Ribfest!!!! [Events]

2011 Jun 16
Because according to....

www.sparksstreetmall.com

THE 2011 INTERNATIONAL CHICKEN-RIB COOK-OFF June 22-26 is almost upon us...

'Twas the week before Ribfest, and all down Spark street

Public servants were stirring, to visions of meat;

The diets were followed by all far and near,

In knowledge that Ribfest soon would be here;

The salads were packed, the tupperware buttoned,

For in seven short days we would all shift to glutton;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, a thousand laps did swim,

And I settled down for six hours at the gym.

Cuz on Tuesday pm, the trucks would arrive,

Loaded with meat from a long country drive,

To set up the grills, with clanging and clatter,

and huge massive amounts, of dead animal matter.

The sauce on the breast of the newly plucked chicken,

Gave the lustre of mid-day to things finger lickin’,

Pulled pork, to my wondering eyes would appear,

For ten seconds on my lips and two weeks on my rear,

With a side of slaw, beans, potatoes or bread,

Stuffed quickly and happily into my head.

And most for the ribs, the masses they came,

For all of their favourites and called them by name;

"Now, Boss Hawg! Silver Bullet, now, Gator!

On, Camp 31 near public defibrillator!

To Texas Outlaws! to Bibbs, Sam’s and Bones!

Now dash away with pictures sent from your phones,

To friends and to family far far way,

Poor suckers who can’t get a combo platter this day.

So bottles of sauce sold out so fast they flew,

With t-shirts and takeout and 2-4-1 bypasses too.

And then, around noon, I heard a great roar,

The MPs were on lunch and running through the door,

As I clutched close my plate, and was turning around,

Surging down Sparks Street Parliament came with a bound.

They were dressed all in suits, with an off the rack sheen,

Which chunks of rib sauce, would never leave clean.

A bi-partisan horde, a rib munching cast,

For the best thing to happen since the budget was passed,

Their eyes -- how they twinkled! their stomachs did rumble!

They waited in lineups with scarcely a grumble!

For ribs side by side with piles of beans,

A real improvement over arguing ways-and-means;

The stumps of rib-bones held tight in their teeths,

The circles of meat-sweat on collars like wreaths;

Groggy in mind and full in the belly,

Private sector and public, like peanut butter and jelly.

The City of Ottawa, united by meat,

except when racing to grab a bench seat.

A caravan of bliss, stopped for five days,

To blanket the city in a carnivorous haze;

They speak not a word, though they shout and they sing,

Those glorious meat merchants and the joy that they bring;

And then at the end, they pack up their trucks,

Their grills and their cashes filed with our bucks;

They rev up their engines, the trucks give a roar,

To the collective terror of pig, swine and boar,

And we watch and we wave at the departing drivers,

Who'll be back next year, to feed the survivors.


2011 Jun 16
OSoloMeal Cute poem! And thanks for the reminder. I work on Sparks so I will have the dubious honour of smelling bbq all week - life could be worse-;) Time to start fasting...

2011 Jun 17
I wonder how a sous vide rib preparation would fare . . .

2011 Jun 21
The trucks have ARRIVED!!!

I could already smell the meat slo-cooking this morning... this is like xmas eve only better and with substantially more meat...

2011 Jun 22
I'm headed down for lunch with a group of co-workers. How insanely busy will it be? Do we need to arrive before noon?

2011 Jun 22
It's always busy during weekday lunch hours from about 11:30 to 1:00 or so. I work on Sparks and most of my co-workers head out around 11:00 or so to pick up lunch. I usually head out around noon but I have one favourite place that I go to for lunch. I usually head straight there and never have to wait too long to be served.

2011 Jun 22
DAY ONE’s ribs and pulled pork sandwich come to me courtesy of the good ole boys and gals of BLAZIN’ RIG BBQ, mostly by virtue of them having the shortest line because h0ly fnck the public servants were out early in huge meatsweaty hordes today…

Ribs were meaty and solid – I’m told repeatedly that ‘real’ bbq ribs don’t fall off the bone and these bad boys sure didn’t. They did, however, succumb to enthusiastic gnawing in entirely satisfactory fashion and damn but those were some yummy ribs. Arguably could have used another dollop of sauce, but that’s my bad for being a whole year out of practice at ordering.

