GOOD FRIENDS, GOOD FOOD COMPETITIVE BARBECUE TEAM FOLLOWS SUCCESS TO DINER

By Sara Sullivan

Posted: November 6, 2009 at 7:14 a.m.

• Print item
• E-mail
• Share
• Tweet

FAYETTEVILLE — In a corner next to a bright red fire extinguisher, a collection of colorful award ribbons dangles from towering trophies. A few steps away behind a swinging red gate, the winner of those honors gets put on a plate and sandwiched between a side of beans and potato salad.

Y-BBQ & Catering in Springdale is home of the Habitual Smokers, a three-time world champion barbecue team. Robert Waddell and his friends have participated in barbecue contests as far west as Las Vegas and as far east as Daytona Beach, Fla.

“I’ve got friends all over the United States now that I wouldn’t have had had I not gotten into barbecue,” Waddell says. And as much fun as winning is, it’s making friends that makes going to the competitions worth it.

Including friends like Guy Fieri, Food Network star. In fact, it was at Fieri’s suggestion that Waddell opened the clean white building on Robinson Avenue for lunch Monday through Saturday. Requests at competitions for the Habitual Smokers’ barbecue led to asmall catering business, and Fieri said that there was no better advertising than letting people see, smell and, most importantly, taste the product.

A year and a bunch of elbow grease later, “here we are.” Y-BBQ - with its Kansas Citystyle barbecue pork, beef brisket and ribs - opened six weeks ago and is growing.

Behind the gray counter (and behind the two young men behind the counter - Waddell’s two sons, 23-year-old Jason and 21-year-old Chris), a row of silver kitchen equipment holds containers of baked potato salad, “Ozarkanese” Asianstyle cole slaw and “Ozark Whistleberries” barbecue beans. All of the recipes are Y-BBQ’s own creation.

“Everything that we do, we try to blow everybody’s socks off through the tastebuds,” Waddell says. According to the Habitual Smokers, “life’s tooshort to eat bland food.”

Y-BBQ’s best seller is the sliced brisket dinner with potato salad, beans and Texas toast ($6.95).

Purplish-redbarbecue sauce - sweet with just a hint of a kick from black pepper - is made in gallonsized batches two or three times a week and finishes the plate.

The brisket takes about 12 hours to cook, as does the pork, and the ribs take aboutfour hours. But really, about 13 years goes into every dish, as the recipes have been tweaked and perfected since the team started competing in 1996. They now have it down to a carefully practiced science.

“We’re the master of the one bite,” Waddell said. “You get one bite to win or lose, to wow the judges.”

In addition to the brisket dinner, Y-BBQ offers pulled pork and rib dinners and combo dinners ($6.95-8.95), all of which come with two sides and Texas toast.

Pulled pork and brisket sandwiches are available in regular ($4.25) and jumbo ($5.50), and ribs can be purchased individually ($1.95), by the half rack ($9.75) and by the rack ($17.50).

The pulled pork and brisket are available by the pound, for $9.75 and $10.75, respectively.

And in addition to the baked potato salad, thetangy Asian cole slaw and the “whistleberries,” Y-BBQ offers fried okra and french fries dusted with barbecue seasonings ($1.75 each).

The Kids’ Meal menu offers “Chicken Wing Dings” and fries for $3.25.

The 20-seater restaurant isn’t currently offering desserts at lunch (they weren’t selling because people were either too full or didn’t want a sweet in the middle of the day, Waddell guesses), but the catering menu includes special takes on sweet potato pie, chocolate chip cheesecake and a banana pudding made with butter cookies and caramel sauce. Of course, if lunchtime patrons decide they want some dessert, he will make that happen. “Give me 24-hour notice, and I can make it for you.”

Waddell hopes that customers leave Y-BBQ satisfied after having enjoyed good barbecue at a good value, he says. But most of all, “I hope I’ve made another friend. What better way to do it than through food ?”

Entertainment, Pages 12 on 11/06/2009

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Please read our comment policy.

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.