Shownotes
This episode features an enlightening conversation with Robert Wirt, the owner of Ribs by Rob, a burgeoning barbecue business located along the picturesque Oregon coast. We delve into his journey from a law enforcement career to the culinary world, unraveling how a lackluster barbecue experience catalyzed his passion for grilling. Robert shares the intricacies of his craft, including the meticulous preparation that goes into each cook and the importance of consistency in delivering quality barbecue. As the discussion unfolds, we explore the challenges he faces in establishing a permanent location for his operation, along with the support of his family in navigating these endeavors. Join us as we savor the rich narrative of Robert's barbecue journey, highlighting the dedication and artistry that defines his approach to this beloved culinary tradition.
Links referenced in this episode:
- paintedhillsnaturalbeef.com
- oregonDungeness.org
- pigpowder.com
- heritagesteel.us
- barbecuenationjt.com
- paintedhillsbeef.com
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Turnip Burnett
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- Ribs by Rob
- Traeger
- UF Chef
- Fred Meyer
- Costco
- Tender Smokehouse
- J and R Manufacturing
- Heritage Steel
- Pig Powder
Mentioned in this episode:
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This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt.
Speaker A:So fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.
Speaker A:Now, from the Turnip Burnett studios in Portland, here's jt.
Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody.
Speaker A:Welcome to the nation.
Speaker A:That's Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:I'm jt along with my co host, Leanne Whippen, hall of famer that she is, Camaro Dave, Commander Chris are there lurking in the background somewhere.
Speaker A:As you know, we're coming to you from the Turn It, Don't Burn it studios here in the Portland, Oregon area.
Speaker A:And we would like to thank, in Painted Hills, natural beef.
Speaker A:Beef the way nature intended.
Speaker A:You can go to painted hillsnaturalbeef.com they have stuff that they have specials.
Speaker A:They're redoing their.
Speaker A:That part of their website because I talked to them the other day.
Speaker A:They're going to have more packaging, more combo packs and stuff like that.
Speaker A:But if not, go to the store locator, pop in your zip code and see if you got a store near you.
Speaker A:Well, I came across our guest today.
Speaker A:His name is Robert Wirt.
Speaker A:Ribs by Rob.
Speaker A:He lives on the Oregon coast.
Speaker A:Of course, I live in Oregon, too.
Speaker A:And a fellow I used to work with who shall remain nameless because I know he's in witness protection, it gave me the suggestion to talk to Rob.
Speaker A:So as usual, I went and I did a little due diligence like that.
Speaker A:And I thought, you know, Rob may be just the kind of guy we need to talk to right now.
Speaker A:And so, first of all, Rob, welcome to the show.
Speaker A:And welcome ribs by Rob there.
Speaker A:And how are you doing?
Speaker B:Doing pretty good today.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Yeah, you look good.
Speaker C:That's because it's his day off.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay, so your normal job is you work in law enforcement, but to, I don't know, combat the stress, do something fun.
Speaker A:I don't know the reasonings and you're going to tell us, I hope, but you got into doing barbecue, so how did you one get started?
Speaker A:We gotta go down the box and check off the parts, you know, so people get the whole story.
Speaker A:How did you get started?
Speaker A:And was this something you'd done, like with your family growing up was, you know, grilling, smoking, barbecuing, or give us the backstory on that?
Speaker B:No, not really.
Speaker B:The only barbecue story growing up, I was about 12, 13 years old, and my middle brother had a buddy over and he asked mom and dad if we could make some burgers for everybody.
Speaker B:So he went out there, turned the gas on, waited for a few minutes, opened the lid and lit it and barbecuing about halfway across the yard.
Speaker B:That's about my only experience with family barbecuing.
Speaker B:It kind of became a passion.
Speaker B:Oh, man.
Speaker B:10, 12 years ago with 4th of July barbecues at the house.
Speaker B:And then it really kind of turned into a small business adventure.
Speaker B: I'd say about: Speaker B:There was a small coffee shop, taphouse, in town, and he had advertised.
Speaker B:He's got a guy from the south coming to barbecue.
Speaker B:And so me and some buddies after work, we said, hey, let's all go up and get some barbecue and drink some beer.
Speaker B:So we went up there and spent some money and drank some beer.
Speaker B:And to be honest, not one out of four of us that went up there in our group finished our barbecue.
Speaker B:It was horrible.
Speaker B:And I told the owner, I was like, man, I can cook better than that.
Speaker B:And he says, well, bring your grills up here and start.
Speaker B:So a few weeks went by.
Speaker B:I talked to my wife, and so we did it.
Speaker B:I had two small Traegers, and if I remember correctly, I think I sold about nine racks of ribs, cut them in half, served them, drank beer.
Speaker B:I came home with 125 bucks in my pocket, and I was like, man, this is pretty cool.
Speaker B:I got 125 bucks, and I got to drink beer today.
Speaker B:So that's about where it started.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Now, this is a question for both of you.
Speaker A:You just gave us an example of where you.
Speaker A:You went.
Speaker A:You had some barbecue after work, and it wasn't very good.
Speaker A:And I've been in some of those places, and some of them quite pricey.
Speaker A:And it's not that it's not edible.
Speaker A:It's just not very good.
Speaker A:There's no flavor.
Speaker A:You know, the meat's tough, whatever.