The pulled pork sandwich was a mess of shredded meaty goodness. Not too sweet, very tasty. Again, another glob of sauce wouldn’t have hurt, but it didn’t suffer for the lack. Super tasty slaw was a great compliment and whoever decided to throw all that garlic into the beans was an evil evil person (in a good way).

All in all, a good start to Ribfeste.

2011 Jun 22
I had the pulled pork from the Texas guys. Nice flavour, had a bit of a bite to the sauce. Pork was tender with a good amount of sauce, not too dry, not too wet. Co-workers had the ribs from Boss Hogs. Ribs were very well cooked but they felt the sauce was too sweet, lots of char on the ribs.

2011 Jun 22
What are the prices like? I recall going back in 2005 or so, and I found the ribs pricey. How much are the pulled pork sandwiches, and sides (potatoes, beans, etc). I imagine it's cash only

2011 Jun 22
At the Texas stand,

pulled pork sandwich 6.00
1 lb pulled pork 12.00
add beans & coleslaw 2.00

Texas special
1/2 rack ribs, 1/2 chicken, 1/2 lb pulled pork - 20.00 ( I might be off on the amounts)

I think a 1/4 rack was 9.00 and maybe a 1/2 rack was 14.00

that's all I can remember.

2011 Jun 22
Thanks lovetoeat. As I suspected, kinda pricey.

2011 Jun 22
Wanted to try the guys from Chatham today, because they have beef ribs,but the lines were huge. Went to the Texas stand and was disappointed. Had a small chicken and rib combo (no sides) for $15. The ribs were dry and pretty tough. the chicken was moist and barely warm. In both cases there was not a great smoke flavor and I thought the bbq sauce was too sweet and overpowering. For the price, Jean Albert's does a better job any day. I think I will try the Chatham guys later in the week.

Interesting to note that at the west end of the Mall, Carmello's will let you eat your ribs on their patio if you order a drink and they have great house brewed iced tea.

2011 Jun 23
plan to go down today or tomorrow. Anyone would recommend a particular stand?

2011 Jun 23
Billy Bones is my favourite. They are on the north of Sparks facing the Hardy Arcade.

2011 Jun 23
I'm partial to Billy Bones (sweet) and Crabby's (no smoke, but i love their sauce)

2011 Jun 23
DAY TWO featured a rack of ribs and a pulled pork sammy from the always popular Camp 31 folks.

Camp 31 does sweet. Their ribs, their pork, their massive portion of extra sauce, even their beans. But not too sweet and let me tell you, they NAIL it.

Ribs were hugely meaty, crispy on the edges and tender inside and perfectly sauced, not needing any extra. Damn fine messy eating at its best.

The pulled pork sandwich may not have needed the extra sauce but after yesterday I was being careful and whoa… this was like a pulled pork sundae in an entirely good way. Massive amount of shredded meat with a nice number of those all important charred/glazed chunks. Totally satisfying. Love these guys. Love them even more for the way they scream “PORK!!!” “MORE PORK!!!” and “PORK COMIN’ THRU!!!!” every few minutes, in case anyone forgot why they were waiting in line or wanted the chicken or something.

2011 Jun 23
Just hit Crabby's for lunch. I found their sauce slightly sweet, which might be the Jack Daniels in it. It was fairly tasty sauce. I went at around 3:30 (I know, late lunch) so there was no line-up. The ribs were tender but still a little chewy. They didn't fall right off the bone, but it didn't take much force to take em off either. The coleslaw was middle of the road. Not bad by any stretch, but not that memorable. I'll be going there again tommorow, so I'm thinking of hitting up the Chatham team, because I loves me some beef ribs.

2011 Jun 23
just had camp 31 ribs...awesome! sides are disapointing, coleslaw and beans. pricey...but only in town once a year.

any other favs out there??? went to camp 31 because they had a ton of 1st place plaques!

2011 Jun 24
Hey duderinos. Do you know if Ribfest is open all afternoon/evening long? Can I pop by after work to pick up some ribs to take home? (Around 4:45 p.m.)

2011 Jun 24
It's open until 9:00ish, except Sunday it closes down early. I'm headed down after work to pick dinner as well.

