The Best Barbeque in China

 If you're homesick for some good-old American comfort food, then the best deal in town is the Sunday afternoon barbeque at Zapata's Waterfront Bar and Grill.  Zapata's normally features a Tex-Mex menu, so any day is a good day to get a little home cooking.   But on Sundays, they throw a bona-fide barbeque food-orgy - all you can eat for 100 RMB per person (about $15).  Beef brisket, smoked ribs, pork, chicken, coleslaw, beans, salsa....it's like clicking your heels and going home to Kansas.

The story behind the barbeque has an interesting twist.  It starts with a Texan named Dave Henderson.  Dave had been in the Suzhou area for a couple of years working as a plant manager for a US company.   He got a little bored and was looking to do a little barbequing and somehow got hooked up with the folks at Zapata's.  They agreed to let him use their equipment if he would teach their chef, Jonathan, how to cook Texas-style.  So they started doing Sunday afternoon cook-outs for the fun of it.  A year or so later, they were joined by an Ohioan named Gordon (sorry...need to get his last name) who was also working in Suzhou as an expat.  Gordon saw the smoker on the back deck and asked if he could borrow it.  He had competed in barbeque competitions in the States with his Memphis-style recipes.  Before long, he was part of the Sunday cooking team.  With each passing week-end, they have increased the formidable assortment of dishes for the cook-out buffet.

So, the photo at the top shows the Sunday afternoon cooking team of Gordon (from the left, out of Ohio) Jonathan (center, Zapata's regular chef), and Dave (at right, from Texas).  They are holding in their hands the proof that they are the best barbeque team in China.  Just the day before, the competed in the Shanghai Barbeque Cook-off.  They walked away from the competion with the awards for the best beef, the best pork, and the overall grand champion.  There were 19 or so teams entered, including a number of high-end Shanghai restauranteurs.  In the end, this meld of two American amateurs and one Chinese professional walked away with the award for the best barbeque in China.

Dave, by the way, is a Purdue graduate from the Krannert School of Business.  He also played football for Purdue back in the mid-1970s...when they were actually pretty good.   Those were the years of Leroy Keyes and Mark Hermann and coach Alex Agase.  I'm taking him at his word on this.  His word and his scars.  For all the scars he showed me, I have no doubt that he was telling the truth.

Zapata's is down on the lakefront about a 5 minute walk from our apartment.  Truth-be-told, it is one of the reasons why I chose the apartment in the first place.  That, and the Starbucks Coffee shop next store.  The pairing meant that Theresa could walk to get a coffee to start her day and walk to get a margarita to end her day.  It is convenient.  But it's also a bit of a danger.   We went to Zapata's on Thursday for dinner and check out their quiz night.  Then we met some neighbors and got to talking with them and with the owners and some others and before you know it we were getting back to the apartment at 1:00 am in the morning.  That makes for a difficult Friday at work.