We are #1 in Alaska, as Ranked by "Taste of Home" magazine. Thank you, Alaska!

The owner of TaTu BBQ specializes in Carolina and Texas-style barbecue, but he opened his own restaurant to create old-fashioned barbecue he couldn’t find anywhere else. The food isn’t the only thing that has Anchorage residents talking—TaTu BBQ also smokes barbecue for wounded troops as a part of their program, BBQ4Wounded.

#1 in Alaska, as Ranked by "Taste of Home" magazine.- Rib-Tips-tatu-bbq

Grace Mannon

Grace is a full-time mom with a Master's degree in Food Science. She loves to experiment in the kitchen and writes about her hits (and misses) on her blog, A Southern Grace.

Our plan is to expand in 2023

"I had a wonderful experience to meet Mr. Patrick Momany at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. He is a great American. He has the heart of a true patriot who has volunteered to use his talents in a unique and special way. I know first hand the mouth-watering pleasure that comes from eating his barbecue. I also have seen the healing affect his effort has on our Wounded Warriors. The particular experience which Patrick brings to these outstanding young fighting Americans is a "taste of home" and an opportunity to relax and begin to deal with their injuries more effectively. Mr. Momany has a warm and caring heart. He brings this warmth and cooking skills to Landstuhl, Germany at a critical phase in the care of our young men and women who proudly wear their country's military uniform. Patrick is very humble about the service he performs here. This clearly comes across this way to the many patients and staff he comes in contact with on each visit. He wants no glory. A true gentleman and someone we are all very proud to know. His sacrifice, while different than that of our warriors, is still a sacrifice of his time and money. His selfless efforts are noteworthy and deserving of your organization's recognition."

ROBERT B. BAILEY, Major General, USAF National Guard US Assistant US Air Forces Europe

"TaTu BBQ staked their claim to the bragging rights in the Northwest winning the “People Choice” Award at Nooksack River Casino’s Best of the Pacific Northwest BBQ Cook-off. The cook-off packed in over 4,000 people checking out the festivities and to sample TaTu’s, “Best BBQ Pork Shoulder”, “Best BBQ Pork Ribs”, and “Best BBQ Chicken.”

"Great to meet you last night and -- again -- many, many thanks for your kind actions and heartfelt words to our troops. Your actions speak volumes of your care and concern for our deployed and mobilized service members. The fact that you made it here by your own accord and took the great amounts of time, energy and cost to show your appreciation is solid actions that make the difference between a good week and a great week. The sheer amount of positive energy that you generated around the MTD and the USO will multiply a thousandfold not only terms of physical healing but positive morale and esprit de corps.

Patrick, thank you once again for your incredible service to the mission and morale of our Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marine uniformed service members."

Kind regards,

LCDR Scott Carlson, CHC, USN

"Patrick provided our party of about 50 people with phenomenal food at a reasonable price. Patrick was easy to work with. He made great menu suggestions and happily shared some of his culinary secrets with our guests. Delicious sauce! We look forward to enjoying Patrick’s food again in the future." Robyn Stahl, Bainbridge Island

"TaTu BBQ is truFeeding our wounded troops great barbecue in Landstuhl, Germanyly great food. Patrick Momany is a true Boucanier. Patrick not only cooks great food, but also supports the Fisher House Program and gives back to our wounded troops by using his proceeds to fly to Germany every year to feed the troops. Patrick also passes on his knowledge about smoking by teaching BBQ school. I attended one of his classes and learned a lot. Patrick is a quiet and modest person and is definitely a candidate for the Best of Western Washington."
DW Lucas

Let me introduce myself, my name is Patrick J Momany, more affectionately known as “Boucanier”, I own TaTu BBQ™, now in Anchorage, AK, and I prepare Award-Winning BBQ.

Let me just give you a quick rundown on how I feel about barbecue. Now, I have been known to create some awesome BBQ in my past, actually on many occasions, and it all started because I had a hankering for some good barbecue and couldn’t find any anywhere...more on that hidden in this website.