2011 Jun 24
Anybody found a good slaw? I love a good slaw!

2011 Jun 24
Blazing Rig's slaw was excellent.
Camp 31's was just ok.

2011 Jun 24
I'm reticent to outwardly criticize a particular vendor in an anonymous fashion, but my observations have been that the sides are, in general, terrible - I have tried great pulled pork, ribs and decent chicken though.

Flaccid, overly liquid and rather flavourless coleslaw and tepid, too firm beans directly from a can having chunks of raw onion and an overwhelming taste of just-added garlic powder = not good enough, even for the symbolic $1 price.

I actually want to start a thread when I get a moment re: American BBQ traditions overall, but in the interim, I have to say I don't understand why more varied sides haven't been developed to go along side traditional BBQ...most portions are focused on a pretty large serving of meat and I personally like to enjoy a well rounded meal when I am eating meat in those amounts. A ton of ribs, no matter how perfect and delicious, needs something more complimentary than a tablespoon of limp coleslaw or mediocre beans in my opinion. I recognize that it's all about the slow smoked meat, but I still see room for major improvement with respect to the complimentary stuff.




2011 Jun 24
DAY THREE and can we say TANGY? Go on, say it out loud… savour it… Taaaaaang. Yyyyyyyyy. That beautiful place that exists somewhere between sweet and spicy… that, my friends, is tangy.

The talented pit pros of BILLY BONES know tangy. They serve tangy. They eat sleep and breath tangy… actually after a few days of working there I’m sure they do in fact smell all kinds of tangy but I digress… my point is that those were some tangy ribs in the bestest possible way, mostly ditto the pulled pork.

The ribs had a near flawless char glazed exterior with succulent (love that word…) meaty interior. Just ribby perfection in my never so humble opinion.

The pulled pork was equally tasty when doused with the extra sauce they kindly leave available for customers to abuse as they please… and good thing too because my one complaint was that under a perfectly excellent layer of shredded pork was one massive football sized block of UNshredded pork. Cooked through of course, but really just a chunk of unsauced meat. The sandwich was saved by my diy pulling/shredding/mixing efforts and the copious amounts of sauce I had taken, but a sadly amateur moment in what was otherwise my best Ribfeste meal this week.

I’ll forgive them, however, because those were the BEST. BEANS. EVER. Solid slaw but the beans were just awesome.

I declare day three to be yet another Ribfeste Win.

2011 Jun 24
from all the descriptions i've read, it seems the lure of ribfest is for the sauce. everyone wants more sauce, and everything sounds soupy with sauce. isn't it kind of a pricey lunch for a small amount of meat and a large amount of sauce?


2011 Jun 24
hipfunkyfun I am no expert on bbq but the amount of meat you get on your ribs seems to depend on which stall you go to. I remember randomly picking a stall when I first went to ribfest a few years ago and there was hardly any meat on the bone I was so disappointed. I work on Sparks and some of my co-workers eat at ribfest every day. I usually wait until Friday and ask around if anyone has any favourites so far. And I keep my eyes peeled on ottawafoodies for recommendations. After awhile you learn where to go for the meatiest ribs. Today I ate at Camp 31 (review to follow) and they probably have the meatiest ribs I've had to date. As for the sauce it seems to be just as important as the meat and I believe the judges use it as a criteria for judging. Just my two cents...

2011 Jun 24
So today I made my first trip of the year to ribfest. After keeping my eyes peeled on this thread and asking co-workers for recommendations I decided to pay a visit to Camp 31. They have the usual offerings of ribs (full rack, half rack, etc.), chicken (half chicken, breast I think?), and pulled pork sandwiches. I was dithering between the ribs and the pulled pork because I don't make either. Just my luck I happen to notice they offer a two meat combo special - any two meats for $15 - so I asked for both! I also got the coleslaw and beans side. I. am. so. full. The ribs are really meaty (most quantity of meat per rib I’ve had so far) and the sauce is very subtle. And they sure didn’t skimp on the pulled pork either. They came in 1st place at last year’s ribfest and have been getting very good reviews – they deserve it! I was disappointed with the sides though. The amount of dressing they put on the coleslaw was perfect but it was flavorless and the beans were waaaaay too sweet for my taste. I also happened to notice they had a tree huggers special - chicken and ribs and pulled pork for those who have a truly healthy appetite.

