Dan and Doug Cassavar feel like they have found their calling in making friends and family happy with the
best barbecue they can create.
“The key to barbecue is low and slow. So you’re not cooking it on an open flame. You want to get it in
the 200 to 250 range, with a lot of smoke,” Dan said. “Get the color you want, so the smoking process is
what you need. … Get the right color and then wrap it. You don’t want it to look like charcoal.”
He suggested putting the beef tenderloin on rolls.
“It’s basically filet mignon on Hawaiian rolls. You can’t beat it,” Dan said.
The Cassavars got their moniker, “The Barbecue Barons of Wood County,” from their buddy John Henry, owner
of Third Street Cigar in Waterville. Henry was promoting their cooking for a charity fundraiser at the
cigar shop when, much like the blues bands he also promotes, Henry felt the brothers needed a “band”
name.
They have done this in competitions, festivals and for charity events. They won’t talk about the prizes
they have won, but there are a number of firsts and seconds. What the brothers really want to talk about
is the meat and how much people enjoy it.
“People asked, ‘can you cook for our party or our backyard thing?’ and, of course we love it so much, so
what do we care? We make people happy,” Dan said. “We do a lot of parties for the members at Third
Street. It’s a cost neutral thing for us.”
Doug had been doing barbecue competitions while living in St. Louis, Missouri, and the brothers started
doing barbecue nights for friends and family when Doug moved back to Ohio. Dan is in Bowling Green and
Doug now lives in Rossford.
Doug had been using the strict Kansas City Barbecue Society style for ten years. They still use some of
those rules, but have modified some for their own style. Part of that style has the ribs so they “tug on
the bone,” Doug said. “However, most people, out of competition, like them so it falls off the bone.”

“I like it so it falls off the bone,” Dan said.
Dan is a cardiologist for Promedica and Doug is an IT guy, but they keep their day jobs out of the fun of
creating the barbecue.
“You can do all of this in your backyard with an ugly drum smoker,” Dan said. “However, you can do this
all with a little Weber round charcoal grill. Set the coals to the right so you get an indirect heat.”

They are so deep into the barbecue concept that they have experimented with every kind of grill from the
little round charcoal grills to grills in the $10,000 and up range. They have even made their own
50-gallon steel drum UDS grills, complete with customized paint jobs. They are firm that this is not a
business, and they want to keep it fun and family oriented.
“It’s texture and a process to make it happen,” Doug said.
The barbecue isn’t a single cut of meat. They do the same basic rub and cooking process for several
different varieties including: ribs, beef brisket, beef tenderloin and pulled pork.
“This is closer to Memphis. More like a dry rub, not a wet rub,” Doug said. “Ours is more of a sweet
barbecue. Everything sweet, and not much heat or spicy.”
They can change it up.
“Some of our friends like some spicy heat, so we add the cayenne pepper to taste,” Dan said.