ottawa foodies

I can't believe we are into day two of the ribfest and not a peep on OF! Hopefully everyone is enjoying the festival's porky beefy goodness...

I plan on going tonight since it is my only available time slot this weekend. Billy Bones here I come! Has anyone been yet? Any recommendations? Anything to avoid?

I wonder if the restaurants on Sparks Street are complaining to the BIA about all the lost business due to food vendors on the street.

You ask "anything to avoid?" - yes, Sparks Street.

It's amazing how the Sparks Street businesses can get so upset over spring rolls and bread putting them out of business but not a single complaint about ribfest...

Ribs make people thirsty for beer.

Tim's has a restrooms-for-customers-only sign. That's the only thing I've seen.

Tomorrow, a bunch of us are going to skip the long lines and just go to The Foolish Chicken where I know we'll get great ribs, guaranteed.

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God, I'm old and grumpy.
And drunk.

@AD_2: I wonder what the food inspectors would find if they were called in.

The nekkid PETA protesters were out in full force

ottawacitizen.com

You've gotta love PETA's obliviousness to the irony of exploiting women's bodies to protest against the exploitation of animals.

white, pasty and not much meat on the bone. Think I'll stick to pigs.

I stopped by ribfest last night to pick up some dinner. Billy Bones has been a perennial favourite so, since it was the only time I could make it to ribfest this year, I decided to make a beeline to the Billy Bones tent. I ordered the sampler platter with a side of coleslaw and beans. I ate the ribs and sides last night and put the pulled pork and chicken in the freezer for leftovers. What a huge disappointment. There was almost no meat on the ribs where they usually have lots and the sauce had a weird vinegary taste to them. Now I have two more servings of meat left to finish up... I am going to the Bytowne next week and have a little time between movies. I think I will go to the Smoque Shack for GOOD bbq to make up for the bad bbq I had last night...

P.S. Rizak You are neither old nor grumpy (not sure about the drunk part though-;) but I too tend to get a little cranky during my mid-life years-;) I've been to the Foolish Chicken and ribfest and you are guaranteed a much better meal where you're going. Enjoy the Foolish Chicken!

Strawberrygirl - On the contrary, I do not believe that the PETA ladies are oblivious to the irony. I think it is a part of why they put their bodies out there on display as "a piece of meat".

Hit Billie Bones, Hawt Dawgs and Camp 31. Had the pulled pork and ribs at each... Billie took it, no contest. Tasty ppork with a bit of heat and good slaw on the side, seriously meaty ribs with a solid char exterior. Hawt Dawg's ppork was all sweet, no heat, ribs were pure bark... good but needed more meat. Camp 31's ribs and ppork were both very good, but Billie was better overall.

@Pasta - kind of surprised at your rib experience, mine were huge. That said, a few people i've spoken with have gotten vastly different levels of meat from the same places... seems to be a thing.

FoodMonger - Sure, that seems to be the point of this specific campaign. But PETA as an organization has always been all about selling its messages via women's bodies. For an organization that claims to be progressive and anti-exploitation, it's problematic. I'm a long-time vegetarian but have always found PETA difficult to support, and there are a lot of people in the vegetarian and vegan community that feel similarly.

Speaking of ribs, I had the two meat platter at Uncle Sam. The ribs and chicken were really good, as I remember from previous years. I really like their sauce and the meat is juicy and flavourful. The coleslaw was not as creamy as I recall and the beans seemed less sweet. Overall, still a decent lunch for $9. The weather and people watching was nice too! (The PETA protestors were not there anymore).

Does PETA really claim to be progressive and generally anti-exploitation? I just read their mission statement and it only mentions animals. Since we're all talking about it and I even went to their website to read the mission statement, I'd say their tactics are effective.

You have to admit cheap meat tastes so much better if you don't think too much about how the animals were treated. We'd all be so much happier if only we were ignorant of factory farming conditions. Why can't PETA just let us be happy? :P

Back to RibFest, you gotta admire the marketing and hype. Cheap meat at a high price; smart business plan!

Considering that we're talking mostly about their tactics rather than the actual issues they're trying to advance, I'd say the effectiveness is debatable, but this isn't really the place for a debate about PETA, and it wasn't my intention to start one. I'll bow out of this thread now and let the meat-eaters get back to talking about ribs. :)

OSoloMeal Glad to hear your ribs from Billy Bones were successful. I am still sad about my poor rib experience. To make matters worse my hairdresser told me this morning she bought some ribs @$1.99/lb and made her own. Note to self to learn some good rib recipes...

Camp31 was my favourite this year, Billy Bones a close second.

Regarding PETA, ever since they started releasing the kid targeted ads like this one, they lost what little credibility they had in my eyes.

@Pasta Lover, I'm intrigued to hear about ribs at $1.99/lb. I did some shopping around this weekend and it seemed like $6.99 was in the range most stores were selling. I ended up buying mine at Costco and they were fantastic. They were meatier than the normal cyrovac packs that go on sale at Loblaws which can be kind of skimpy sometimes.

Really wanted to go to Ribfest, but family who was visiting is offended by meat BBQ...so went to Sushi at Suisha.

Same family member also hates Red Lobster (was forced to go to a birthday there last weekend) and brings their own bowl to eat cereal at Red Lobster.....yup.

Good to know Foolish chicken has good ribs. Been there before and they were very good!

Usually I like bbq chicken better- I know Cedars grocery used to do chicken on their grill if you ask, but havent asked about ribs...

The Grobe My hairdresser lives in Gatineau and she mentioned that most of the stores on the Quebec side have been selling ribs at 1.99/lb. I'm not sure which store she went to or if she bought beef ribs or pork ribs. Sorry I cannot be of more help.

I would guess Super C or Maxi.

The cost of pork in grocery stores in Ottawa (can't speak for the Quebec side) has been higher this year, on average, due to higher prices on pigs commercially.

You can't beat the everyday price of ribs at Costco for the quality you get, and if you're in the know about how to get them, the boneless pork shoulders are cheaper than anywhere in town...but even those are higher this year.

Stuart S, can you elaborate on "and if you're in the know about how to get them, the boneless pork shoulders..."

Not on the public forum, but I will send you a pm :)

Ah. Black market pork. Just the thing.

I'll send the same pm to anybody that's interested, I just don't want to have a good thing go bad because it's out in public on the forum for anyone to see.