TRENTON — Yardbirds barbecue restaurant will be featured this morning, July 3, on “Live! with Regis & Kelly.”
Owner Benjy Diesbach said a customer nominated the eatery to participate in the rib category of the national TV show’s Ultimate Hometown Cook-off. Yardbirds is up against five other rib restaurants or catering outfits.
“I’m ecstatic,” Diesbach said the night before his run was scheduled to air on the show. The former steelworker got a call from ABC two weeks ago notifying him of his nomination, so he sent in a one-minute video demonstrating his popular rib recipe.
Fans can vote online for the rib grill master from 10 a.m. today until 10 a.m. Sunday, July 5.
After another round of competition, the top two grillers will face off on the New York set, Diesbach said. The ultimate winner will have his or her recipe in Better Homes and Gardens magazine, according to the show’s Web site.
Being nominated “makes me feel good — big time,” said Diesbach. “I’m tickled to death that someone thought that much of the ribs, which are the best.”
Yardbirds features Diesbach’s original barbecue sauce recipes.
“Everything’s homemade down to the salad dressings we use,” he said.
Diesbach, 40, opened the restaurant on Ohio 73 with his wife, Tracy, in 2006 when he was locked out of AK Steel Corp.’s Middletown Works.
Before opening the restaurant, he had hosted barbecues and pig roasts for friends, particularly those at the mill where he worked in the blast furnace.
The Yardbirds video will be played on Live! around 9 a.m. on WCPO-TV Channel 9.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2511 or dwilson@coxohio.com.
