The annual Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off is returning to Victorian Square in front of the Nugget tomorrow, kicking off its first day. Every pitmaster is prepping ribs and making sure they’re perfect for their hungry customers tomorrow.
Most of them are from all over the country. Matthew Meyer, the pit boss for Butch's Smack Your Lips BBQ says, "Dude, we're excited enough to drive 3,100 miles to make this happen." Tom Moua, the Pitmaster for Montana Q BBQ tells us, "The smell of that smoke in the air, it kicks off the festival."
To prep for the first day of the cook off, the pitmasters stay up long hours of the night, getting little to no sleep cooking their ribs to perfection. Meyer explains, "It's 100 mph of friendship all day long, joking, kidding, just getting it, enjoying life. BBQ is a lot of work, but it's not a job."
Some of the pitmasters have some tasty new deals they're bringing to the table this year too. Moua says, "We've got new products you know, our new bison ribs that we're doing this year, they're a bop. We're doing short ribs."
Meyer adds, "The ribs are definitely the specialty, but we are getting very well known for our pork and brisket. And this year we'll actually be running a special, we're going to do a beef rib that we're calling Dino Bone and we're doing sausage." Moua also tells us, "We've always been known for Asian flare in our sauces so it's different, there's so many different ways of cooking BBQ."
The pitmasters agree the Rib Cook Off in Sparks is one of the best to be at.
Moua says, "I tell them about this rib cook off and they're like 'what I've never heard of it,' I'm like it’s one of the top 10 best BBQ festivals to go to especially if you're a BBQ guru."
And the pitmasters hope to see as many hungry customers as possible this week going all the way through Monday.
