News
RB Firm Takes The Cake In Nat'l BBQ Contest
By Ryan Fennell
RED BANK - Where can get the best barbeque pork ribs in the country?
Right here in Red Bank.
Steve and Loren Raab along with business partner Eric Keating recently opened Local Smoke BBQ, a catering company based in Red Bank.
In 2000, Loren Raab's uncle started a competition barbeque team that had been ranked one of the top teams in the country.
In 2007 Steve and Loren decided it was time to start their own team. After gaining sponsorship from Magic Hat Brewing Company, the Raab's dubbed their team Fat Angel BBQ and set out to participate in barbeque competitions throughout the country.
At their first competition a man approached them about catering his wife's 50th birthday party and Local Smoke BBQ was born.
"To make a long story short, two and a half years later, after kind of just doing it out of our house and doing it out of our backyard, now we have a full-fledged catering kitchen based out of Red Bank," Pit master Steve Raab said. "We still do about eight to ten competitions a year with the last one this weekend in Dover, Delaware."
The Fat Angel BBQ team recently took first place in the rib category at the 30th Annual American Royal BBQ contest held in Kansas City, Missouri the first weekend in October.
In order to even be invited to the competition a team must capture a state championship which Fat Angel BBQ did this past July in the New Jersey State Championship held in Wildwood, New Jersey.
The New Jersey State Championship consisted of approximately 65 teams and Fat Angel BBQ took First Place overall in the competition.
The win qualified them for the American Royal competition, also known as the World Series of Barbeque, where they ranked in the top 150 in the country and took first place in the pork rib category.
"It was complete mayhem," Raab said. "There were 500 teams from every state in the nation. We were the only team from New Jersey represented. We cook great food but there's still a little bit of luck there, and we came out first place in ribs."
"It's pretty unbelievable," said Raab. "I've been carrying around the trophy for the past week like it's the Stanley Cup."
According to Raab, after several competitions the team decided it was time to open a catering business and decided to re-brand the product and name it Local Smoke BBQ.
Currently Local Smoke BBQ is strictly a catering company and does not have a retail operation.
Raab said that Local Smoke BBQ is available for any type of gathering with attendance of 10 people or more.
"We do parties, weddings, tailgating, and home drop-offs," Raab said.
"We're new into the business, and we're not trying to get too far ahead of ourselves," Raab said. "We rented a nice space here in Red Bank, and we're trying to get things off the ground."
For more information about Local Smoke BBQ visit the Web site at www.localsmokebbq.com or call (732) 758-1227.
