If you don’t “like” him on Facebook or follow @SBQue on Twitter you may not recognize this pitmaster. His name is Sean Bardwell and has a competition BBQ team called Tatoos N Que. I have been following Sean for most of this year and have been really impressed by some of Sean’s creations. He shows them regularly on Facebook and they all look very tasty. I had the pleasure of talking to Sean about his recent activities while he was doing a practice cook for an upcoming contest last week. Sean has big plans for the future and a game plan to get there.
Sean was raised on BBQ. His best childhood memories were being with his father cooking on an old Weber kettle grill. BBQ was a treat. Sean spent summers in Arkansas with grandparents who also fed his BBQ cravings. To this day, BBQ reminds him of his childhood. Currently, Sean is kitchen manager of a chain restaurant called Smokey Bones in York, Pennsylvania and has held this position for 4 years. He started as a line cook and has worked his way up the ladder. Sean wants to own his own BBQ restaurant one day and is working very hard to achieve that goal. His goal for the next year is to get a food truck to be used for a catering business and to take on the competition circuit.
Sean has many BBQ idols. He attended the NBBQA Convention in South Carolina last year and got to meet the likes of Ray Lampe, Chris Lilly and the person Sean states he owes the most to, Danielle Dimovski of DivaQ BBQ. He stays in touch with Danielle via twitter and says she gives him a lot of advice. He also credits ,Prince of Q, Jay Prince and Stephen Hartsock of Sock’s Love Rub with inspiring him as well. At the MBBQA Convention, everyone told Sean that if he wants to open a restaurant he needs to first compete and get your name out there. This inspired Sean and his Tattoos N Que BBQ team to enter the New Holland Summerfest BBQ contest last weekend. Tattoos n Que competed against 72 other BBQ teams. Tattoos N Que did not win any awards at New Holland but they did not finish last in any category they entered and met Myron Mixon and Tuffy Stone. Sean considers this a success.
Sean also has a variety of rubs for sale on his website, sbque.com His rubs come in Original flavor which is an all purpose rub, Savory which is used a lot on poultry, Sweet for ribs and pork and is developing one called Tattoos N Que which is a competition style rub. All the ingredients used in Sean’s rubs are also smoked before they are combined. This gives Sean’s food layers of smoke flavor. I found this to be very interesting and I cant wait for the sample Sean is going to send me. Sean also makes his competition sauce from scratch using all smoked ingredients. He joked that he can never do anything simple.
If all of this was not enough, Sean has published his very own e-cookbook. It contains 17 original recipes all created by Sean Bardwell. It is a free cookbook so feel free to download it here http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/296973-sbque-recipes . When you get done with the cookbook you will ask yourself, ” Is there any food Sean won’t smoke?”
Sean has a passion for BBQ. He shows this in all that he does. From rub creator, cookbook author, competition cook and his daily job they are all examples of how dedicated Sean is to perfecting his craft. Sean is a very goal driven individual and I have no doubt that he will leave his mark on the BBQ world. Check out his website, order some rub and get that cookbook. You will be glad you did.
