OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Amy Anderson had a winning recipe right from the start.

The first time the Olympia native took her barbecue cooking on the competition circuit, she won Washington state's grand championship. That meant she earned high scores in all four barbecue categories: chicken, ribs, pork shoulder and brisket.

Anderson was in her mid-20s at the time, when female pitmasters were even more rare than they are today.

Many other awards followed: Anderson has earned grand championships in Arizona, California and Nevada and at international competitions in Canada and Ireland.

"I was pretty lucky right off the get-go," said Anderson, 39, who opened South Sound's Ranch House BBQ restaurant with co-founder Melanie Tapia three years ago.

And where barbecue is concerned, that luck has continued.

A 1986 Olympia High School graduate, Anderson grew up cheering on her mother, Judy, who also competed on the barbecue circuit. After taking a class from barbecue champion Paul Kirk in her mid-20s, Anderson hit the cross-country competition circuit herself. The experience was thrilling.

"Some barbecue pits are bigger than this building," she said. "It's absolutely amazing."

Anderson's success was particularly special because she'd succeeded in an arena that at the time had almost no female competitors, Tapia said. The few women who were involved usually were with their husbands.

"She was there in a world of all men and big pits," Tapia, 40, said, turning to Anderson. "You were pretty much the first all-woman team."

Living in Everett at the time, Anderson had opened a catering business that she ran during her time off, mostly on weekends. The overwhelming demand took her by surprise.

"It boomed - it just boomed," she said.

Anderson eventually decided to move back to Olympia and teamed up with Tapia - who she'd met on the barbecue circuit - to open a catering business full time.

A decade later, the business partners decided to take a big risk.

They invested $20,000 - using their credit cards - to open Ranch House BBQ restaurant on Kennedy Creek Road. While Anderson spent her days gutting the building and putting in new floors and windows, Tapia kept her day job at Washington Mutual. She'd join Anderson during the evenings and the pair often worked until midnight to ready the place for opening day.

They worried no one would show up.

"It was so nerve-wracking," Anderson said. "It was a huge risk."

But it was a risk that paid off. The restaurant earned $1,700 its first day. Customers had eaten everything the restaurant had in stock. There was nothing left.

"I got the niche because there was no barbecue here in town," Anderson said.

Tapia quit her job the next day.

Another niche Anderson has tried to cultivate is Pacific Northwest barbecue.

Rather than using mesquite or hickory wood to smoke her meats, Anderson primarily uses wood from regional fruit trees such as apple or cherry. She likes the sweeter taste.

"It's always been hot everywhere else," Anderson said of barbecue. "My goal is a Pacific Northwest flavor."

But as she recently told those gathered for a grilling and smoking class she taught at Bayview School of Cooking, everyone's taste is different.

"There's no right or wrong way to barbecue," Anderson said. "It's all about experimenting and having fun. ... I love the people. I love the food. I love being able to have an imagination."

Ranch House BBQ has become a destination restaurant for many customers who come from as far away as Portland and Seattle to taste Anderson's unique flavor, said assistant manager Megan Burr.

"It's fine dining but in a casual environment," she said. "You can bring your kids and wear jeans and not feel uncomfortable."

Anderson's growing fame among food fans nationwide has shined a spotlight on the Ranch House. She's been featured in at least three books and has been on the Food Network several times. And those features draw in new customers, Burr said.

"Food is the new golf," she said. "They (customers) know the art of barbecue because they've seen the shows and read the books.

Earlier this year, Anderson and Tapia opened a second, express take-out location in downtown Olympia. They also continue to operate a catering business, though the food for all three operations is cooked at Ranch House BBQ.

Everything continues to be made at the restaurant, from the barbecue sauce to the beloved garlic fries.

"That's how we started out being successful," said Tapia, who added that a third location could be in the works, though nothing is final yet. "That's how we're going to continue being successful."

And though Anderson no longer handles much of the restaurant's cooking, she makes sure the food's quality remains to her liking.

"I taste everything that comes off the barbecue pit every day," she said.

Anderson has two more Bayview cooking classes coming up in August, though the first is sold out.

"This is the kind of person that you want to deal with - there is never a slip on a detail," Nancy Hebb, Bayview School of Cooking's director, said of Anderson. "A person like this energizes our school. I love her enthusiasm and her passion."

Anderson hopes she can show people that getting a good barbecue taste doesn't have to be hard.

"People think it takes a long time to barbecue," she said, "but they sure do love the end result."