Call it the Treasure Valley barbecue throwdown.

The Eagle Rib Cook-Off & Spudfest is turning on the heat Labor Day Weekend at Guerber Park in Eagle.

This is a Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned event, a big deal because the KCBS is one of the top dogs in the country. "The largest organization of barbecue enthusiasts in the world," according to the Web site. The group also sponsors one of the most challenging competitions, and with more than 300 annual smokin' events to narrow down the best of the best, it's nigh on to impossible to make it to the big show.

"The American Royal is the one everybody's trying to get to," said competitor and vendor Andrew Petrehn. "I've never won enough to get to that, but maybe, if I win this year, I'll get an invitation there."

Petrehn, who owns and cooks for Eagle Rib Shack in Eagle and Andrew's Rib Shack in Meridian, said an invitation would make his mom, who lives in Overland Park, Kansas, a Kansas City suburb, very happy.

The rest of us will be happy, no matter what. Because for three whole days, cookers from Montana, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah and beyond will be smokin'.

The air will be thick with wafting, mouth-watering, smoky breezes, redolent with zingy spices; the sharp, tang of Memphis-style barbecue, smoky dry Texas rub, the sweet-with-a-kick punch of Kansas City style.

"It's a very big deal," Petrehn said. "There are a lot of Idahoans who have never been exposed to authentic barbecue. To be exposed to different smokers, different spices, different flavors - that's the joy of playing around with barbecue."

Local caterer Kanak Attack is another competitor. "We're pretty excited about it," Martin Oshiro, sous chef, said. "We'll probably be cooking our Kalua pig."

Petrehn was mum on giving away his secrets - "I'm pretty sealed lips on that one," he said. "But I'll tell you this - what we serve at the restaurant is what I compete with."

To win "you've got to have it just perfect," Petrehn said.

He should know. Petrehn, who does his barbecue Kansas City-style, won first place, grand champion, for the 2003 Thrill of the Grill barbecue contest in Boise. "And I've been trying to get back there ever since," he said, laughing. "I took second place in ribs for two years - that just drove me crazy."

Good barbecue can, indeed, drive you insane. Presidents have been known to take sudden detours to get their fix. Petrehn said he remembers when President Clinton snuck down to Arthur Bryant's barbecue joint in Kansas City in his motorcade on the way to the airport and "picked up the big platter."

President Jimmy Carter, another president who loved his 'cue, would regularly fly Air Force One in to pick up some of Bryant's legendary ribs.

Petrehn has similar lofty goals for barbecue in Idaho. "Hopefully, we can get (future) presidents to stop in our restaurants."

Eagle cook-off competitors, judged "in the blind," will barbecue up four types of meat: pork, chicken, baby-back or spare pork ribs and beef brisket. As a nod to our fair state, all professional competitors also must submit a potato dish.

The stakes are high - The Eagle Fat Hog Grand Champion gets $2,000, The Eagle Spudmaster Champion gets $1,000, the four Class Champions get $250. Plus, there are nine other winners per class (type of meat).

But the real winners are the rest of us. We get to pig out for three whole days on some of the finest barbecue west of the Mississippi.

Jeanne Huff: 377-6483