Trader Vic's granddaughter in the news

http://www.marinij.com/ci_23358089/trader-vics-granddaughter-bergeron-thompson-smokes-barbecue-competitors

Trader Vic's granddaughter Bergeron-Thompson smokes barbecue competitors
By Vicki Larson
Marin Independent Journal

POSTED: 06/05/2013 05:20:00 AM PDT

WHEN KELLY Bergeron-Thompson asked for a smoker for Mother's Day a few years ago, all she had in mind was making some tasty meals for her family and friends.

Instead it has lead to success at several barbecue competitions, raves from Santa Rosa restaurateur and Food Network star Guy Fieri, and a fledgling catering business. She's working on packaging her own sauces and rubs, and she's even toying with the idea of a restaurant.

It isn't all that surprising given that the Novato resident is the granddaughter of Victor J. Bergeron, the man behind the legendary restaurant Trader Vic's.

In fact, Bergeron-Thompson has been using her grandfather's wood-fired Chinese oven — a smaller version of the one used at his restaurants — at the competitions.
"My dad had asked me if I'd be interested in a Chinese oven that my grandpa fabricated, and I said, 'Sure.' He pulled it out of storage and it was really rusty so we worked on it together and got it back up and running," says Bergeron-Thompson, who now has five grills and smokers.

At a friend's suggestion, she entered a barbecue competition in Petaluma three years ago and was named the people's choice winner.

"That was so much fun," she enthuses. "Then I just kind of got this bug, and I've been doing it ever since."

In addition to her homemade sauces and rubs — she smokes her own spices and salt — she credits the oven for her Texas-style barbecue's winning taste.

"You hang all your meat instead of laying them flat on a grill. It's a great offset smoker and it actually self-bastes the meat as it's cooking, so it stays really juicy and a lot of the flavor gets imparted from the different rubs that I use," says the 37-year-old mom of two.

But it may also have to something to do with her barbecue team's name, Vic's Chics, and their motto — "We rub 'em the right way!"

The "chics" include longtime friends Nani Coyle and Yvonne Locke of Novato and Paula Pfeffers of San Rafael. Sometimes the "chiclettes" — Bergeron-Thompson's 14-year-old daughter Dixie and Locke's daughters Yvette and Alana — join them. Often, they are the only all-female barbecue team.

"We just have a blast. When I'm busy cooking, they're talking to all the people. They do a great job," she says. "The people that come to these competitions are coming to have a great time, have great food and get entertained."

So do the "chics.""The interaction with people, making them happy, the food that we serve them — it's a fun time," says Coyle, who calls Bergeron-Thompson's cooking a taste of heaven.

"Kelly's sometimes a bit shy letting people know that her grandfather was Trader Vic, but we always like to throw that in there."
Despite her culinary lineage, Bergeron-Thompson says the real reason she became a great cook was because her husband, Jerry Thompson, made fun of her cooking when they first met. Now, she says with a laugh, "He's the luckiest guy in the world; he gets great barbecue all the time."

She'd like to introduce others to her barbecue, too, by opening a restaurant one day. There just aren't enough barbecue places in Marin, she says.

"I already have the name, I already know what I want to do. It's just timing," she says, although she's not sure quite how she'll fit it in with daughter Dixie's busy softball schedule and with son Beau, 12, on a traveling baseball team. Still, she says, "I feel like it's meant to be."

In the meantime, she's focusing on acing the Santa Rosa Wine Country Big BBQ on July 13, where she'll be cooking ribs, pulled pork, chicken brisket and a mystery meat.

"This year, we're going to go for the big award," she says.

RECIPE

Barbecue sauce

1 cup catsup

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1 tablespoon molasses

1 tablespoon smoked black pepper (can be found in most major supermarkets as McCormick's Smokehouse)

Pinch of salt

Dash of favorite hot sauce

Mix all together well and let it sit at least an hour. Can be used with barbecue meats and poultry.

Vicki Larson can be reached at [email protected]; follow her on Twitter at @OMGchronicles, fan her on Facebook at Vicki-Larson-OMG-Chronicles

Follow the chics

Want to taste Vic's Chics barbecue? They'll be at the Santa Clara Silicon Valley BBQ Championships on June 28; the Santa Rosa Wine Country Big BBQ on July 13, the Placerville Smokin' for Gold on Sept. 13 and Trader Vic's Emeryville Autumn Harvest Party on Sept 20. For more information, go to http://www.vicschicsbbq.com

We've been looking for one of TV's Chinese ovens. Never saw one in the wild. It's great to know that Vic's granddaughter is carrying it on.