Speaker A:Leanne.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker A:You must have had experiences like that, like Rob did.
Speaker C:I haven't had too many.
Speaker C:I do my reconnaissance.
Speaker C:So I walk outside, and I make sure they have wood.
Speaker C:I make sure you.
Speaker C:They have a pit.
Speaker C:I don't really judge it by the appearance.
Speaker C:I do my homework.
Speaker C:Although I've hit on some really cool shacks, like by gas stations, that have an excellent, you know, barbecue.
Speaker C:And they just kind of.
Speaker C:When they're ready to serve it, they serve it.
Speaker C:I can't say that I've had a super bad barbecue experience.
Speaker C:I haven't.
Speaker A:Well, that.
Speaker A:That's unusual, because I think Rob and I both have there.
Speaker C:I mean, I've had mediocre, but not.
Speaker C:Not where I couldn't eat it, per se.
Speaker A:She's little Rob but she can hold her own when it comes to a knife and fork.
Speaker A:Trust me.
Speaker A:Like that.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So when you.
Speaker A:When you have that kind of an epiphany, you come home, you've had a good time, you sold some ribs, you got a little scratch in your pocket.
Speaker A:Did the light go on and say, I can do this at a higher level right then?
Speaker A:And were you prepared right then to do it at a higher level?
Speaker B:Absolutely not.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:That's a true answer.
Speaker B:I borrowed a 1 Traeger from a buddy, and I had my small one that we kept on the porch.
Speaker B:But then it kind of grew, and I got into using rec techs a couple years down the road, and it went from sitting there in front of the tap house in the coffee shop to the local supermarket, where, you know, one super bowl, we ended up.
Speaker B:We used to just do ribs, and now we've really expanded.
Speaker B:We'd show up with a flatbed with our grills and coolers and our hand wash station, and we'd have to have the health department every time come out and check us out.
Speaker B:And one Super bowl, about five years ago, we did about 110 racks of ribs on five different grills, and we sold them all by halftime.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker C:It'S a lot different.
Speaker C:I'm sure you've realized when you start getting into the numbers and trying to manage that, especially when you don't have a restaurant or walk in.
Speaker C:I remember when I had my trailer, I had the perimeter of the inside of my garage lined with chest freezers and coolers, and it's a logistical nightmare.
Speaker C:And on top of that, I think, you know, that, you know, food waste can be an issue, and barbecue obviously takes a long period of time to, you know, get right, and reheats are not probably the best thing in the world.
Speaker C:But sometimes you got to do it, and that's a challenge.
Speaker C:What do you think the biggest challenge has been for you?
Speaker C:Growing in, growing up, just trying to.
Speaker B:Find a spot that I can be consistent for my customers.
Speaker B:That's been the biggest thing.
Speaker B:We bounced around Walmart parking lot, UF Chef stores parking lot.
Speaker B:We've been to the local Toyota dealership.
Speaker B:They called us.
Speaker B:We've been to.
Speaker B:Fred Meyer called us, one of our grocery stores here.
Speaker B:We've been behind stores, you know, back alleys, kind of per se, just so we have a spot to park.
Speaker B:And so I think the biggest challenge right now is just trying to find a permanent spot.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Is it mostly your family that works there and friends, or is it just.
Speaker B:Just family and Friends.
Speaker C:That's nice.
Speaker B:Me and my wife kind of started it.
Speaker B:She, she's a lot of the behind the scenes person.
Speaker B:She does all the Facebook ads.
Speaker B:She helps, you know, she pretty much does all the jalapeno poppers when we get to it and then comes up and, you know, helps out serve and during the sales that we do.
Speaker A:Have you ever feel like when you were doing that, you were like some of the people you probably busted in your other career, like, hey, I got some barbecue back here.
Speaker A:Come take a look.
Speaker A:You know, like that sneaking down the alley.
Speaker B:Well, a couple of funny stories real quick.
Speaker B:Just about a month ago, I was taking unfortunate gentleman to jail for a reason.
Speaker B:And he looks up and says, hey, you got any of those ribs hidden back here?
Speaker B:Those are, those are amazing.
Speaker C:That's great.
Speaker A:God, I hope, I hope you gave him one at least after you booked him and slipped him one through the bars or something, you know, poor guy was probably hungry.
Speaker B:Yeah, he might have been, yeah.
Speaker A:Is it in your regular job you deal with the public from kind of a one step back in because your guys are always dealing with tough situations.
Speaker A:I mean, unless you're rescuing an old lady crossing the street carrying her cat, a lot of the stuff you guys do isn't, isn't for the faint of heart sometimes, you know, do you find that dealing with the public with the ribs is a more pleasant experience or do you still have to kind of keep somewhat of a distance?
Speaker A:I don't mean being, you know, remote, but when you're kind of getting your feet wet in this business, Rob the, you know, you think kind of everybody's your friend.
Speaker A:And most of the time that's true.
Speaker A:But once in a while you get somebody that's not as happy.
Speaker A:Go lucky.
Speaker B:Correct.
Speaker B:We've had, it was one cook, it was in Walmart about a year ago, and we've had two major complaints the same day.
Speaker B:And these were just far, far, far, I mean, horrible, horrible words on online.
Speaker B:And you know, I just, I went back and looked and sure enough, we had dealt with one of the half earlier in the month.
