Anglesea Barbeque Team Takes First Place in Chicken...

August 2007

You could smell the barbecue smoke as you entered North Wildwood. It’s like snowflakes to a ski bum. The sky is even a little bit hazy, or is that the Summer fog? I stop to take a deep breath on my way from the car to the New Jersey State Barbecue Championship. Cherry? Hickory? Apple? I close my eyes and imagine a rich, tender, juicy, fall-off-the-bone, sensually pink rib, slow cooked.

The New Jersey State Barbecue Championship is in its ninth year. It began as a modest fundraiser for the Anglesea Fire Department, and quickly became anything but modest. This year, on the second weekend in July, it attracted 45,000 people to the north end of Seven Mile Beach, which includes the three towns of North Wildwood, Wildwood and Wildwood Crest. This island has never seen so much barbecue, except maybe for last year.

In fact, New Jersey seldom sees (and smells) this much barbecue. The state is not known as barbecue territory and except for a few chains, successful independent barbecue restaurants do not open and thrive in this region like they do in other parts of the country.

The festival takes up several streets, with vendors, musicians and in a tightly packed area in the center of the restaurant district, thirty one contestants or teams. Each has colorful names – Trash Can Cuisine, The Stu- Pit, and Bab and the Pig Man - and each takes the job of making the perfect barbecue very seriously. There are always stories of secrets and ingredients being hoarded, and bad feeling among the teams; of teams reporting other teams for imagined or real infractions of the surprisingly tough rules, but there are also stories of sharing and camaraderie.

The festival has become so popular, teams just cannot enter, as they once did. They have to be chosen, qualified for their past performance.

I am looking for the Anglesea Barbecue Team. If there is a home team, this is it, comprised of local police and firemen. Several members of the team have been guests on my radio and television shows over the past couple years, and have provided immensely delicious brisket, chicken, pulled pork, and ribs for consumption by myself, my family, my technical staff, and guests. Last year the brisket and ribs were... (use your own culinary superlatives). There are times when bringing volumes of food home from a radio or TV shoot safely is difficult and time consuming. Last year’s efforts were worth all of the carrying, ice and detours.

I had promised Mike Johnson, a police officer, and the team leader, that I would visit the tent at the competition last year and this year. On Saturday, the Garden State Parkway was a parking lot, and my family wasn’t convinced that waiting on a stopped highway for hours was a good way to spend a weekend day in the summer. But on Sunday I took back roads to North Wildwood, and found the Anglesea team immediately after it supplied the four products to the judges.

The judging is very serious, as we have found out over the years. Would-be judges take a class, which is so popular, that it is now only offered every other year. Judges, we are told, eat more than two pounds of meat sampling the products from the contestants.

Johnson gives me a tour of the smoker itself, a rambling, large unit that delivers dry smoke to the meats and poultry. The smoker is the heart of the team, as important as the recipes. Every rig is different. He opens doors and moves baffles to explain how the smoker works. Propane is forbidden. But different varieties of wood are allowed, such as cherry, which he has used this summer.

“We had three cherry trees and we’ve pretty much used it up, and now we need more cherry trees.” Oak is a standard wood, which usually complements other hardwoods. Johnson and his team adjust the process each year, slightly in each case, the chicken, the ribs, the pulled pork, and the brisket. I am given a plate of all four. I am also told that since the judges have just been provided product, I am getting what they have just gotten.

If your mouth is watering, dear reader, you are with me.

Let’s start with the brisket. Johnson tells me that of all the meats, this has been sitting out and getting dried out. It is slightly dried out, not as good as the amazing sample we tried last year. But still quite good, it scores 25th among the thirty one teams, and I wish I had the access and the time to sample the rest. Meanwhile, Jack Madison, a team member, meanwhile, is standing by himself at a table with a pot of pulled pork. I taste his pork, standing next to him. It is wonderful, flavorful, moist, and superlatively flavored. I predict to him that this is a winner, but it comes in 28th. Amazing. The ribs are luscious, perfectly pink, tender, moist and aggressively spiced. They score 4th out of thirty one.

The chicken is something apart. It is moist and flavorful, but it is also spiced in a way to make a person want to package it and sell it, order more and tell people about it. It is the single best piece of chicken I have ever tasted. If it does not score high in this competition, I say to myself, I will quit and become a lawyer. And this interesting fact: Johnson and his team are the only ones who do not compete on a regular basis. The other thirty teams travel the country from festival to festival.

The chicken scores number one.

Overall winner is Philly Pigs BBQ Team with 649.7142 points, a significant win over the second place team. They are also first in pork ribs and brisket, third in pork, and seventh in chicken. Second place overall winner is Philly Blind Pig BBQ. They have 628.0002. Last in the contest is Kim- Ang Creations, with 531.9998.

We have invited Johnson to return to the show with his chicken. We also invited the Philly Pigs BBQ Team to come bring us samples on radio and TV. We would be happy to describe those flavors for you.

