About us

The Hot Box BBQ started as a BBQ contest team that was led by BBQ master Abbie Rhoads. After several years of wins the community began to demand a way to have Abbie's delicious smoked perfection year round. Her first cart was a tiny affair with only four items, the Original, the Maui Wowie, the Green Meany salad and the Round pig pork ribs. She was an instant success. People loved the use of only the finest ingredients and hours of preparation time that went into every mouth watering morsel of pulled pork or St. Louis pork rib. Soon Abbie's ambition to reach a larger audience with her award winning sandwiches overcame her and she, along with her husband Dan and daughter Cecilia sold the old cart and moved to Portland, the great grand daddy of the food cart scene in America. She added new, unique sandwiches that cater the palates of Portlanders like the blisteringly hot Volcano with new creations being added daily. 

Fast forward to 2019, when The Hot Box moved to the beutiful Guernville California on the Russian River. Over the course of the last five years The Hot Box BBQ gained two new members to the family, Russel Rottkamp and his partner. Together with Dan and Abbie they expanded the Hot Box’s reputation well beyond Guernville’s modest borders. Over those five years The Hot Box served up it’s BBQ to countless weddings, company picnics and community events.

After years of asking, Dan and Abbie finally sold the Guernville location to their friend Russ, who continues to smoke the best BBQ in Sonoma county using Abbie’s famous recipes, while also adding his own unique offerings.

Now The Hot Box BBQ is ready to rejoin the world famous Portland food cart scene. We are serving up all of the greats with a host of new ones, like our new, entirely vegan menu options! We hope to see you soon!

BBQ Accolades

2010 - 3rd place (2nd Annual SoHum BBQ Smoke-off)

2011 - 1st place (3rd Annual SoHum BBQ Smoke-off)

2013 - 1st place (5th Annual SoHum BBQ Smoke-off)

2014 - 1st place (6th Annual SoHum BBQ Smoke-off)

2015 - Portland’s Best New Food Cart (The Oregoian)