Now BarAward Winning BBQ owner aka- Boucanierbeque came to us from the Caribbean state of Hispaniola, what is now Haiti. And more that will be in this website… Eventually. But the bottom line was the lack of electricity and refrigeration many years ago created a dilemma for people, the solution to this dilemma was a great idea, from the Caribbean to BBQ… And let’s not confuse a barbecue smoker with grilling, barbecue is smoking.TaTu Award Winning BBQ shack In the Caribbean, they smoked on what was called a boucan, hence my nickname…hehe. If you hunt around enough in Jamaica you can still find this traditional style of smoking… But I digress, but not too far. Just like in the Caribbean some of the best barbecue joints in America are just that joints, small, modest, nothing too fancy, and if you’re lucky there’s a place to sit down, if not you pull up a curb. And it will no doubt smell like you have been camping, as long as you are upwind, which is always a good thing. So as you’re driving around the country and you see these little joints, shacks as they may be called, with a few motorized vehicles in front, stop in you’ll be pleasantly surprised! Whatever you do don’t stop into a place that is all modernized with propane lines going inside or with an “automatic” gas bbq where a push of the button does it all. Stick with the joints, the shacks, the ones with the wood piles outback, or sacks of wood pellets for their grills. You’ll never be disappointed because it’s hard to make a living serving barbecue and most people I know that do it don’t do it for the money but they do it for the love…

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Good barbecue, like a great grilled steak, is hard to find, so patronize the good ones…whenever you can.

Competition Quality Ribs
Competition Quality Ribs

The Precise Origin of Barbecue Sauces is Really Unclear.

Some, which I am a believer of, trace the origin to the end of the 15th century when Christopher Columbus brought back the sauce from Hispaniola. This confirms precisely what I found out during my studying the history of barbecue and how it came to America. Jacksonville, FL to be precise.

I believe that the word barbecue comes from "barbacoa" which is Spanish for a Taino word which means a rack made of wood on which meat is roasted over flames. According to normally reliable references, the Taino, indigenous people of the Caribbean (Hispaniola) and Florida, were extinct by about 1610. But it has now been established that they still survive today. The Taino say the word barbecue comes from the Taino language. "Ba" from Baba (Father), "Ra" from Yara (Place) "Bi" from Bibi (Beginning) "Cu" from Guacu (The Sacred Fire). Or, "The beginning place of the sacred fire father." they further explained that "Taino Barabicoa" means "The stick stand with 4 legs and many sticks of wood on top to place the cooking meat." And that, "Taino Barabicu" means "the sacred fire pit".

Chief Peter Guanikeyu Torres, the Taino Elder is believed to be the great-grandson of the late Taino Chieftain of the district of Jatibonico, an area in Puerto Rico known as Orocobix. According to Chief Guanikeyu, the Timucua, Guacara and Calusa tribes of Florida and the South-eastern United States are also Taino who migrated from the Caribbean with their culture. It is looking like the puzzle of the word barbecue may have been solved and originated somewhere in the Carolinas in the USA.

The sailors (pirates) who visited Hispaniola in the 15th century were most often fighting scurvy. Both vinegar and tomatoes fight scurvy…hence the sauces used on the meats they smoked were thin, remember sugar was too expensive for them to use. And, as they smoked on their adopted “Boucan” they became known as buccaneers.

Therefore you will find thin sauces of vinegar, tomato, and mustard in the Carolina’s…the birthplace of traditional BBQ!

Grilling, and eventually, BBQing, began when a human ancestor called Homo erectus began cooking meat with fire about 1.8 million years ago, according to Planet Barbecue (Workman Publishing, 2010). But barbecues the way that Americans know them now meat cooked over a grill or pit, covered in spices and basting sauce originated in the Caribbean.

The word barbecue comes from the language of a Caribbean Indian tribe called the Taino. Their word for grilling on a raised wooden grate is barbacoa. The word first appeared in print in a Spanish explorer's account of the West Indies in 1526, according to Planet Barbecue.

Since then, the popularity of barbecues has spread like wildfire. The history of barbecuing in America dates to colonial times, and it has been a part of American culture ever since. In fact, one of the first laws enacted in the colony of Virginia during the 1650s forbade the discharge of guns at a barbecue.

PJM Signature

Here's What More People have Said

I spent 10 years in Texas and found TaTu BBQ to be a match for Texas BBQ right here in Kingston.
...KJWinfield

Competition Winning Ribs

Don't get a big head, but these are the best ribs I have eaten in my entire life! ...Johnathan 

womans-face-1I stopped by your bar-b-q table outside a café a while back and have to say your pulled pork sandwich was and is the best by far I have ever tasted! Congrats and keep up the hard work!  Nothing compares…even down south! I bought a smoker last year and still can't master the secret! I’m very inspired by your accomplishment and so is the fam! ...Cheryl XXX

Frequently Asked Questions

Look and act like a Winner – Always!

Flavor says it all

When exploring how to smoke competition grade barbecue with perfection, it’s good to know the essential flavors of various types of BBQ meats. I personally feel that simplicity is usually best. Too many contradicting flavors can take away from the flavor of the meat and will likely overwhelm your taste buds. With barbecue, the woods used during the smoking, the spices used for rubbing and marinating (if you must) the meat should enhance flavor and not over power it.