I hope I am hungry enough by tomorrow night to go to Billy Bones. I will be so sad when the ribfest is over…

2011 Jun 24
Are all the vendors in one block of Sparks Street?

2011 Jun 24
lovetoeat No they are spread out between Bank and Elgin. If this is your first visit I would recommend sticking to the Bank Street end and visit Camp 31 or Billy Bones. If you are looking for somewhere to sit blubarry mentioned that Carmellos is allowing ribfest customers to sit on their patio if you purchase a beverage. I noticed 73 North (restaurant on Sparks near Elgin) is also offering the same service.

2011 Jun 24
@loveto - Nope - there's about 12 of them spread out between Elgin and Lyon.

@hipfunky - it's not all about the sauce, and absolutely nothiong is 'soupy' (unless you ask for it that way!) but the sauce is pretty much the #1 thing that distinguishes one vendor from another, because for the most part they are all offering the same things: pork ribs, pulled pork and chicken. A few are offering beef ribs and beef brisket but those tend to sell out fast.
I had seriously meaty ribs from Camp 31 and Billy Bones, and Blazing Rig wasn't bad by any means.

Re the sides, on a certain level i agree that it borders on silly that every vendor offers beans and slaw. That said, i like them. Slaw just goes damn well thrown on a pulled pork sandwich, and goods beans are always a treat. At least they aren't all identical, tho many are similar. Most of them do the solid beans style, not the massive pile of mushy beans in the more 'Quebecois' style for lack of a better metaphor.

One vendor usually has corn bread, tho i haven't spotted them yet.

2011 Jun 24
Tracinho, I echo your comments on the sides. I used to work in Texas a lot, and when the locals took me out to their favorite places, yes it was all about the meat (one place just asks you "how many?" when you line up, meaning how many meats, and you can get up to TEN in one meal). But some of the memorable sides I had there included: a myriad of different coleslaw and baked bean concoctions, deep fried okra, corn on the cob, bean salad, collards and every other kind of greens, sweet potatoes, mac n cheese,and deep fried corn on the cob(my personal favorite). But at some bbq joints, sides are just other kinds of meat, shrimp, calf fries, pig tails etc. Maybe somebody needs to open a complementary food truck at ribfest with just sides, iced tea and lemonade.

2011 Jun 25
I'll pretense my comments by saying I've never been to this event, mainly because most BBQ competition people I speak with have told me not bother. It's my understanding that many, if not all teams, share the same ovens/smokers. How can one cook competition BBQ when sharing a smoker with another competitor?

The event is also not sanctioned by any BBQ association which is a bit strange - I mean, who hands out the invites? Also, who is judging them and what are their qualifications? I think I remember celebrity judges last year?

The pricing is also super expensive.

All this leads me to believe that this is more of a money making venture vs good food/bbq.

Comments?

2011 Jun 25
Even if that's true, there is a variety of sauce flavours and the food is good. So even if it is a money making venture, it still tastes good, so I'm still going.

2011 Jun 25
okay went to ribfest Friday night after the rain.

Walked up and down the strip before deciding. The 3 at the Lyon end were all shut at about 7:30 or 8:00pm.

Based on the recommendations here and the lines, I went for camp 31 ribs and pulled pork combo for $15. Someone was letting you taste the sauce while in line and I tasted the jerk sauce so ended up adding a bottle of each sauce to my order.

The ribs were meaty and very tasty and I wolfed that down very quickly. I did found the sauce they used (not sure original or cajun) was a little sweet. I had a snack before heading down at 7pm since it was raining hard before so did not end up finish all my pulled pork. Also I think it would have been easier to eat the pulled pork with a roll or something since it is quite messy. Also by the time I finished the rib standing up with a little rain drizzling, the pulled pork was tad cold by the time I got halfway through.

Walked around some more and wanted to try the beef brisket at the texas guys but they were out.

Might head down again Sat. and try Billy Bones and get some brisket at the Texas guys. which one is the beef ribs?

