My barbecue teammate Neil Strawder, aka BigMista, is a TV spokesperson for Fresh & Easy, the grocery store chain owned by the British Tesco conglomerate.

What’s Fresh & Easy? It’s sort of a convenience store supersized into a supermarket, with a focus on low prices. It’s for someone who wants to cook their own meals, with minimal hassle. Think blister packed fresh meats, many ready-flavored, in family sized portions to make dinner prep fast and easy.

Fresh & Easy hired Neil because he’s got a reputation as Los Angeles’ best BBQ cook among many Chowhounds, Yelpers and the general public, which voted for our team as People’s Choice champion in numerous BBQ contests. Well that, and his natural telegenic personality.

This Fourth of July, he’s been making the rounds on TV morning shows in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Diego. Here’s BigMista on Fox5 in Vegas. On other shows, he gives BBQ cookout tips to make your Fourth Fresh & Easy. I can’t work in that phrase into this post any more times, people.

He’s a natural! Watch for Neil and family in an upcoming episode of Over Your Head on HGTV, too. Get this man an agent, quick!

We live in a great food nation. It’s greater still that we have a President who apparently loves the regional food traditions we have across these united states. Apparently, Barack Obama is one of us.

Last Friday, New York State authorities temporarily shut down H&H Bagels, the renowned bagel baker on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The New York Times reports on the story here.

The shutdown affected both the retail store and a second production facility.  Opinions vary on how “good” H&H’s bagels are within the New York City bagel bubble, but H&H is among the few producers that sells authentic bagels (parbaked and frozen) wholesale to restaurants and bakeries across the country. A permanent shutdown of the bagel production plant will have a far reaching effect on customers such as Barney Greengrass in Los Angeles, where expat New Yorkers go for their bagel mit schmear.

This Saturday, the Orange County Fairgrounds will host the third annual Que’n For Kids BBQ Contest. It’s the only contest on this year’s calendar that’s inside the county lines, so it’s the most local event for folks in OC and L.A.

My team, Four Q, returns as the reigning People’s Choice Champion, so come out, and uh, vote for us your favorite BBQ team. At last weekend’s Stagecoach BBQ Festival, we were narrowly dethroned in that event’s People’s Choice contest. I’m not above stuffing the ballot box in Costa Mesa with votes from you, my people, m’kay?

A People’s Choice contest means that you, the public, can buy sample tickets, taste competition grade BBQ, and vote for your favorite. The best time to arrive is between 11am and 1pm,  as the chicken, ribs, pulled pork, and beef brisket come off the smokers in that sequence..  Come earlier than 11, and the BBQ won’t be ready. Come any later than 1, and there won’t be any food left.

Why would you want to go to a BBQ contest, when there’s a perfectly good location of Lucille’s down the street? The quality of BBQ cooked at contests far exceeds what’s cooked at most BBQ restaurants. I’ve been to my share of the country’s best BBQ shrines in Texas, Memphis, the Carolinas and elsewhere, and I’ll still stand by that claim.

There is a $10 entry fee, and sample tickets to the BBQ will cost extra, but you’re supporting a great cause in addition to tasting great food. Que’n For Kids is a fundraiser for Kristie’s Foundation, which provides terminally ill children and their families a hospice for their most challenging time. There will be live music, a butterfly release for your kids, and this year, a car show.  Come down, bring the family, and eat some of the best BBQ made in So Cal.

Saturday May 9 ,2009
Que’n For Kids BBQ Contest
Orange County Fairgrounds
88 Fair Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Enter the event from the West gate (Fairview Road side) of the massive Fairgrounds.