Fajitas were BORN in the Valley!! THE Granddaddy of ALL Fajita Cookoffis is still going strong.

The 1st was to celebrate the 200th Birthday of our great Nation. It was held in the downtown square of Edinburg, Texas.

Christopher Julian and David Anderwald, Owners of the “Last Picture Show” nightclub, challenged themselves to a “cookoff” to see who was the Best Fajita Cook. It also helped that they were also promoting their nightclub a little too. Who would have guessed that event would be the start of the Greatest and Longest running Fajita Cookoff in the Country.

A few years later, the event was held down on the banks of the Rio Grande River, a location called Chimney Park. (Lots of people think this is where the Cookoff was born, but are one year off–sorry)

Well now, as the facts unfold, a local businessman, Richard Womeldorf, was introduced to Chris and David. Richard joined the “team” and has been a part of the Cookoff for going on 30 years now. Today you will find Chris and Richard carrying out the duties of putting on the FAJITA COOKOFF.
(Update: Richard Womeldorf “retired” from the Cookoff duties in 2011, after 34 years of service)

THE FAJITA COOKOFF – was the first competition that put the region’s fajita barbecue masters in a head to head culinary confrontation. Some say the fajita was sold for the very first time in a Rio Grande Valley restaurant – at the now defunct ROUNDUP on Bus Hwy 83 in Pharr, TX. Families poured into the ROUNDUP in droves those days, decades ago, to get a taste of the butterflied, marinated, beef shirt steak – a once unwanted cut of meat that would steal the world’s heart.

This year, that famous cookoff – which paved the way for hundreds of similar competitions throughout the country, from Arizona to New York Ciy – has found some renewed energy, setting up again at the Cameron County Amphitheater on South Padre Island.