2011 Jun 25
Picked up ribs, pulled pork and sides from Billy Bones last night and scurried home in the rain. The three of us were soaked by the time we arrived, even though we had brollies.
I'm no rib expert, but I can tell you the rack that I received was not very good, containing a lot of gristle and fat. I actually preferred the ribs I picked up from Sobey's last week and oven baked at home. The sauce was good and sweet, but you couldn't take a big bite out of these. You had to carefully bite the meat away from the chunks of gristle.
The pulled pork was amazing, though, and totally made up for the lacking ribs. What we did is prep some fresh guacamole, spread it all over rye bread and top it with pulled pork. Little pulled-pork tostaditas! Sure, we bastardized pulled pork, but no shame here. It was awesome.
The sides were pretty good too!

Sounds like you guys got better pickins' from Billy Bones.

2011 Jun 25
kitchenvirtue.com, you're quite right of course, but they're still good to have around. You can read the most informative comments in this old forum discussion: Forum - Chicken and Rib Fest?

The fact is, they are a money-making traveling carnival and none of them would win any real barbecue competitions. Do they serve a tasty enough rib? Sure, but I'm not standing in line for them, which is easy for me to say because I have a smoker on my back deck! For people whose only source of ribs would otherwise be Baton Rouge, it might be worth braving the crowds...

2011 Jun 25
Only waited 5 minutes at noon for some darn tasty ribs at Billy Bones. We ordered a full rack and two pulled pork sandwiches $36. The ribs were pretty tasty with a hint of celery seed and a bit of heat to them with a more vinegar than sugar base sauce on the ribs and of course that smokey flavor. The pulled pork was good but sweet then again I'm more of a North Carolina fan than south. All I noticed was side ribs no baby backs here:) I could see all the bags of lump char coal and ribs grilling so I wondered where the smoke flavor was coming from. I watched as they brushed the grill and inquired the about their process. A young gentleman pointed out the industrial smoker the biggest you can buy so far and said they are smoked first then thrown on the grill to heat up and caramelize the sauce. I wondered why I saw a propane tank being carried to the back of the booth. The secret to the ribs is the smoker then the grill yummmm! Every booth we walked by had one of these Southern Pride Smokers. Be cool to have one of these in the kitchen.
www.southern-pride.com

2011 Jun 25
Fresh Foodie - thanks for the addition. It pains me to see the lack of great BBQ in this city, which is why I made my comment in the first place.

So here's a question for you all - who is anyone interested in taking a competition BBQ judging course and helping judge real BBQ competitions in the Ottawa region?

I'm working with some of the Smoked to the Bone event that was held a few weeks back on the Gloucester Fair grounds and we're trying to get more people interested and involved with real competition BBQ. Everything from judging, volunteering, or competing in amateur/pro events.

Anyway, if you're interested, post here or PM me and I'll pass on some details.

2011 Jun 25
I applaud Fresh Foodie and Kitchenvirtue for recognizing carpetbaggers when they see them. Then they move on to Port Hope, or Burlington, or wherever ...
Of course, the Ribfest extravaganza is first and foremost all about selling overpriced protein, and it is not especially good at that.
I generally refrain from comments in this forum (being a convenient and very public target) but in this case I feel strongly enough to discourage unsuspecting people from being seduced by second-rate barbecue. And, really, the so-called Ribfest is astonishingly second-rate.

Ron Eade (BTW, an accredited judge with Canadian Southern BBQ Society).
(also BTW -- Ribfest would never invite an expert to judge. Not ever.)

2011 Jun 25
My curiosity is aroused If ribfest is second rate. Is there any first rate available in Ottawa? What would places like Jean Alberts ,Baton Rouge, MIC be classed as?

2011 Jun 25
Best barbecue is competition-grade smoke. Not at Ribfest.
Following that, you can do EXCELLENT at home with either Traeger smoker or, of course, Big Green Egg.
Bottom line: You have to pay attention to rubs and, then, low temp and long time. Read up on internet, or see my articles on ottawacitizen.com
And, most of all, Enjoy!

2011 Jun 25
I bet sous vide ribs (10% brine overnight w liquid smoke, then 62C for around 60 hours), will beat any of these vendors / competitors on flavor and mouth texture, sauce or not!

2011 Jun 26
I totally agree with fresh foodie and Omnivore's Ottawa. Although I did breakdown and buy ribs - perhaps for the novelty - they were not that great. Since everybody around you is making grunting noises related to their enjoyment of the ribs, it is hard to be openly honest. The group think mentality sets in and all of a sudden, everybody is a rib connoisseur 'eating the best ribs of their life'.

