NIMISHILLEN TWP Adam Wagner has a lengthy background in the restaurant industry, but his passion for barbecuing until recently had been confined mostly to smoked meat competitions among friends.
A casual affair on camping trips is the way the 49-year-old Louisville-area resident described the origins of a hobby that has blossomed into a prosperous food truck business called Poagie s BBQ.
Weekend cookoffs were against two friends, Tim Griggs of Lancaster and Brad Croyle of Stark County. Everyone judged our food, said Wagner, who also credits his father for influencing his love of cooking during childhood. My pulled pork recipe (at Poagie s BBQ), that s my buddy Tim s recipe, but my ribs and brisket, that s my recipes.