Ox Cart Wins Big at BBQ Cook-Off, Will Have a BBQ Day in July

Congratulations to Ox Cart Tavern, which won in two categories at this year’s Grand Slam BBQ Battle! Chef David Pitula and crew cooked up the Best Pork Entry with their pecan and applewood smoked BBQ spare ribs, as well as the Best Vegetarian Entry with their BBQ seitan bao sandwiches with coleslaw, peanut, and fried shallots.

We asked Chef David about the competition, whether we’ll get to taste the winning dishes at the restaurant, and whether we’ll ever see a BBQ competition take place in Ditmas Park.

DPC: Was this Ox Cart’s first cooking competition?
CHEF: This was Ox Cart’s first competition and my first BBQ competition. We have just started to think about participating in street fairs throughout the summer, competing is not necessarily our first priority. I do know of the Brooklyn wing competition. I missed last year but when and if I get the info I’m gonna get on that for sure!

Do you BBQ with a certain regional style?
I am the WORST at official BBQ. How I cook is I tend to hybridize different styles to my style. Maybe a combo between Kansas City and St. Louis style…but some things I do have a more Carolina style. And then I bastardize it and do something totally untraditional at the end, so I suppose I like to mutt up the styles.

What do you think made your winning entries stand out from the competition?
The ribs we tenderized and they simply smoked just right the whole time, it was really gratifying when really getting to know my new grill. They particularly liked my sauce, the same on the ribs at the restaurant. The baos were simply different and delicious. They mentioned that they particularly liked the coleslaw on them.

What’s the secret to making vegetarian BBQ not wimpy?
Secret to veggie BBQ? Hmm, seitan in this case, stuff’s just amazing. Like meat but veggie…it really came down to the composure of the sandwiches: the seitan, coleslaw, peanut, fried crispy shallots, togarashi. Since you loose the meat element of slow rendered flavor over charcoal or from smoked wood, you have to balance the senses a little, almost compensating.

Will we ever have a chance to taste those entries, or other BBQ plates, at the restaurant?
Yes!! I’m excited to say that I plan to have at least one day in July as a BBQ event, with a limited normal menu and a BBQ spread. I have some catering going on soon, so after that I’m gonna focus on that and more street fairs. The baos will probably be specialized in the near future…..who knows when but they’re gonna be popping up soon. I don’t know if we’ll exactly be grilling everything but I’m gonna have a smoked/BBQ meat fest soon.

It would be nice to have a BBQ competition in the neighborhood, with a bunch of local restaurants pitted against each other. Ever thought about hosting one?
I’d love to do another competition but to be honest, I don’t have time to coordinate an event. Right now I’m focusing on events to increase our revenue and get the time to organize special stuff in the future. Doing what I’m doing now is kind of maximizing my resources. I need to build my team up more to get there.

We’ll keep you posted on the upcoming BBQ day at Ox Cart, but in the meantime, you can stop by to try the award-winning sauce on their spicy spare ribs, which are on their everyday menu.