Ribslayer To Go

(Second Review -- May 2011)
(Third Review -- May 2011)
(Fourth Review -- August 2011)
(Fifth Review -- March 2012)


Ribslayer To Go (McMinnville, OR) is a small eatery serving traditional BBQ dishes. Whether you want beef ribs, pulled pork, smoked chicken, even collard greens, Ribslayer has good food at reasonable prices.

Watch out if you haven't been here before. It really is a hole-in-the-wall type of place. My friend and I overshot it the first time we went.

Ribslayer's regular menu. They also have specials each day!

Ribslayer even has a spicy food challenge for the brave and curious: the Flaming MOFO challenge!

Flaming MOFO (Credit: Theresa Haagenson)

Flaming MOFO sauce. A bunch of this goes in the Flaming MOFO challenge, folks.

The Flaming MOFO consists of a generous pile of pulled pork and savory beef brisket. "Flaming MOFO" sauce, a blend of very spicy sauces (including one with the ghost pepper) is added to the sandwich. Finally, the sandwich comes with chips, cole slaw, and a dill pickle spear. The owners state that it is about 3.5 pounds of food in all -- and must be consumed in 15 minutes or less. If you complete the challenge, your picture goes on their Wall of Flame.

I have no idea how he did it in 2:32. I went super fast and still was two minutes slower.

Yes, you have to sign a waiver for this. That first sentence already gets your attention:

"I, Aaron Wakamatsu, the customer, am crazy."
I beg to differ. I'm not crazy...I'm committed!

On April 30, my friend Peter and I went to Ribslayer to take this challenge on. I'm sure the owners and staff had doubts that either one of us could take it down. With one of the owners and one staff member timing us, we both devoured our meal. I did it in about four and a half minutes. Peter finished in about 6:40.

My finished basket

Our prize? Free ice cream...about three scoops' worth:

Trust me, we both needed this.

The spice from the Flaming MOFO sauce did not affect me as badly as I feared. I did have to take a little Pepto Bismol about a couple hours later, but it was nowhere near the agony I had after consuming Salvador Molly's habanero fritters. I'm theorizing that the fritters were much oilier (making the aftereffects worse) than the Ribslayer sandwich.

I got to chat with the owners a bit...they are extremely wonderful people. I told them I would definitely be back and that I would spread the word about their great BBQ joint. An amazing experience all around.

And yes, I visited Ribslayer again with another friend on May 11 (about three days ago).