Speaker B:And so, you know, you got to take the bad with the good.
Speaker B:But, you know, as far as that goes, there's very little incidents like that.
Speaker B:I'd say 98%.
Speaker B:It's all good.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think most people are good.
Speaker A:I think most people, when they come into a restaurant or if they go to, you know, a pop up like yours, so to speak, and do that, most of them are willing to give it a try and give you an honest and usually a positive review.
Speaker A:I did have somebody threaten to kill me in the parking lot of the TV station one day.
Speaker A:That was kind of interesting.
Speaker A:But yeah, I don't know.
Speaker A:They didn't like the way I cooked my turkey or something.
Speaker A:I don't, I don't remember.
Speaker A:But it was.
Speaker A:It can be daunting sometimes.
Speaker A:Is the only reason I bring that up.
Speaker A:We've got a couple minutes left before we go to break.
Speaker A:Rob, what do you think the biggest thing you've learned so far is?
Speaker B:Patience.
Speaker B:Yeah, patience.
Speaker A:That can be a lifelong learning and lesson.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:So now that you have your feet wet, how long have you been doing this now on the scale?
Speaker B:Yeah, about seven on the scale.
Speaker B:We are now about four and a half to five years.
Speaker C:So are you considering getting a storefront or restaurant or.
Speaker C:That is out of the question.
Speaker B:No, that is my goal.
Speaker B:We're looking here hopefully within a few weeks to set up on a part time basis where the trailer will be at the same spot every week and I'll work it on my three days off and then hopefully, you know, at one point in time I have an eye on a building here in town that would be perfect for what we want.
Speaker B:It's just a matter of being able to acquire it.
Speaker A:We're going to take a break here on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:We're going to be back with Robert Wurt ribs by Rob in my own home state of Oregon right after this.
Speaker A:Please stay with us.
Speaker D: Weston KIA has over: Speaker D:The best prices in town are at.
Speaker D: ader in Kia Sales west in KIA: Speaker D:3025CP for details.
Speaker A:Hey everybody, it's Jeff here.
Speaker A:I want to tell you about something really cool.
Speaker A:Heritage steel cookware.
Speaker A:I just got mine.
Speaker A:I do a lot of cooking and it's got five ply construction.
Speaker A:Stay cool handles.
Speaker A:It's titanium strengthened.
Speaker A:It's got all the great stuff.
Speaker A:Just go to HeritageSteel us and find out more.
Speaker A:You'll love it, I guarantee it.
Speaker B:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation here on USA Radio Networks and all the platforms.
Speaker A:I don't know how many there are anymore, but there's a lot of them and you can find us on all of them.
Speaker A:If you want to email us, you can do it either through Facebook or you can do it through Twitter or you can go to barbecue nation jt.com and there's a dropdown menu there.
Speaker A:You can send us a message and either Leanne or I will respond to that.
Speaker A:We're pretty good about that.
Speaker A:Unless you're a real bonehead.
Speaker A:Then we sent you off to Meathead or somebody like that.
Speaker A:So we're talking with Robert Work today from the Oregon coast and he's got ribs by Rob.
Speaker A:I like.
Speaker A:I saw the pictures, I went on Facebook and I looked at your stuff because Jimmy gave me that link for you.
Speaker A:And Jimmy's the one folks that's in witness protection.
Speaker A:And I looked at your trailer.
Speaker A:Your trailer looks really sharp.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Did you build that or did you have the shell made and you did the build outs inside?
Speaker B:No, we went to that a couple years ago.
Speaker B:We always ran out of a 20 foot car hauler and that's where, you know, all the grills and coolers.
Speaker B:And we had a prep table inside there and we'd have to pull everything out, set everything up every single time we had to cook.
Speaker B:And then when Covid hit, you know, a lot of restaurants were shut down and we started doing take and go meals.
Speaker B:My sister and brother in law in Santa Rosa, California have a barbecue catering business.
Speaker B:And I kind of mirrored it after them a little bit and we seen a big need.
Speaker B:We're doing about 50 to 60 dinners every time we did a cook.
Speaker B:But I had to rent the community center because it was.
Speaker B:We started in October and we ran for four to five months during the wintertime.
Speaker B:And it was over $500 a day to rent the kitchen and the building.
Speaker B:So we sat, me and the wife talked and either we upgrade to a food trailer where we have a full kitchen that's licensed, or we sell everything and continue on with life.
Speaker B:So needless to say, we found the trailer and here we are.
Speaker A:And then I kind of weird how we.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker B:It's kind of funny how we found the trailer, so.
Speaker A:Well, tell us the story.
Speaker B:Yeah, my buddy, my best man actually my wedding, 13, 14 years ago, sent me a picture of this food trailer and had a back deck.
Speaker B:And I was like, yeah, it's not really, quite really what I'm looking for.
Speaker B:And I started pricing them.
Speaker B:I got bids from several different builders and you're talking, you know, anywhere from 70 to 90 to $100,000.
Speaker B:And then I went to a picnic down south and these guys told me about a place in Albany, Oregon where I have several food trailers.
Speaker B:So I drove by on the way home and I seen this black food trailer with the back deck and I took a few photos from behind the fence and I went back into my old messages from my best man.
Speaker B:And I'll be dang if it wasn't the same trailer.
Speaker A:Well, it looks good.
