On Thursday, September 4, 2014 the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Greater Houston held its annual Bar-B-Que Cook Off at the Pasadena Convention Center. With a turnout of 14 cooking teams this year, the air was filled with the smell of smoke and a wide variety of meats on the pits. Marek's cooking team prepared for a long day of cooking for the presentation of our turn-in boxes, with chef’s choice going in at 4:00, followed by chicken, ribs, and brisket as the final turn-in at 6:45. It was a long day!
Hoping to improve on last year’s success (1st place in the chicken only category), we brought along Marek Project Manager, Randy Wakefield, and Marek Senior Estimator, Larry Netardus, as our official taste testers. A special thanks also goes out to the Total CAD Systems team for their continued moral support.
Based on the results, our decision and support paid off big time! The Marek cooking team took 3rd place in the ribs category and scored the bragging rights for the best brisket in this year’s competition. We’re not so sure what happed to our chicken? But, if I had to hazard a guess, I think we got a little excited about our new apricot BBQ glaze and over sauced the bird to the displeasure of the judges.
All in all, it was a great opportunity to mingle with customers on a less formal level. You would be surprised at what you can learn about someone with an apron on!
Oh, did I mention that the Marek's cooking team finished 3rd place overall? Look out next year, Marek will be back to win big!
If you want to see more pictures from the BBQ Cook-Off, visit the ABC website.