I have been to ribfest for the last three years and I confess, I have never been blown away. Did I enjoy my purchases? Yes, when I am eating between the gristle that is.

I thought the sides were great though!

2011 Jun 26
I agree with FF and OO also but what else do we Ottawans have to look forward to for good ribs? Gloucester Fair BBQ competition or an event at The U.S Ambassador's house that needs an invite?

2011 Jun 26
D&S out in Carlsbad Springs makes some good, honest BBQ. Been there and the ribs were excellent.

2011 Jun 27
Rib fest way to urban, instead did pulled pork tacos, with corn tortillas, homemade salsa verde, cilantro crema, and pulled pork off the smoker (hickory). Pulled pork fest in West Carleton!

BTW lots of real bbq knowledge here at OF. Just check out
Forum - The official all things bbq thread!


2011 Jun 27
Hi "I like real food",

While I don't begrudge anyone making their living by honest labor - and hey if people enjoy these ribs why not ribfest? - ribs do have a lot of "connective tissue". They require a long, slow cook to adequately break this down to gelatin, and flavor. Ribs are my son's favorite food. A long slow cook (sous vide at 62C is the way to go) would have converted that gristle to yummy goodness . . .

It may not be very practical to cook ribs for 60 hours to sell during a festival though . . . although I don't see why not. It's just a matter of preparation . . . instead of keeping the meat in a freezer you are keeping it in a hot water bath.

2011 Jun 27
Based on the crowds and sheer stacks of cash, the ribfeste folks don't need me to defend them, but i'll throw in a few thoughts...

One would have to be insanely naive to think there was any element of 'real' competition to the fest. It's a travelling roadshow made up of vendors who do this for the summer and seem to make good dollars doing so, based on the fact that they return every year. The so-called 'awards' are shared around so that all of them have a solid table of plated gold to show of. it's obvious. it's not fooling anyone. And no one cares.

While i respect the opinions of those who raise technique and geography as arguments for other bbq vendors being 'better', i, for one, enjoy the hell out of this feste every year. The food is good, thevariety is great, the atmosphere is laughably enjoyable and by the way the food is good. While there is no denying some vendors are better than others and anyone can have an off plate (see my decription of my Billy Bones pulled pork sammy up thread), there are a few thousand other O-townies who agree with me, based on the massive lines every single day. So maybe we the faceless majority are being conned but there's no denying we're stuffing our faces and loving it.

I mean, yeah, i can take two days and make better ribs at home, but I can also take three years and a barrel of saki and raise a steer for the slaughter and make my own kobe beef but i'm not doing that either. Twelve eighteen wheelers worth of people are standing mid-downtown and happy to do it for me and i look forward to it every summer.


2011 Jun 27
Billions served ... lots of people go to Macdonalds - me included. Doesn't mean its authentic or really good -just popular. Just saying .... glad you enjoyed it. If I was downtown I'd probably try it out too.

2011 Jun 27
We could argue 'popular' vs 'good' for entire other threads. Ditto 'authentic' vs 'who care how authentic it is it tastes good' (see also Baton Rouge and all things 'sczechuan'). My only point is that while some avoid ribfeste because it's not to their taste for whatever reason, many many people enjoy it.

2011 Jun 27
Looks like urban Ottawa may be getting some real BBQ!

Ron Eade posts in his blog that Warren Sutherland (co-founder of Sweetgrass Aboriginal Bistro ) is opening "The Smoke Shack" in the Byward Market. Details: communities.canada.com

2011 Jun 27
I liked Ribfest this year, better than the only other time I went which was in 2005.

Camp 31 had good stuff. Their pulled pork was delicious, and generously stacked. At $7, still a good value, in my opinion. I would have preferred a nicer bun than the Weston(?) Villagio oversized hot dog bun they used, but very satisfying nonetheless. The sauce was sweet and tasted like whiskey, maybe JD.

I loved the ribs. Sure, some gristle here and there, but I inhaled that too, it was soft and buttery. Lots of it melted into the meat, juicy.

The sides were very good too, thick, creamy, tasty beans, and an equally creamy slaw, not overpowered with vinegar, very subtle in flavour.

Enjoyed and washed down with an ice cold Keiths draft on the Brixton patio.

