New York’s Bravest fight for BBQ supremacy

The grills were at full blast on Red Hook’s waterfront on Wednesday, July 30 as firehouses from Red Hook and Brooklyn Heights competed in the sixth annual Fairway Firefighters Food Face-Off.The event is to determine which firehouse serves the best BBQ foods in the city, and hands one firehouse bragging rights over the others for the rest of the year. “I love the camaraderie and the trash-talking that goes on,” said Jackie Donovan, vp of marketing at Fairway Market. The competition was judged on three different foods: burgers, chicken and ribs. Competitors were judged for who had the best taste, presentation and origin in all their recipes.In addition, the teams were given a secret ingredient–Fairway’s Saba sauce–to see if they could quickly improvise and incorporate the ingredient into the foods they were making.The event also featured a musical performance by the American Bombshells, a non-profit organization that entertains veterans all over the world, and an appearance by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who presented the trophy.The firehouses competing included Red Hook’s Happy Hookers (Engine 279 Ladder 131), the Raiders (Engine 202 Ladder 101) and Brooklyn Heights’ Hicks Street (Engine 224) and the Fire Under The Bridge Brigade (Engine 205 Ladder 118).For the second year in a row, the winners were Brooklyn Heights’ Hicks Street and will now get to display their trophy and banner at their firehouse all year round.Furthermore, the winning firehouse also received a $500 gift card to go shopping at Fairway on August 20 from 4 to 10 p.m. on Fairway’s Shopping Night.Twenty-five percent of the proceeds will go to a charity of their choice, and Engine 224 chose the Friends Of Firefighters organization as the charity they will support.“The event is family friendly with raffles, prizes and there’s no beating the view here,” added Donovan.