Bad Ass Bar -B Que are firehouse buddies Christopher Malanga and teamate Matt Joseph. They both became KCBS (Kansas City BBQ Society) Certified Judges in March 2008.

In October 2008, Chris and Matt entered their first KCBS sanctioned competition in Sayville, NY. Along with 42 other teams, they braved an eight-hour torrential downpour in the midst of cooking for two days outdoors, and although they didn’t take home any trophies or medals (they finished 37th out of 43 overall...not bad for their first competition!), they came away from the experience with lessons learned and determination to return to the competition next fall with more fuel on their fire!

By day, Matt is a First Responder AEMT for a local fire department; Chris is a HVAC Design Engineer in a Manhattan engineering firm. Chris also writes the column "What's Cooking with Chris" in Outlook Long Island magazine.

We ended 2010 with the infamous 13th place chicken award at the Battle of the BBQ Brethren, and started 2011 of with a bang by geeting a fourth place call for ribs at Willepalooza. We're looking to keep the momemtum going. We look forward to seeing everybody out there! Happy Queing