THE COVER, COVERED IN LEAVES: If you have a grill in your backyard, the kind that is a few steps away from the table with the umbrella, the very table you eat the majority of your summertime suppers at, well... it might be covered in autumn leaves. Or snow. Or, early in the morning, a frosty dampness. For the cover on our barbecues tends to stay fairly secure in place when wintertime truly kicks in, a sight that fills us with a touch of sauce-scented, spicy-piquant longing. We know barbecue season is still a few months off, and we know the grill's cover, leafy though it may be, is on for a reason. But... missing the rub-flavorful cuisine is kind of the way of wintertime, at least if you're thinking of backyard barbecues. But there is a path to finding some of that summertime sauciness, in January, no less, and not far from the ocean (which ups the summery feel): The Newport Beach BBQ Competition: Winter Q & Expo at Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort. Some...
50 PRO TEAMS... will be rocking the tongs, aprons, and brushes, with "$10,000 in cash prizes" on the table. Will the victor leave with the title of "Grand Champion"? You bet. Will there be a chance for visitors to try out what's coming off the fires and also pick a People's Choice? That's in the works for this Kansas City Barbeque Society-sanctioned to-do. It's all happening on the final Saturday in January — that's Jan. 28 — lest you didn't fully believe that January and smoky, grill-based meats could really be a thing. Sure, some yard grills are wearing a cover these days, but that doesn't mean that large-scale cook-offs of the maple-marvelous, rib-delicious, chile powder-astic sort can't land plunk in the middle of the chilliest season on the calendar.