Speaker C:Meant to be.
Speaker C:It was meant to be.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Black.
Speaker A:And it said Ribs by Rob on it like that.
Speaker A:It looks sharp.
Speaker A:I liked it.
Speaker A:When you, when you, when you're going on a cook, how.
Speaker A:Tell us about your prep time.
Speaker A:You know, when you pull into, let's just make something up here.
Speaker A:You pull into a, a Walmart parking lot, you really have nobody, no idea what to expect.
Speaker A:So do you just put a cutoff and say like our max today is 30 racks again made up number or do you just cook till the customers kind of fade away when it gets dark out and take the rest home?
Speaker A:How do you handle all that?
Speaker B:I've kind of just been, you know, keeping good notes on every cook and it seems like after 2 o' clock we really take a, it just drops down to sitting around.
Speaker B:Nobody's coming around until about 4 o'.
Speaker B:Clock.
Speaker B:So I try to cook to that 2, 230, which usually.
Speaker B:And it's an average of about 4 to 5, 16, 17 pound briskets.
Speaker B:I always do four pork butts.
Speaker B:That gives me two full trays of pulled pork and then about 33 racks of ribs on average per cook.
Speaker B:And we usually sell off the ribs and you know, right towards the end, if I sell out early, I'm losing money is my thought.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you can always run into Walmart.
Speaker C:Grab some and you can't pull into a Walmart parking lot and cook a pork butt and have it ready by 2 o'.
Speaker C:Clock.
Speaker C:I mean, so do you par.
Speaker C:Smoke them or do you, what do you do to get them ready?
Speaker B:I smoke them all night on my grill.
Speaker C:And then you, and then you just bring them over there?
Speaker B:Yeah, everything's on my trailer, everything's mounted.
Speaker B:So in fact, when I'm driving down the road, we'll stop at the local UF chef store to pick up whatever we need.
Speaker B:And the smokers are just billowing smoke and everybody's like, what do you got?
Speaker B:What do you got?
Speaker B:So I mean, we continue smoking as we're driving down the road.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And then, you know, when I get there, then I get the rest time for I try to time it to where I can pull the pork prior to me leaving.
Speaker B:So it's resting the whole time.
Speaker B:We're setting up leveling the trailer and get it at least a two hour rest on the pork along with the briskets too.
Speaker A:Do you, do you have favorite brands you use?
Speaker A:Are you just using what?
Speaker A:Well, we used to call them cash and carry and like you said, they're now US Chef stores.
Speaker A:Up here.
Speaker C:You are probably just commodity, right?
Speaker A:Yeah, I would think.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's pretty.
Speaker B:We either have cash and carry, UF Chef or Costco.
Speaker B:Yeah, I like my briskets and my ribs from Costco.
Speaker B:They use swift ribs.
Speaker B:They're real meat.
Speaker B:I use a baby back.
Speaker B:I like baby backs better than the St. Louis style.
Speaker B:Yeah, the silver's already peeled on.
Speaker B:I don't have to do it, so that saves me time.
Speaker B:And they've just good quality.
Speaker B:The briskets are high end there and I've never had a bad one from Costco.
Speaker B:And then as far as the pork butts, I go to you have chef store because I can get the bone in there.
Speaker B:I'd like to cook the bone in better.
Speaker C:I agree Costco does not sell bone in Boston, which is shocking to me, but.
Speaker A:Well, I think you should speak to them about that, Leanne.
Speaker C:It's been that way for years and I just don't get it.
Speaker C:Anyway.
Speaker C:Well, I think you're buying from great sources.
Speaker C:I agree with all of your, your meat choices.
Speaker C:It really is.
Speaker C:And it's affordable because it's gotta be.
Speaker C:You're not gonna make any money.
Speaker A:Well, and Leanne knoweth of what she speaks because she's opening up another food truck down there in Tampa and she's had, you know, several restaurants over her long and valiant career there.
Speaker C:Yeah, I'm kind of.
Speaker C:Oh, it's funny.
Speaker C:You're doing the restaurant gig.
Speaker C:I'm going back to the food truck.
Speaker C:I just, I just, I, you know, it's just so tough with employees.
Speaker C:You're fortunate that your friends and family, but it's, it's.
Speaker C:I just can't do that anymore.
Speaker A:It wears on you.
Speaker A:I know when we did that, when I had the catering company, it would, it would, we'd cook everything here.
Speaker A:Unless they had, unless it was like the middle of winter, indoor facility had its own kitchen.
Speaker A:Then we would do stuff in there.
Speaker A:But normally when we were doing those types of events, we weren't doing barbecue, we were cooking rib roasts and stuff.
Speaker C:Well, Rob, I'm sure that with your restaurant you're going to have catering available.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:So that'll be really good.
Speaker C:And do you have a website now?
Speaker B:Yes, we haven't really updated.
Speaker B:We're mainly On Facebook.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:Instagram.
Speaker A:So, hey, we're going to take another break.
Speaker A:Leanne and I and ribs by Rob Robert Wirt.
Speaker A:We'll be back in just a minute.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody, it's jt And I have eaten.
Speaker A:If you've ever looked at me, you know that.
Speaker A:But I have eaten seafood all over the world, and I can tell you there's no place better than here in Oregon and our Dungeness crab.
