*Ray Sheehan aka BBQ Buddha was awarded the Grand Prize at Sauce King NYC.*

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On Tuesday night, the virtual event Sauce King NYC announced its winners, which included both well-known names in barbecue and several newcomers from around the NYC metro area. More than 100 barbecue and hot sauces from around the world were submitted for the competition, but only one could be crowned as sauce royalty.

The Sauce King NYC Champion Grand Prize was awarded to the Memphis Mop BBQ Sauce from Ray Sheehan aka BBQ Buddha, who is based out of central New Jersey. Sheehan has been in the BBQ sauce business for six years, won many awards for his sauces, and even wrote a popular book on BBQ sauces that was released this year. Despite this, he was still surprised at his win.

“When I heard I won I was floored and I couldn’t believe it,” Sheehan said. “There were so many good sauces from all over the world. It makes all your hard work, grinding it out, and stressing about your business all worth it to be recognized.”

For those that haven’t had it, Sheehan describes the winning Memphis Mop BBQ Sauce as such: “A sweet and tangy sauce that doesn’t have too much of any one thing, so it’s very well balanced and it leaves the taste of spice lingering on your lips so you want even more."

Sheehan will receive a Big Green Egg smoker as part of his win. Other category winners will be awarded prizes from Porter Road, Prime 6, and Kikuichi Cutlery.

*Alyssa Levine of Totally Forked was one of the judges at Sauce King NYC. (Photo by Alyssa Levine)*

Sauce King NYC was organized by Food Karma Projects, the team behind events like Pig Island NYC, Brisket King NYC, and Rib King NYC ⁠— all important events for the local barbecue community. Because of the pandemic, Food Karma Projects head Jimmy Carbone designed the Sauce King event as a purely virtual one, where people could send in their sauces in before a set date, and then those sauces would be judged at private in-person and virtual mini-events.

Judges from around the culinary and media world evaluated the sauces throughout September, including Ori Zohar of Burlap and Barrel; Will Price of Gear Patrol; Jaymee Sire, a top food and travel writer; Alyssa Levine of Totally Forked; Matt Bruck of Eaters Drinker; Anthony Ramirez of Taste of The Bronx; Martin Johnson of Westside Market Pantry; and Leiti Hsu of Journy.

*Jimmy Carbone (middle) held several small judging sessions, this one with Martin Johnson, Leiti Hsu, and Ori Zohar. (Photo by Ori Zohar)*

Carbone announced the top winners via Instagram Live on Tuesday night, with Zohar and Ramirez helping to outline many of the awards given out.

Additional major Sauce King NYC awards included:

Most Inventive BBQ Sauce: Somethin’ Somethin’ Sauce, B.T. Leigh’s Sauces and Rubs — Bowling Green, KY
Best Flavor Enhancer (Barbecue Sauce): Belizean Season-All, Marie Sharp’s — Winston-Salem, NC
The Holy Trinity (Sweet, Spicy and Savory Barbecue Sauce): Touch O’ Heat, Rufus Teague — Lenexa, KS
Best Hot Sauce: Serrano & Chipotle Pepper Smoky Hot, Silly Chilly Hot Sauce — Hoboken, NJ
Best Wing Sauce: Mild Wing Sauce, Rippin Red Sauce Company — Abingdon, MD
Best Verde Sauce: Juju Guru Tropic Jalapeño, Bayou Gotham Hot Sauce — Manhattan, NY
When You Want Hot: Dead Red, Rocket Fuel Foods — Manhattan, NY
Most Versatile Sauce: The Original Smoked Maple Syrup, Sugar Bob’s Finest Kind — Rutland, VT
Best Barbecue Marinade: Japanese Miso BBQ , Just Add Beer Sauce & Marinade Mix — Queens, NY
Best Hot Ketchup: Granny Smith Apple Ketchup, Rocket Fuel Foods — Manhattan, NY
Metro NYC Startup Gold Award (Not available yet for distribution): Pique Rojo Sauce, Que Chevere — Manhattan, NY

You can read the complete list of Sauce King NYC winners here, which includes several honorable mentions.

The Sauce King NYC event started small this year, but there’s still a lot of potential for what it could be in the future. When the threat of COVID-19 is out of the picture, it’s easy to imagine a full-scale event where you can taste and buy sauces, interact with judges, and more. And Carbone already has plans for a new version of the event to take place in 2021.

“The ultimate goal is to make the sauce judging an annual event and to incorporate the top sauce and product winners into our culinary events, including our ‘5 Boro Picnyc’ event on May 29, 2021,” Carbone said.

*A lot of delicious sauces were sampled at Sauce King NYC.*

We’ll be looking forward to seeing how Sauce King NYC develops next year. In the meantime, cheers to all the winners, who deserve to bask in the glow of one of the few food awards given out in 2020. Congrats to the winners!

Sean Ludwig
Founder, NYC BBQ

EAT ALL ABOUT IT

*The new John Brown BBQ opened its doors on Thursday night in Long Island City. (Photo via John Brown BBQ)*

Here are the top BBQ and related food news stories you need to know about this week:

John Brown Smokehouse in Long Island City officially closed this week but it quickly reopened in a new location as of Thursday night. The new version of the popular restaurant is now called John Brown BBQ and is located at 27-20 40th Ave in Long Island City, where sister restaurant Mothership Meat Company previously operated. Be sure to check current hours to make sure they are open.
Popular Greenpoint popup Edith’s, which “pays homage to the city’s classic Jewish delis” and serves delicious looking bagel sandwiches, is here to stay indefinitely, Eater NY reports. The pop-up is located inside famed pizzeria Paulie Gee’s.
With the Hartford Rib Off in CT canceled this year, the organization behind the event has cooked up a new way to celebrate with a weeklong event instead. From Monday, Oct. 19 to Sunday, Oct. 25, “select Connecticut chefs, bartenders, BBQ pitmasters, and restaurateurs from the greater Hartford area will serve up dishes and drinks inspired by anything BBQ, with 50% of the proceeds from those dishes or drinks going to Hartford Rib Off Inc.”

IRL BBQ EVENTS

October 10, 2020: Top NJ BBQ joint Kimchi Smoke will be hosting a “Texas Breakfast” event at their restaurant from 9-11:30 a.m. on Saturday the 10th. It will have a lot of unusual and delicious menu items, including BBQ empanadas, texas pork ribs, Godzilla beef ribs, and chorizo. Read more here.

October 24, 2020: BBQ popup operator Smoke Sweats will be hosting its last popup of 2020 from 2-9 p.m. at Project Parlor in Brooklyn. The menu will include pork ribs, beef short ribs, Frankenstein 50-day dry-aged burgers, queso elote, and more. More info here.
November 8, 2020 - February 8, 2021: The Forest Hills Wings Fest has been canceled but it has turned into The Great Queens Chicken Wing Hunt instead. From 11/8 through 2/8, you can pick up a “Wing Hunting Season Pass” and visit great joints around Queens to try wings. At each participating location, you’ll get four jumbo wings. Buy tickets here.
January 30, 2021: The 11th Annual Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ Festival will be back at the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint. The event focuses on bourbon and beer tastings, along with multiple barbecue joints serving up lots of excellent smoked meats. More info here.
April 21, 2021: If you love brisket, you won’t want to miss Brisket King 2021. More than 15 chefs and pitmasters will be there serving up their take on brisket and pastrami. Read more about the 2019 edition of Brisket King or about the importance of Brisket King to the BBQ community. Buy tickets here.
NOTE: Due to COVID-19, information concerning events in NYC is subject to change, and events may be rescheduled.

New Jersey's BBQ Buddha Wins Sauce King NYC