Cumberland County home to some tasty restaurants...

It’s difficult to believe that there are five restaurants within a few miles of the Newport House in Newport, Cumberland County. But on a weekend night, the Newport House, and its nearby competitors, are reasonably busy, sometimes even full. In Fortescue, a few miles away, fans sometimes wait in line for a meal at The Charlesworth House, whose picture windows look out over the Delaware Bay, and if you squint, the faint outline of Delaware, about 20 miles across the bay.

What’s difficult to find in the area are residents, so it’s apparent that the ones that patronize these mostly seasonal places come a distance, some a long distance.

"They come from lots of places," says Jim Fonash of the Charlesworth, which he has owned for fourteen years. “Cherry Hill, Mullica Hill, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

They also come from Vineland, Millville, Bridgeton. Many people make a day trip out of it, fairly often, in fact.”

One of the newer of the area restaurants is called The Bayshore Crab House, and like most of the other area gigs, it is a weekend affair, open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It is literally a barn, barely weatherproof, with a screened in porch to the west side and the painting of a bull on the south side. The bull is the refurbished version of the original Bull Durham Tobacco ad, repainted in 2002.

Kenneth Lore, owner of the Bayshore Crab House, said he wasn’t really ready for crowds and on a recent weekend, his restaurant was half full, and his kitchen smelled wonderfully of fresh cooked clams casino. The brief menu features mostly seafood, including crabs, oysters, scallops, and mussels.

“Steak (market price)” is the only non-seafood entrée. We sampled an impressive crab soup, which Lore said was a very good commercial brand.

The barn, quite colorful and relaxing, was filled with antique and maritime touches. Outside there are open fields and scenery that would inspire romance and poetry.

At nearby Toni Junior’s in Dividing Creek and at The Waterfront Café in Newport, there is no seafood on the menu. Both restaurants seem to be going for more of a local trade with familiar snack items. A spokesperson at the Waterfront Café, along a picturesque marina, said there were seafood specials for dinner.

Fonash at the Charlesworth said this season has been good so far, better than last year, “but not as good as three years ago.” The local places aren’t really competition, he said. “If anything, the chain restaurants hurt us. Each new place takes people away, but they always come back.” The Charlesworth, built in 1924, also has five guest rooms.

“We don’t advertise it. It’s an old fashioned getaway. People come here because it’s quiet.”

The Newport House is a former clam shack; its current owners took over more than a decade ago and added on. The place is filled with knickknacks and oddities. On weekends, the Newport House is quite busy, a shock in this rural location. Recently, our crew sampled delicious crabcakes and good pork chops, although a little too well done.

The Delaware bayshore is south west of Bridgeton and Millville. It has a history of storms and towns that have struggled to survive, and some – like Seabreeze, which did not. Fortescue and Seabreeze both boasted rich histories as potentially major shore resorts, once with Boardwalks and thriving commercial districts, but storms wiped out Seabreeze and limited Fortescue to its one existing restraurant / hotel, The Charlesworth, where you can see what’s left of the original Boardwalk.

Myers Marina, which opened for a few years is now shuttered, as is the Garrison House, once very busy, on the road between Newport and Fortescue, a commercial fishing mecca. Seabreeze is still viewable, but only as ruins. A restaurant, Mae’s Seabreeze Tavern, which operated for many years, was wrecked in a storm about a decade ago.

Epicurian Society Impresses With first and second Meeting...

The Epicurean Society of Southern New Jersey is a new chapter of the American Culinary Federation, formed a year ago, but only available to the public in two recent meeting/dinners. At the most recent dinner, held at the Smithville Inn, Gene Gagliardi was the guest speaker.

Gagliardi, of Visionary Design, describes himself as a “meat cutter” which is accurate. He is also the person who invented such culinary icons as popcorn chicken, steakumms and flatiron steak.

Gagliardi mesmerized more than one hundred attendees with his stories of invention, including the popcorn chicken tale, in which the scraps were being thrown aside, then ingeniously presented as the coup de gras after the original idea flopped.

Galiardi was joined by John Massanova, of Tubby’s Ice Cream in Mays Landing. Massanova sampled his ice cream and also did some magic with the help of Robert Irvine, star of the Food Network’s “Dinner Impossible” show. Irvine was a surprise guest at the event, which featured purveyors, owners and foodies. Jeff Schwartz, president of the group, explained that the mission was to attract all three of those elements of restaurant success. It was nice to see so many of our friends at the event.

The first dinner meeting sponsored by the group was at his Red Sky Café in Wildwood. The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for September 24th at the Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield.

Ed Smith, executive chef at Smithville, received rousing applause for his culinary efforts in feeding a demanding audience.