Speaker A:If you want to learn more about Oregon Dungeness crab, just go to oregondungeness.org and find out how to cook it, how to catch it, where to buy it, and the sustainability of what they're doing there in the Oregon Crab Commission.
Speaker A:Check it out.
Speaker A:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:I'm JT along with hall of Famer Ms. Leanne Whippen.
Speaker A:We would like to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker A:Beef the way nature intended.
Speaker A:Go to their website, painterhillsnaturalbeef.com check them out there.
Speaker A:Some of those pictures on the website, I think I took a long time ago, some of them, and they.
Speaker A:They have better people doing it now than when I did it.
Speaker A:But I can tell you that also pig powder.
Speaker A:You've heard us talk about it here on the show.
Speaker A:Trim Tab's pig powder barbecue dry Rub was developed by barbecue aficionado Jim Tabb.
Speaker A:It won the coveted best rub on the planet award, and it's used by winning Pitmasters, has been used by winning Pit Masters, I should say now, for over 30 years, and is available online@pigpowder.com if you didn't know this little backstory here, Jim Tabb was Leanne's father, and now she is at the helm of.
Speaker C:With my sister.
Speaker A:With your sister, yes.
Speaker B:You won't.
Speaker A:You won't let me meet your sister for some reason.
Speaker A:Anyway, she is now at the helm and at the pit, with pig powder continuing to turn in winning performances.
Speaker A:Get your pig powder today@pigpowder.com there.
Speaker A:Did I do it all right there, that's great.
Speaker C:For the first time.
Speaker C:That's awesome.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:We're talking with Robert, worked from ribs by Rob down on the Oregon coast.
Speaker A:You know, when you think of the Oregon coast, Rob, you think of clams and salmon and halibut and all that good stuff.
Speaker A:Do you ever think in your, you know, expeditions into the barbecue world that you might come in with a, you know, smoked salmon sandwich or something?
Speaker A:You ever toy with those ideas?
Speaker B:Yeah, we've served salmon, barbecued salmon at catering events.
Speaker B:As far as selling, not quite yet, until I have a bigger spot because I don't want to mix the fish with the brisket and, you know, the grills and.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Might give it a weird flavor.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And you know, you look kind of funky out there.
Speaker A:Trying to sell it was a little chief.
Speaker C:Well, not only that, I mean, that's what you get there to eat.
Speaker C:So you're providing what really isn't predominant in Oregon, and that's what people want, you know, is good barbecue, good brisket, ribs, pork.
Speaker C:So you're providing what you.
Speaker C:At least it's my understanding it isn't very prevalent in Oregon.
Speaker C:Do you think, Jeff?
Speaker A:No, no, not really.
Speaker A:I mean, we have.
Speaker A:There's probably around the Portland, Vancouver metro area, there's probably a dozen barbecue places.
Speaker C:Yeah, it's not.
Speaker A:And you know, three or four of them are really high end quality and do a good job.
Speaker A:And the rest of it is kind of mass produced, if you will.
Speaker B:That's why my buddy wants me to try salmon ribs.
Speaker B:But it's kind of a small order to cook up, so.
Speaker A:Yeah, it is.
Speaker A:Well, at least they're not asking you for salmon or halibut cheeks.
Speaker A:You know that.
Speaker A:That's a lot of work.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You got a new.
Speaker A:You drove down to where?
Speaker A:Nevada.
Speaker A:I saw it was looking at your Facebook page to get a name.
Speaker A:Las Vegas.
Speaker A:You obviously still had money when you came home, so you didn't spend too much time at the casinos.
Speaker A:But how did.
Speaker A:What did you buy there?
Speaker B:Well, it was Tuesday afternoon and it was the big day of the Powerball drawing when it was $2.04 billion.
Speaker B:And I don't know if you remember, they had that snafu.
Speaker B:They're about 10 hours late with the numbers.
Speaker B:I believe it was in California.
Speaker B:Something happened.
Speaker B:So I was outside cleaning the garage, kind of like I was doing earlier today, and I said, you know what, I should check those tickets.
Speaker B:And I knew there's two number tens, Powerball was ten, and there's another number ten in the numbers.
Speaker B:And I looked on one of my tickets and I had 10 for the Powerball.
Speaker B:I was all excited.
Speaker B:I won two bucks, right.
Speaker B:I stopped the night before on the way back from seattle and got two $10 quick picks, spent 20 bucks at a 7, 11.
Speaker B:Now I started looking at the other numbers and There's a number 10 sitting in there.
Speaker B:And I thought, wow, that's cool.
Speaker C:And lo and behold, I get $5.
Speaker B:Lo and behold, I had every number but one number, and I ended up winning $50,000 off a Powerball.
Speaker C:No kidding.
Speaker B:Yay.
Speaker B:Yay.
Speaker C:Good for you.
Speaker C:So it really does happen.
Speaker C:Oh, my.
Speaker B:It does.
Speaker B:I called, I won 500 bucks, and I was ecstatic.
Speaker B:I was upstairs, I thought I was gonna have to go to the hospital, called 91 1.
Speaker B:I was starting to hyper, and I started looking.
Speaker B:I called my friends who live in Washington, and she went on their website and she was like, holy crud.
Speaker B:You just won 50,000.
Speaker C:And unbelievable.
Speaker B:I called my boss and said, hey, I might be a little late.
