq than most
we are all people and to stand in judgement like you do
i just dont get it
you judge peoples lives and businesses on your narrow points of view
of seeing what an hourly employee does you guys dont get the big picture
give me 15 minutes and anybody can think of negitive things to say about anything

there is not a vendor at naperville and likely taste (i havent worked it in 5 years) who donesnt work his ass off trying to put out the best product he can off prem with less than his best staff
the average pay at these events is 7-8 bucks an hour
last year at napeville i lost over 10k
this year i hope to come close to breaking even
that includes close to 1200 man hours planning, loading, setting up, working, taking down, loading out, unloading , cleaning up and putting away
i want to encourage you guys to open up your minds a bit more and look at the other side of the coin as well
thanks for reading my point of view

Baby ray...

So it's okay for local Naperville celebrities to judge your product, but it's not okay for food enthusiasts, some of whom actually have some seriously extensive 'cue experience (I don't include myself), to pass the same judgment?

Or is it just that comments are only welcome if they're positive?

Nobody's questioning anybody's enthusiasm or dedication. But to automatically equate time, effort or volume with quality doesn't make sense, and if you appreciate great food I find it hard to believe that you'd imply so. And if you insist that folks here just don't understand what goes into these events, might I suggest that you just don't understand how serious and experienced some of the people who post here are.

I wasn't there so I pass no judgment. But how can you possibly suggest it's out of bounds for people to criticize the food at a food competition?

Dave,

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. Those of us here at LTH Forum with extensive BBQ experience (and opinions) are not among those who can be fooled. That doesn't mean that you can't make a fine living turning out the type of BBQ that you do or that some of the people will love it. Take comfort in that. Obviously business is good.

midas wrote:

baby ray wrote:you guys are pretty rough

Well, to be fair, it was one guy and it was his first and only post here so far.

lots of times you guys seem like a long way from fair to me

baby ray wrote:

midas wrote:

baby ray wrote:you guys are pretty rough

Well, to be fair, it was one guy and it was his first and only post here so far.

lots of times you guys seem like a long way from fair to me

Ray, you've said yourself on this very forum that you don't care for Famous Dave's.

you can and do do and say whatever you want
im trying to give you some perspective and defend what i belive to be correct
id be intersted to to understand your level of expertise

i am not a fan of famous daves on an individual basis
that is different from the competion team

famous daves has cooks
this guy is a pitmaster
big difference
lots of these guys have hundreds of awards
so to rip them hard for me to understand

its called naperville ribfest
not naperville food competiton
its about raising money for abused kids
not standing in judgement

baby ray wrote:lots of times you guys seem like a long way from fair to me

Isn't there a difference between expressing an opinion you might not agree with, and being unfair? If someone posted comments trying to hurt your business, that would be unfair. But is it unfair for someone to say they prefer a different style of ribs? The latter has made for some lively discussions here. BBQ, pizza, and Italian Beef, among others, are touchpoints, and usually generate some interesting reading.

baby ray wrote:its called naperville ribfest
not naperville food competiton
its about raising money for abused kids
not standing in judgement

So the awards are given randomly just for kicks? You say it's not a food competition and the awards don't matter in one post, and in the next cite those same awards as worthy of great respect and reason not to criticize their holders.

So which is it?

i dont try to fool anybody and its insulting to have you say that i do
and also for the record i have not made a penny of profit in either restrauant
to date i continue to invest in learning the business and trying to do things the right way as best as we can

i did not say or write that the awards did not matter
it is a matter of great pride to me

baby ray wrote:i did not say or write that the awards did not matter
it is a matter of great pride to me

Great! So you're saying it's okay for the the Naperville fireman of the year to judge your ribs, but not a true 'cue enthusiast who posts here?

(For all I know the Naperville fireman of the year is a real 'cue enthusiast -- but I'm betting probably not.)

to be clear it is a festival with a competion within it
ie naperville rib fest

what is the criteria to be a
true rib enthusiast

baby ray wrote:what is the criteria to be a
true rib enthusiast

I don't know Ray, but I'm not the one suggesting that some people are unqualified to judge. You're the one who suggested that upthread. I'm merely trying to point out that many of the people whose opinions you're criticizing here probably know a lot more about BBQ than the people to whom you just willingly submitted your food up for judgment at Ribfest, and whose awards you say you're proud of.

The point is that, despite what you say, it doesn't sound like you have a problem with people judging your product. It sounds like you're pretty much okay with it as long as they don't have anything negative negative to say. They're two very different things.

Dmnkly wrote:

baby ray wrote:i did not say or write that the awards did not matter
it is a matter of great pride to me

Great! So you're saying it's okay for the the Naperville fireman of the year to judge your ribs, but not a true 'cue enthusiast who posts here?

