Two backyard BBQers from Los Angeles win Reserve Grand Champion in BBQ Capital Kansas City

May 30, 2009 - PRLog -- Slap Yo' Daddy BBQ from Diamond Bar, California, won Reserve Grand Champion (2nd overall) in the BBQ capital of Kansas City against 161 BBQ teams, including a large contingent of pro teams.  The Great American Barbecue Festival 2009, hosted in Kansas City annually, is one of the largest and most prestigious BBQ contests in America.   No team from California has ever won such a significant award at a national-level BBQ contest.

The Great American Barbecue Festival (GAB) is a non-profit organization formed in 2005 by a group with a combined total of over 100 years of barbecue experience dedicated to raising money for charity through the spirit of "Food, Fun and Philanthropy".  In the same year, the GAB hosted their first Great American Barbecue Contest at the Woodlands Racetrack in Kansas City, KS.  The GAB is becoming one of the premier culinary events in the country while contributing to charitable causes.   Over the years, this contest has grown into a family-oriented festival with activities ranging from live music and hot air balloons to eating contests and carnivals.  http://www.thinkbbq.com/

About Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ

Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ is made up of two IT guys who, by day, sit in fabric-covered boxes leading a Dilbertesque existence.  Headcook Harry Soo from Diamond Bar, California, got into barbecue contests by chance.  Harry had been fascinated by BBQ contests on Food TV.  His co-worker Janice Hill had asked him to help out with the annual fund raiser for the African American Association at work.   So for the past several years, Janice helped Harry serve BBQ brisket to several dozen co-workers, many of whom were African American with roots in the BBQ-belt states.  They received many compliments including, “This is the best BBQ I’ve eaten.  You should enter a contest”.  

There is a saying in the south, where Janice is from, that when you eat something you like, you want to go slap somebody.  That’s how they coined their team name.  The meat is so good, you want to slap someone.  Since Harry is a single Dad, the team name became Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ.

Nothing happened until early 2008 when the movie “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman was released.  Harry's co-worker Teri Bishop suggested that they prepare a bucket list of wish things to do before "kicking the bucket."  The caveat being that, in addition to your own list, your fellow co-workers could add "stretch" goals for you with activities that would be a challenge given your particular personality. One of Harry’s stretch goals was to compete in BBQ contests.  Harry persuaded his childhood buddy Mark Tung from Buena Park, California, to come along for the thrill ride.  Amid their many mishaps as a new team, they won First place in chicken and Reserve Champion on their first outing in March 2008 and were immediately hooked on competition BBQ.

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Slap Yo' Daddy BBQ is a two-person competition BBQ team from Diamond Bar, California. They compete primarily in California against the big guns on the California, Arizona, and Nevada professional BBQ contest circuit (consisting of over 100 teams).
Harry Soo
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
909-973-0334
www.SlapYoDaddyBBQ.com
www.SlapYoDaddyBBQ.com/blog