Speaker B:I have to go to Vancouver to collect 50,000.
Speaker B:And he didn't believe me, but.
Speaker B:So I've been keeping an eye out the place.
Speaker B:So I go to Salina, Texas, and I met some people there.
Speaker B:Dante Ramirez, who owns Tender Smokehouse.
Speaker B:He's one of several owners, and kind of, they welcomed me with open arms.
Speaker B:And I can go down there, just give them a call.
Speaker B:I've been back in their kitchen.
Speaker B:I've watched how they trim the briskets.
Speaker B:I watch how they do this and how they do that.
Speaker B: when I first met him back in: Speaker B:So I found one on ebay, and I'd been watching it, watching it, watching it, and so I put a bid in on it, and they accepted it.
Speaker B:So next, you know, the next day, me and my buddy and my brother took off.
Speaker B:I got off at 3am in the morning.
Speaker B:I drove to Sweet Home, Oregon, and my friend Roger, we hopped in his truck with the flatbed, and we drove to Las Vegas, Nevada, and bought an Oiler 700.
Speaker C:So I think that's one of the better choices for a restaurant, quite frankly.
Speaker C:Yeah, except it is a little bit more.
Speaker C:You have to pay a little bit more attention to it than an Old Hickory or Southern Pride, of course.
Speaker C:But the results are worth the effort, I think.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:Nice job.
Speaker A:There's a.
Speaker A:There's a barbecue restaurant in Seattle that has two of those out in there behind the storefront.
Speaker A:And I had never been up close to one.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:Well, this was five or six years ago.
Speaker A:And I went back there and I went, wow, this is.
Speaker B:This is good stuff.
Speaker A:This is impressive.
Speaker A:So have you come down yet from the lottery win, Robert?
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Money's gone.
Speaker A:What the hell, you know?
Speaker B:No, I used part of it to pay off my food trailer.
Speaker B:So we own that free and clear.
Speaker B:And then another big chunk to go down to Vegas and pick that new smoker.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And the rest for taxes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:They took out, was it 13 right there at the lottery office.
Speaker B:So I should be okay?
Speaker A:I think you'll be fine.
Speaker A:I think you'll be fine.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Are you still buying lottery tickets?
Speaker B:Yeah, when they get up pretty high.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:Did you win on the quick pick?
Speaker C:Is that the one you won on?
Speaker C:Yeah, I've heard, I've heard.
Speaker A:God, now that we'll never get you out of the 7:11 you're going to be in there buying lottery tickets.
Speaker C:Well, my mom had these little, you know, little fortune cookie, the little papers, and it has numbers on the back.
Speaker C:And she's had this, these two pieces of paper sitting there for years, I kid you not.
Speaker C:And so of course, you know, because lottery gets crazy, she's like, why don't you play these numbers for me?
Speaker C:So I said, okay, well, the end number, I guess can only go up to what, the number 25 or something like that.
Speaker C:And so the number on the end that she had was like 37.
Speaker C:So the guy, when I hand him the number, he's like, I can't do it that way.
Speaker C:And he kind of jumbles them around.
Speaker C:Anyway, we ended up getting the power.
Speaker C:We didn't get the Powerball number, but actually there were like three or four numbers.
Speaker C:But had we had the Powerball, we would have won like $200.
Speaker C:And I was excited about that.
Speaker C:If I 50,000, I could be going nuts.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, it'll, it'll get you.
Speaker A:It'll get you.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So take a step back, Rob, and, and when you're looking at this now and you, are you happy about these decisions or do you feel just kind of sucked in?
Speaker A:I know that's a loaded question and there's a reason for it, but we talked to so many people on this show and after the show and stuff, they'll say, yeah, you know, but you kind of listen to their voice.
Speaker A:Some of them have doubts and some of them are, you know, Genghis Khan charging across the plains.
Speaker A:You know, they're ready to go.
Speaker A:What's your, where are you at in that realm?
Speaker B:I'm ready to go.
Speaker B:I've been taking baby steps for years and just taking it slow.
Speaker B:I mean, we started out with a hundred dollar flatbed trailer behind my Tahoe, carrying a couple grills and coolers to a, you know, thousand and thousands of dollar food trailer.
Speaker B:And we've really developed a great customer base in our area.
Speaker B:And I'm just excited to see, you know, I wish I could look ahead five months and see where we're at.
Speaker B:And then, you know, a year from now, it's just.
Speaker B:It's getting bigger and bigger.
Speaker B:And in my turn, we're gonna have.
Speaker C:To check back with you and see how you're doing.
Speaker C:For sure.
Speaker C:I'm excited for you.
Speaker A:We might have to drive down there and do a live show.
Speaker C:Yeah, that would be great.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:If we get you to Oregon, for God's sakes.
Speaker A:Her daughter lives here, too, by the way.
Speaker C:Yeah, in Portland.
Speaker C:I haven't been out there once.
Speaker C:Well, she's only been there almost two years.
Speaker C:But I will get there.
Speaker A:I thought you were going to tell me 17 years or something like that.
Speaker C:I want to get there this year.
Speaker C:We got to start planning.
Speaker A:We will, we will, we will.
Speaker A:We just got to get.
Speaker C:Are you eventually going to bottle your sauce and dry rubs or you're just focusing on your barbecue right now?