(For all I know the Naperville fireman of the year is a real 'cue enthusiast -- but I'm betting probably not.)

i was gonna stay out of this but wow..what exactly what credentials are needed to become a "real" cue enthusiast. As far as a fireman judging..let me say that at the yearly Forest Park Ribfest a fireman has won 2nd place everytime cooking . He cooks on Backwoods smoker like myself. In all the comps Ive cooked in you will see bbq experts from all walks of life..including lots of fireman..even a ballpark beer vendor from Kansas .I dont think Ive ever taken in someones occupation into consideration when measuring how good they can cook..Q or otherwise
And yes i bet there was some sub par Q to be had at Naperville along with some great stuff..
BBQ is not an exact science ..competition BBQ is very different beast to say the least..vending BBQ is even harder..big difference between cooking for 1000's of people vs 2-3 slabs in your yard..consistency is tough to maintain in that type environment

Head's Red BBQ wrote:

Dmnkly wrote:

baby ray wrote:i did not say or write that the awards did not matter
it is a matter of great pride to me

Great! So you're saying it's okay for the the Naperville fireman of the year to judge your ribs, but not a true 'cue enthusiast who posts here?

(For all I know the Naperville fireman of the year is a real 'cue enthusiast -- but I'm betting probably not.)

i was gonna stay out of this but wow..what exactly what credentials are needed to become a "real" cue enthusiast.

This was a terrible choice of words, and I take it back completely.

What I was trying to reference was the fact that Ray was challenging the knowledge and right to state their opinions of the commenters here, while simultaneously touting awards given by local Naperville celebrities who may or may not know a damn thing about BBQ. I have no problem with either, and I'm a firm believer that you don't have to be a hardcore enthusiast to love good food. But to say that somebody here is unqualified to judge while endorsing a contest that selects its panel in the manner that Ribfest does is, to put it bluntly, hypocritical. If the Naperville fireman and policeman of the year and the mayor of Naperville are qualified and welcome to judge BBQ, then suggesting that the average poster here isn't is just ridiculous.

Dmnkly wrote:This was a terrible choice of words, and I take it back completely.

What I was trying to reference was the fact that Ray was challenging the knowledge of commenters here, while simultaneously holding awards given by local Naperville celebrities in high regard. I have no problem with either, and you don't have to be a hardcore enthusiast to love good food. But to say that somebody here is unqualified to judge while endorsing a contest that selects its panel in the manner that Ribfest does is, to put it bluntly, hypocritical.

my only issue is you did the same thing by assuming the panel at Ribfest was unqualified..I can take this a step further and say Ive attended and helped out at Certified BBQ Judges classes and the only credentials to become one is 35 bucks for the class. That aint a whole lot and no one fails the course either
Qualifications of judges has always been a major source of contention and argument among BBQ competitors and enthusiast .What consititutes good bbq is always going to be up to the palate of the person making the judgement at the time no matter what.

Head's Red BBQ wrote:my only issue is you did the same thing by assuming the panel at Ribfest was unqualified..I can take this a step further and say Ive attended and helped out at Certified BBQ Judges classes and the only credentials to become one is 35 bucks for the class. That aint a whole lot and no one fails the course either
Qualifications of judges has always been a major source of contention and argument among BBQ competitors and enthusiast .What consititutes good bbq is always going to be up to the palate of the person making the judgement at the time no matter what.

Respectfully, when the panel includes the mayor and the fireman and policeman of the year, is it not safe to assume that BBQ knowledge is not how they're selecting their panelists? I believe I even noted that, hey, it's entirely possible that the fireman of the year is an experienced and knowledgable BBQ expert. But then that would be a matter of chance, not design, wouldn't it? The point -- that it's inconsistent for Ray to have no problem with that panel judging his 'cue but thinks posters here are out of line -- stands. How it comes across is, "I'm happy to put my 'cue up for judging as long as you only say good things. If you say anything negative about it, you're an asshole and you have no right to judge."

On the latter point, we agree entirely. But like I say, I'm not the one saying that people who are critiquing the 'cue are out of line.

I have found Naperville's Ribfest to be a big waste of time, and have stopped going. Even though I get corporate sponsor tickets each year for free, it still isnt worth going. The ribs offered by the vendors were not very good in the years I attended, and I prefer to fire up my own smoker on my deck, or take a trip to Chicago & go to Honey 1, or Smoque instead.

350 k go to naperville and 3.5m go to taste
every year and it keeps getting bigger and bigger
why would peole go back and pay good money if they did not like it