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.

What would you cook for 100 houseguests?  What delicious, nutritious items can you cook on a slim budget? What if your helpers are well meaning volunteers that can’t cook well? What if you had to cook this much food every day for the people in your home?

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve volunteered time cooking breakfast at Isaiah House, a Santa Ana home for the homeless, and these are some of the issues the staff run into. For the next few weeks, this blog will  look at some of their food issues and how they might be relevant to food lovers in this tough economy.

Even if you’ve visited other shelters, Isaiah House isn’t exactly a homeless shelter in the usual sense. It’s not a flop house, nor a soup kitchen. t’s not run by any local government. Nobody preaches scripture. It’s a house where some fifty people live, eat, and sleep under the same roof in their time of need. In addition to the residents, the Isaiah House kitchen helps feed other needy people at the Santa Ana Civic Center.

The window between joblessness and homelessness is razor thin for families that face a job layoff. The New York Times covered this story of the hidden homeless in Orange County today. When families like the Hayworths run out of money, the only thing keeping them off the streets is a place like Isaiah House. I feel it’s important to tell their story. Stay tuned. More to come.

In advance of their 2009 Que’n For Kids BBQ contest at the Orange County Fairgrounds, Kristie’s Foundation is organizing a BBQ judging class on March 21, 2009 in Anaheim, CA.

Why would you want to take a class for such a thing when you’re already a highly seasoned barbecue expert?  So you can participate in sanctioned BBQ contests and judge contest quality food that you won’t find in a restaurant.

The Kansas City Barbecue Society is the largest competition BBQ organization in the world, and their certified barbecue judges (CBJ’s) are usually accepted at contests sanctioned by other groups. As a trained judge, you’ll typically be chosen over a non-trained person off the street, if the promoter has the option.

You’ll learn the rules of the KCBS, taste many examples of barbecue that demonstrate the good and bad, learn to distinguish legal contest submissions from the illegal, and elevate your knowledge of the art of barbecue.

Register at the QueNForKids website. Part of your registration fee pays for membership in the Kansas City Barbecue Society. If you’re bringing a spouse, ask about the KCBS family membership rate, rather than paying for two individual memberships.

Springtime in So Cal comes early. Even in mid February, strawberries grow in our local fields. Granted, they’re the commercial variety that look better than they taste: bright red chunks of styrofoam meant to  ship well to distant, still-frozen places back East and remind us of the glorious flavorful varieties yet to mature.  These styrofoam strawberries, sweetened and in the proper context, reach glory at the Donut Man of Glendora.

Donut Man goes through a few strawberries.

Donut Man is famous for overstuffed donuts.  Dunkin’ gives you a miserly teaspoon of custard in their pathetic Boston Creams.  Donut Man cranks up the filling machine to 120 psi, impales a donut on the prong, and stomps on the foot pedal until the donut bursts with cream. While it’s the same commercial custard that comes out of a 5 gallon plastic pail as every other shop buys, you get your money’s worth here.

Apple donuts

The Boston Creams and apple and lemon donuts are lovely things, but the specialty of the house are the donuts made with fresh fruit in season. For most of the year, that means strawberry. From early July to September, fresh peach donuts make their too-brief appearance.

Raised, glazed donuts, filleted partially in half, and filled with fresh strawberries glazed in  a red slightly sweet goo, are how they make their bones. These beauties, priced at $2.75 are more expensive than the run of the mill flavors, but one softball sized monster is enough to feed two restrained appetites.

Strawberry donut

Drooling with fruit, glaze and goo.

In a recession, it’s hard to justify expensive food excursions, but a couple bucks for a decadent donut? The hard part was ordering just two. It’s not the money. These delicate fresh fruit treats won’t hold up long enough for me justify a dozen box, or you better believe I would.

Donut Man
915 E Route 66
Glendora, CA 91740
(626) 335-9111
Open 24 / 7