Speaker B:Right now, I'm just focusing on my barbecue.
Speaker B:It took me about two and a half years to get to where I like my briskets and where I think we're pretty top game with our brisket.
Speaker B:I just got back.
Speaker B:I took my youngest son down to Texas a couple weeks ago, and I tried to hit all the different barbecue places, pecan hutchins, all the, you know, the fancy ones you hear about.
Speaker B:And so we're just ready to roll.
Speaker B:And I just want to focus on the meat, and that's where I go down.
Speaker B:And like I said, I just been focusing.
Speaker B:And like I said, it took me two and a half years to get to the brisket, to the quality that I like.
Speaker C:Are people balking at the prices?
Speaker C:Because I know you have to charge quite a lot of money these days.
Speaker B:No, not.
Speaker B:I don't really see that.
Speaker B:You get the occasional customer, they walk up and they see your sign and they just kind of give you a nod and turn around and walk away and.
Speaker C:Well, I think.
Speaker C:I think when they see a trailer, they're expecting it's going to be less than a restaurant.
Speaker C:And that's not true because it's the same price you're paying, if not, maybe even more, because you don't have the buying power of a restaurant.
Speaker C:So, yeah, it's kind of tough.
Speaker A:We're going to take a break.
Speaker A:We're going to come back and wrap up the regular show with Robert Wirt from Ribs by Rob down on the Oregon coast.
Speaker A:And we'll be back in just a couple minutes.
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Speaker D:Lease an EV9 for just 199amonth for 24 months on approved credit.
Speaker D:The best prices in town are at Oregon's all time leader in Kia sales.
Speaker D: Westin Kia Dr. K E: Speaker A:Hey, everybody, it's JT.
Speaker A:You know, I talk about Painted Hills all the time and we always say beef the way nature intended.
Speaker A:But it's more than that because each bite of Painted Hills will make your taste buds explode.
Speaker A:Put a big bright smile on your face and whoever is at your dinner table will have a big bright smile on their face.
Speaker A:And you can thank me for that later.
Speaker A:Just go to paintedhillsbeef.com and find out more.
Speaker A:You won't regret it.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody, J.T.
Speaker A:here.
Speaker A:I want to tell you about Hammerstahl knives.
Speaker A:Hammerstahl combines German steel with beautiful and functioning designs.
Speaker A:They're part of the Heritage Steel group, which also does their pots and pans.
Speaker A:So go to heritagesteel us.
Speaker A:Check out the Hammer Stahl knives.
Speaker A:If you're really into cooking, I think you're really gonna like them.
Speaker B:This is an encore.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:Next week we've got Will Homer, the COO from Painted Hills.
Speaker A:Natural Beef will be on talking about because, you know, beef prices and stuff been all over the place.
Speaker A:So we're going to get caught up with Will and sometime in the near future, we've got Adrian Miller.
Speaker A:The soul food scholar is going to come back and join us.
Speaker A:When Adrian was first on the show, I don't think Leanne was on board yet.
Speaker A:So that'll be a good, a good show coming up.
Speaker A:Yeah, so we got that.
Speaker A:But we're talking with the founder and creator and the namesake of Ribs by Rob here.
Speaker A:I wanted to talk to you about your brisket.
Speaker A:If you're in Texas, are you doing everything in your cook like they are?
Speaker A:I mean, trimming aside.
Speaker A:But are you.
Speaker A:Are you putting them in there and then are you wrapping them?
Speaker A:Are they staying in there, the whole cook or how are you doing that?
Speaker B:So my briskets, I trim them kind of how I was taught down there in Salina.
Speaker B:Now I see if I have time, I season them the night before, put them back in the fridge with my work schedule.
Speaker B:Sometimes that doesn't quite happen.
Speaker B:Then I smoke them till about I run them 225 right around 165, 170 ish.
Speaker B:At that time, I wrap in peach paper until I get to about 198 is where I I found I like to take them off and then let them rest back down to 185.
Speaker B:And if it's the day that we're going, then I'll put them inside, inside of one of my cam rows to finish off the rest period.
Speaker C:Are you doing burnt ends or just sliced or.
Speaker B:I actually do a chopped brisket sandwich right now.
Speaker B:As a business, I can yield more out of chop than sliced.
Speaker B:And I think the presentation is a lot better than a couple thin pieces of sliced brisket versus, you know, the full six ounce chopped brisket.
Speaker B:It just looks a lot better and I think it just is a better product all around.
Speaker A:Yeah, people come up and give me special requests and that.
Speaker A:I mean, like, hey, Rob, we've got a ball game next weekend and I'd like, I'd like four briskets and six racks of ribs, but I want it with you.
Speaker A:The particular type of rub, but not just salt, pepper, garlic type thing.
Speaker A:Any strange little requests that you get like that?
Speaker B:Nothing like that.
Speaker B:I did have a guy at one come up and he just walks up right behind my register, right to the window where we kind of separate everybody, where I take the food out and then if I'm cashiering and then give it to whoever bought and.
Speaker B:And he just starts ordering.
Speaker B:With my wife and my buddy, it's like, hey, I want to pulled pork.
Speaker B:But this is what I want you to do.
Speaker B:I want you to put some pork on there, then I want you to take a little bit of your bean juice, drizzle it over the pork, and then put these Fritos and hands us a small bag of Fritos and then put some more beans on there and then put some coleslaw on top of that.
