Herman’s GM is named King of the Grill at ‘Taste’

Herman’s Bakery general manager Mike Guerrero, along with his son, claimed the King of the Grill title during the 24th annual Taste of the Marianas festival over the weekend at the Garapan Fishing Base. (KIMBERLY B. ESMORES)

Herman’s Bakery general manager Mike Guerrero, along with his son, claimed the King of the Grill title during the 24th Annual Taste of the Marianas International Food Festival & Beer Garden over the weekend at the Garapan Fishing Base.

The competition, which featured eight groups consisting of professional chefs and amateur grillers, kicked off with a People’s Choice steak cookoff, followed by the King of the Grill barbecue ribs cookoff.

The participants of the competition were Juan Ogarto, Guerrero, Alexander Standish, Samson Tan, Sally Ramos, Emmanuel Erediano, Bran Castro, and Suaad Younis San Nicolas.

After over two hours of grilling the chefs presented their ribs to the panel of judges for a blind taste test and, after much deliberation, they unanimously deemed Guerrero’s ribs the best out of the bunch.

The first runner up in the King of the Grill competition was Suaad Younis San Nicolas, followed closely by Alexander Standish who completed the top three.

For the People’s Choice competition, Juan Ogarto’s steaks came out on top despite being the only group without a “conventional” grill. Following Ogarto in second place was Alexander Standish followed by Bran Castro, who officially completed the top three for the People’s Choice competition.

Following the competition, Guerrero was ecstatic to me named this year’s King of the Grill, but what made the win even more special was the fact that he won the title with his son, Tyler Guerrero, on the eve of Father’s Day.

“My boy did a good job! He helped me the night before and on the morning before the competition, just preparing the meat. He did a great job assisting me today,” he said.

When asked what kind of spin he put on his award-winning ribs, Guerrero said he and his son decided to stick with a simple Southern-style rib featuring an apple theme.

“We just made a traditional smoked, Southern-style rib with an apple barbecue sauce and we had an apple coleslaw and garlic confit mashed potatoes. We smoked our ribs with apple wood, and we stuck with the apple theme throughout the entire competition,” he said.

Guerrero stated he will be back next year to defend his title.

Saipan Tribune also managed to speak with a group of friends who were new to the island and participated in the People’s Choice as judges. According to the group, the competition was a first for them and it was a great experience.

“It was fun to chug down a couple of beers, have as much steak as you want, and just have a great time. Definitely glad we participated,” they said.

The King of the Grill competition has been a Taste of the Marianas staple event since 2015.

This year’s contest was sponsored by Budweiser and Marianas Variety.