Could have been cheaper, but $33 cash plus drinks for a feast for two I think was reasonable. I haven't had better BBQ in this city.

2011 Jul 1
Perfect sous vide ribs . . . but I serve slightly bigger portions than Nathan.

2011 Jul 6
I guess it's a good thing I don't like ribs... Seven bucks for the piled-on pulled pork is a pretty good deal, and enough to make one good meal.

Why I decided this year to try two the same evening I'll never know. Never. Again. Good thing the second was a 'full meal' (beans and potatoes from the Florida place - Gator) to go so I was already home and very round and didn't have to not-walk back.

Not authentic, but not bad. I did like the sauce from Texas 31, and they told me (who knows if it's true of course) that they mix about half-half their spicy BBQ and honey-glaze sauces; the result did seem to corroborate it, and made something different than the other sauces. The chicken had no gristle or bones. (Gator had a few hard pieces, and not as savoury a sauce.)

I never know why I take the beans, always meh for me, and coleslaw is acceptable at best. So just sandwhiches for me, and they're better than many restaurants for much cheaper.

This said, that real smoke shack place would have my interest whetted...

2011 Jul 19
I visited three booths, I don't remember the names except for Silver Bullet. I also tried the closest one to Elgin, which wasn't very good (tried ribs and pulled pork).

Silver Bullet was the only place where I saw a smoke ring, and the sauce was really good. I didn't try the pulled pork, maybe next year.

The other spots had brown meat, no smoke ring or smoke flavour, and the sauce was good at both places but I prefered the sweet and little spicy sauce at Silver Bullet.

However, I find my homemade barbecued ribs to be better, I have a good rub and I use Diana's ribs and chicken sauce for a glaze, which is surprisingly good!

2017 Jun 13
Ribfeste 2017 starts tomorrow...

...i know, i know... let's get it all out of the way...

not real ribs not American style not how they make them down south all taste the same better at this or that restaurant you can make better at home your cousin's barber got sick the year before last crowds lineups prices too high too big too fatty too much too little too saucy not saucy enough meat in the sun drinks sold separately won't someone please lament the poor tasty animals wah yes yes whatever...
... fifteen or so trucks full of glorious bbq'd meat will be parked on Sparks street creating a lovely charcoal and pork scented haze over the hot city and i, for one, intend to wallow in it and post about it here.
Join me.

...or don't, hey it's all good, i can't hear anyone complaining over the sound of the defibrillator.

2017 Jun 13
I probably will spend all my day Friday soaking in the smell

2017 Jun 14
I am planning on two visits to the ribfest this year. (Well okay I tie in two visits to the ribfest every year but I digress ;) I will be going on Saturday night with some friends so I plan on keeping my options open. But I plan on a lunchtime visit on Friday and I would like to get a platter of 3 meats - chicken, ribs, and pulled pork. I usually go to Billy Bones since they are my favourite but it looks like this year their platter consists of chicken and ribs - pulled pork doesn't seem to be included. I walked down Sparks this morning on my way to work but was in a hurry to get to the office so I didn't have time to check out the menus closely. Does anyone else get a platter of 3 meats? And do you have any favourite spots for platters?

2017 Jun 14
Not exactly news but the price fixing among these ribber outfits is hard to miss. Every place had pulled pork sandwich for $9 this year, and beans or slaw were $2 extra each. So a pulled pork dinner is now $13. Not long ago it was sandwich for 7 or 8, dinner for 10. All have the same $2 sides extra now. Anyway, not going to fret over a couple of dollars, got the pork dinner at Texas Rangers and it was better than expected! Good meat portion, sauced well but not too much, not too mushy with some nice bark, sauce not too sweet. Beans were peppery and oniony. Slaw didn't wow but was fine, server girl was nice.

2017 Jun 15
Yesterday's feast was Billy Bones, a half rack of ribs and pulled pork sandwich, with slaw and beans.
The ribs were solid, meaty with a nice char on them. A bit chewy in that Texas style. Could have used a heavier dose of sauce, but satisfying. The pulled pork was good, nice chunks of bark,no gristle or fat i could see. A bit more heat or tang would have been good. The cornbread was insanely good. Like cornbread cake. I pretty much ignored the bun the sandwich came on and slammed the pork onto chunks of cornbread with a pile of slaw.

