Oh My Grill tops booth competition at ‘Taste’

Oh My Grill faced off with some of the CNMI’s veteran grillers from Kinpanchi, D’Elegance, and Matty’s, and won over the hearts of the CNMI community during their debut at the 22nd annual Taste of the Marianas. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Despite being a newbie to the annual Taste of the Marianas, Oh My Grill pulled out all the stops to win this year’s booth competition.

According to Gerry DelaCruz, one of Oh My Grill’s owners, their idea for their booth was to embrace every part of the CNMI’s culture, incorporating both the Chamorro and the Carolinian cultures in their design.

“This is our first time joining the Taste of the Marianas since we’ve only been in existence for one year so, for our booth concept, we really went after the Hafa Adai and Tirow theme that came with this year’s Taste of the Marianas,” she said.

DelaCruz said the booth design was a team effort, with everyone coming together to share what they wanted to feature in their booth.

“We incorporated the latte stone, symbolizing the Chamorro culture, which we built using coconuts. Then we had the mwar that lined our booth, symbolizing the Refaluwasch culture. We added leaves from the coconut tree because for those who live on the islands, the coconut tree is the tree of life. We put a grass skirt at the front of our booth to symbolize flame, which also symbolizes our grill because we wanted to incorporate a little bit of us too. We had woven a fish from coconut leaves and we also added the talaya because fishing is a way of life here. Lastly, we added island flowers as a finishing touch because it really is the beauty of our islands,” DelaCruz said.

Despite being a newbie to the annual Taste of the Marianas, Oh My Grill pulled out all the stops to win this year’s Taste of the Marianas booth competition by incorporating every part of the CNMI’s culture in their design. (KIMBERLY B. ESMORES)

Although their debut was widely welcomed, DelaCruz said it was overwhelming but a feeling that was also accompanied by happiness because of the many people who lined up to get a taste of what they served.

“We were actually very overwhelmed but we put in a lot of work and it was really nice to see that people were really standing in line for our food. We enjoy it too and we just really wanted to share that with the rest of the community,” she said.

Throughout the three-day festival, Oh My Grill had one of the longest lines and even up until 10pm, when all the other concession stands were closing up for the night, Oh My Grill still had a handful of last-minute customers wanting a taste of their dishes.

Coming in at second place was Island Grinds, followed by D’Elegance, and completing the top four was Herman’s Bakery.