The Epicurean Society should prove to be an innovative culinary organization. The group is growing slowly and carefully, based on the results of a strategic plan. Anyone who wishes to join a committee should contact me at edhitzel@earthlink.net. The next meeting is September 10th at the Carraige House in Galloway Township. Former Senator Bill Gormley will be the guest speaker.

Mr. Bill's on Route 73 Offers Delicious pastrami...

You have passed Mr. Bill’s on Route 73 many times, and like us, you figured it was a snack place and an ice cream store. Well it was, until recently, when it was purchased and remodeled by Russ Cowan, the gentleman who started the Kibitz restaurant concept, including the 4th Street Deli in Philadelphia. The heart of this concept, enormous and excellent quality corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, are intact in the new Mr. Bill’s Coney Island, along with a new parking lot, and now – a significant increase in customers.

We sampled both the pastrami and corned beef, and can see why the place has suddenly become more than the place with the large statue out front.

Now it’s the place with the large statue out front with amazing sandwiches. But don’t ask for soup.

We figured matzoh ball soup was a given in such a place, but one of the cook/cashiers behind the counter wrinkled his nose when we asked about other deli traditions like soup. People in this area won’t appreciate a good matzoh ball soup, he said. “They are tourists.” We crinkled back.

Steamers Opens In Margate; Site of Former Stumpo's

Steamers in Margate has opened. Located at the site of the former Stumpo’s, and many years ago, The Sailfish, this new restaurant's menu includes many appetizer choices like beer battered onion rings, buffalo chicken bites, jalapeno poppers, and mozzarella sticks, along with sliders, three two-ounce mini hamburgers with caramelized onions. Along with a large selection of soups, salads, specialty sandwiches, and wraps, Steamer's offers pan and specialty pizza topped with BBQ chicken, crabmeat or shrimp scampi. Entrees include broiled or fried seafood selections, pasta dishes, and steak, pork or chicken offerings.

A children's menu is also available.

Back from Vacation; Boo to Dunkin' Donuts, Yay to GPS, Sort of...

We like road trips, as you might have guessed from reading this publication over the last few years. A recent one, mixing business and overeating, found amazing ribs (although the place owes us pulled pork), a GPS that took us to someone’s house instead of to the restaurant we punched in, and extremely rude service at a self-serve Dunkin’ Donuts.

Most impressive was Tony Gore’s Smoky Mountain BBQ and Grill, near Knoxville, Tennesee, purveyor of delicious ribs, cole slaw and baked beans. Problem: we are ten miles away, halfway up the mountain, when we decided to sample lunch before tackling business, and there is no pulled pork – part of the lunch special - in this take-out container. Grrr. Problem #2:

We get home. Can’t remember the name of the place, find Tony Romo's on the internet, and write them a nice note that we were shorted the pulled pork, not to get anything for it, but to see how they would handle it. They write back, understandably, wondering where is the restaurant that I visited.

It’s a good question, because I sent the email to the wrong company. I am about to write a note back to tell them that, and another to the correct business.

Ever use a GPS? We never did, but a friend lent us his for our trip.

You can easily research the nearest restaurants (within 50 miles or so) and even down to the categories, then punch in the coordinates and the GPS will take you there. Kind of. First effort was ten miles from our starting point. I punched in barbecue, then the name, then followed the voice that has me turning right and left and right and left, ending up in front of someone’s house.

I drove about a block away, reentered the coordinates, and ended up right back in front of the house in a residential neighborhood. Ask me about the humorous conversation I had with the homeowners.

Two other destinations were closed. A fourth bought me to the promised restaurant, but the only BBQ item on the menu was a pulled pork sandwich.

The voice on a GPS, by the way, sounds like the nagging voice of a teachers’ aide.

On one evening, in a hurry, and not wanting to dine fancy, we ended up at a Boston Market, which has bargain prices for decent chicken and it became quite crowded. Remember the Boston Chicken craze?

We had never experienced a selfserve Dunkin’ Donuts, but there is one along one of the exit roads to Interstate 81 in mid Virginia. We didn’t think to save the receipt or we would have written a not so nice note to the company and reported on the results. Imagine if you married two young females – without either of them knowing it - then cheated on both of them with their sisters.

And they both worked at Dunkin Donuts and you walked in just as they found out. That’s how we, tired and zero-eyed from driving in a non stop rain, were treated by these two young clerks, one behind the Baskin and Robbins counter, one behind the Dunkin Donuts counter. Imagine the best service and treatment you have ever had. Now imagine the polar opposite.

Dunkin Donuts management attention. If you are out there reading this. Someone in your company should know. North of Roanoke. South of Luray. I think.

Ed Hitzel is publisher of Ed Hitzel's Restaurant Magazine as well as Ed Hitzel's Restaurant Newsletter. He is also host of "Table for One" radio show, heard Saturdays from 10 am to 1 pm on Newstalk 1400 WOND. You can access information about Ed Hitzel enterprises at edhitzel.com For more information about Ed Hitzel publications call 609-909-9755.