Today's was Camp 31. Half rack of ribs and sausage. The ribs were awesome, crispy caramelised outside, tender inside, plenty of meat on each. I wanted to eat them again while i was still eating them. The sausage... has Camp 31 being doing this the whole time and i just never noticed, or was it new...? Inquiring minds want to know, and shove the sausage into the mouth part of their faces, because this was delicious. A larger, fairly firm sausage that had been slathered repeatedly in Camp 31's bbq sauce, this beast was great. It didn't need the slaw on top, but it didn't hurt either.


2017 Jun 16
stopped off at ribfest on my way home at 9:30pm after a meeting and most have packed up early in view of the rain including one of my targets Camp 31.

Manage to snag a rack of rib at Billy Bones and they heated up briefly on the grill but not very long. I did not eat till I got closer to the car so a little cold but still tasty. Not as good as the BBQ ribs I have had in San Antonio and Austin Tx but pretty solid ribs... Billy Bone was listed full rack for $24 vs $23 for the other ribbers but $1 would not make or break my regular visit there.

One thing I found that even though they said on signs sides are $2, most are selling cornbread for $3.

Is it my imagination or there are fewer ribbers this year? There was one I was looking for that used to come from southern ontario and they had beef ribs and used to have riblets.. They won for chicken maybe 5 or 7 years ago.

2017 Jun 17
Thurs night's Billy Bone ribs were tasty but very small. Not sure if it was due to it was end of the day and picked over.

Friday nights selection came from camp 31 as in the photo. I got a full rack of ribs, A 'Porkster' which is a sausage topped with puled pork on a bun plus 2 corn bread for $37. Ended up having some sat for lunch after reheating in microwave and ll were very tasty and the ribs were large and meaty...

2017 Jun 19
I tied in two trips to ribfest this year the first one being to Billy Bones on Friday lunch. I ordered a sampler platter for $25 which included ribs, pulled pork and chicken. The size of the rib portion was a little on the smallish side but the portion sizes of the pulled pork and chicken were huge. The pulled pork was delicious. The chicken and ribs are in the freezer for next week's dinner.

I returned to ribfest on Saturday night with a friend and we went to Camp 31. I ordered the sausage and pulled pork on a bun and coleslaw on the side for $12. The sausage was very good and the pulled pork was awesome however the coleslaw wasn't very tasty. My friend ordered the chicken and ribs with coleslaw and baked beans on the side. She got a rather generous portion of ribs which she enjoyed very much - she said the meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and just the right amount of sauce. She got a small portion of chicken with barely any sauce and she said it was mediocre. She agreed the coleslaw wasn't very good but she said the baked beans were excellent.

Now I have to wait a whole year for ribfest to come back...

2017 Jun 19
They usually come back in the fall with a smaller list of ribbers...

Went back Sat and got a 3rd rack of Rib from Camp 31 for which most went to my brother in law but I had a few of the smaller end pieces and a very tasty rib..


2017 Jun 19
Didn't manage a third visit this year, dammit.
Will have to hope for the OctobeRib.

...so, aside from Smoque Shack (whom i love, to be clear, but i know their food well), and with a mournful nod to D&S (dammit!) where would anyone go to get great bbq in Ottown now?

... and beef ribs in particular?

2017 Jun 20
O Solo Meal, We've been to Big Bone BBQ in Kanata numerous times & have loved the ribs each time. Tender, but with a little pull off the bone. Their cornbread is some of the best I've had.

www.bigbonebbq.ca/ottawa/

2017 Jun 20
Is meatings in Orleans any good?

2017 Jun 21
I had a really good brisket sandwich at Meatings.

2017 Jun 21
@kay - tnx, i had not heard of them, buzz looks good must try!

@TPug - if brisket is your thing, Robz on Carling is utterly worth a visit if you haven't already.

2017 Jun 23
big bones catered a work party, and I really was not impressed. However I have not tried their individual offerings, so product may be better from the store front.

Best, best bbq in ottawa now that D&S is gone:
LittleRedShackBBQ
@LittleRedShack ‏

In Stittsville. Their brisket is especially awesome. Follow on twitter for hours.

2017 Jun 24
Meatings in Orleans is excellent. Best ribs and brisket in Ottawa.