Speaker B:It's going to be the best.
Speaker B:So we did it.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Well, I, you know, I spent a lot of time in Texas, so the only time you have to worry is when they want braised armadillo.
Speaker A:So really that's, that's a tough, that's a tough one there.
Speaker A:But everything else is doable for the most part.
Speaker A:What do you think overall that you've learned?
Speaker A:That to you is the most important point since you started this as far as barbecue and the way you're doing it, the way you're cooking it and all that.
Speaker B:Consistency, kind of the same as being open on certain days at the same location.
Speaker B:I think consistency, the way I trim briskets, consistency on how I season my meats, how I cook them, how we prepare them.
Speaker B:That way, you know, you got a solid product Every time.
Speaker A:So I think that's.
Speaker A:Honestly, I think that's the biggest point.
Speaker A:It is the hardest thing.
Speaker A:But the example I gave you earlier in the last segment about going and eating and the price and all that, I ate at that place twice.
Speaker A:First time was knock your socks off.
Speaker A:Second time, when I came back and had that meeting that I spoke of, it was completely different.
Speaker A:It was so far off from what we had the first time that I've never been back.
Speaker A:And I think the consistency is a.
Speaker A:Can be a deal maker or a deal breaker.
Speaker A:That's just me.
Speaker B:Yeah, I agree.
Speaker A:Yeah, it does that.
Speaker A:Anything you thinking about adding to the menu as you go forward?
Speaker B:No, we just added a year ago the brisket Mac and the pulled pork Mac bowls, and those have been a huge, huge seller.
Speaker B:So we're gonna.
Speaker B:We're just keeping it nice and simple.
Speaker B:It's a good.
Speaker B:You know, Ray, we are gonna bring back the platter once we get set up, you know, because I can't stand going to a place and I like to just have a little bit of this, a little bit of that so I can try it all.
Speaker B:And if they don't have that, then, you know, so we are gonna bring that back.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Leanne, did you serve platters?
Speaker C:We had our super sampler platter and we served it on a pizza.
Speaker C:This was at Woodchuck's.
Speaker C:So we had different size pizza pans and we'd put a sheet of wax paper on there and we do like a quarter rack of ribs, like 3 ounces of brisket, 3 ounces of pork, you know, slaw, beans.
Speaker C:And there was the, you know, the sampler and the super sampler.
Speaker C:And you know, it was based on how many meats.
Speaker C:But everybody loves that because that's what they like to do is taste a little bit of everything.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:That way when they come back, they can order a full rack or whatever they want.
Speaker C:Their favorite item.
Speaker A:Yes, their favorite item.
Speaker A:Do you have a favorite item, Robert?
Speaker B:I think I'm a brisket guy.
Speaker A:Are you.
Speaker B:Pulled pork?
Speaker B:I can take it or leave it.
Speaker B:I've never had.
Speaker B:Outstanding.
Speaker B:Gotta have this pulled pork again.
Speaker B:But brisket is an art form.
Speaker B:To be able to serve a good.
Speaker A:Brisket, are you just using basically SPG on it and then maybe some little tweak that you've come up with or how.
Speaker A:What's your seasoning base?
Speaker B:It's smoked paprika, garlic, salt, pepper.
Speaker A:Yeah, pretty standard.
Speaker A:Pretty standard.
Speaker C:Like we tried as expensive.
Speaker B:Yeah, we tried some tweaking it here.
Speaker B:And adding this, and it just, you know, I. I just get a better result with keeping it simple.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Speaking of keeping it simple, what does your wife think of all this?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Now that you've dragged her into it.
Speaker B:Yeah, I locked her in the bedroom here for the next hour.
Speaker B:So she's very supportive.
Speaker B:We do have a younger son that has a heart condition.
Speaker B:That takes a lot of her time.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:But for instance, he was in ICU for 90 days this last summer, and I had all these contracts to fulfill where you just can't walk away from, or I'd be owing money, which, you know, of course I can't.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But she's very supportive.
Speaker B:And when she is available, she does help out.
Speaker B:I mean, I can't figure out all this.
Speaker B:Facebook ads and all that.
Speaker B:And she can do it.
Speaker C:That's perfect.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:She can stay home and, you know, that's awesome.
Speaker B:The day of the cook, she comes up, you know, we get up there around seven or so and get set up and just get everything rolling.
Speaker B:And then she'll show up around 9, 9:30, and we'll do the selling.
Speaker B:And when we're about done cleaning up, then she'll just take off and head back home.
Speaker B:So it works out.
Speaker A:Good.
Speaker C:That is good.
Speaker C:We wish you continued success.
Speaker C:I love success stories.
Speaker C:And you're on your way, so congratulations.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:Rob is going to stick around for after hours, but we got to get out of here because we're running out of time.
Speaker A:We thank him.
Speaker A:Don't forget, it's ribs by Rob down in Warrenton, Oregon.
Speaker A:And we'll be back next week with another edition of Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:That will be Ms. Leanne and myself.
Speaker A:Until then, remember our motto.
Speaker A:Turn it, don't burn it.
Speaker A:Take care, everybody.
Speaker A:Barbecue Nation is produced by jtsv, LLC Productions and association with Envision Networks and Salem Media Group.
Speaker A:All rights reserved.
