RS and I went to the Toronto Rib Fest in Centennial Park on Canada Day. I was starving after my half marathon race in Cambridge earlier in the day. Well, like RS said, it's best not get between two hungry girls and ribs. The map on the website was not at all helpful so it took us a long time before we located the actual site of the festival. But once we found it, we immediately made a beeline to the rib vendors.

The ribbers this year were about half Canadian and half US. Potentially, we can easily visit the Canadian ribbers restaurant at any time of the year, so we decided to taste test exclusively the goods from the US ribbers. The line-ups were long and the temperature was hot. RS and I figured that it would be best if we split up and queue at two different stands at once. Good idea because it took us a good half an hour before we finally got our hands on some ribs. Now, we were both new to rib festivals and didn't know what to expect. As we were waiting in line, our senses were overwhelmed by the smokiness in the air, the sight of people walking around with boxes full of delicious-looking ribs, and of course the colourful signs and trophies displaying every ribbers' accomplishments. We were literally jumping up and down with excitement!

Our first stops were Bibbs (Naples, Florida) and Camp 31 (Castleberry, Alabama). We each purchased 1/3 rack of ribs and a pulled pork sandwich. Bibbs was the only ribber that used baby back ribs. The reddish sauce and almost complete lack of smoke flavour reminded us of Chinese barbeque pork. Camp 31, on the other hand, used some very very fatty side ribs. There were globs of fat still hanging by the bones. Hmm, shouldn't the long cooking render all the fat away? The Camp 31 ribs were brownish in colour, very smoky, but not much flavour from the sauce. Since my recent favourite ribs in GTA come from the folks at Memphis BBQ, it's hard not to compare...and I must say neither Bibbs nor Camp 31 impressed me. The pulled pork sandwiches, well, umm, they were not very memorable. The Camp 31 sandwiches were too salty for my taste and we thought both need more sauce, a lot more sauce.

Halfway through eating, it started to rain hard. We were a little disappointed by the sucky weather but our spirit were not dampened. Indeed, the line-ups were by now significantly shorter! We decided that pulled pork sandwiches were too filling so we stuck to ribs only from then on. Our next two stops were Uncle Sam's (Albuquerque, New Mexico) and Gator (Everglade City, Florida). RS got the ribs at Uncle Sam's way before I even got near the front of the line-up at Gator so instead of waiting for the ribs to get cold, we munched on the ribs while lining up for more ribs! The ribs from Uncle Sam's were meaty. As far as the cut of the meat was concerned, they were the best we sampled at the rib fest. Best of all, the ribs were finger-burning hot! Unfortunately, only one side was coated with sauce so the flavour could have used some help.

The ribbers of Gator boasted that they use a citrus-based sauce. I hate to waste food but the ribs there were bad, very bad. RS and I both found that the ribs were just salty, the sauce was too sour, and the meat was tough. After only one piece each, we decided that the ribs were bad enough that we really couldn't finish the remaining two bones.

A little disappointed by our last stop, we lined up at Jack on the Bone (Massilon, Ohio), crossing our fingers that we would get something good to wash away the bad taste in our mouth. The selling point here was that the sauce was made with Jack Daniels [mmm] and the customers must specify if they want "Jack On The Bone" or "Jack Off The Bone" when they order. A little mystified, we asked the cashier what that meant and she told us they would spray the ribs with a few squirts of Jack Daniels if we want "Jack On The Bone". Why yes, that's the reason they had a bottle of Jack Daniels on the counter with a spray nozzle attached! As promised the ribs here smelled GREAT with Jack Daniels. The ribs were very very charred which diminished the flavour quite a bit because the burnt taste eclisped much of any other flavours. You can check out the "Jack On The Bone" in action here...

Our last stop was Carolina Rib King (Moore, South Carolina) and it was pouring by now. However, that saying about "saving the best for last" certainly holds true. The ribs at Carolina Rib King were meaty, the ribs were smoky, the meat was tender, and the sauce had just a hit of spiciness that really hit the spot. At first I couldn't quite decide if I liked the ribs from Uncle Sam's the best or the ones here. However, after a few more bites, I decided that the spiciness of the ribs won out.

By the end of the evening, RS and I consumed two full racks of ribs plus two pulled pork sandwiches. Not bad for two girls, eh?

The upcoming Markham Rib Fest will have some of the same ribbers participating. If you enjoy some good ol' carnivore diet, I recommend you to check it out.

(photographs and video courtesy of Renee Suen)

Source:http://wscwong.blogs.friendster.com/dessert_by_candy/2006/07/toronto_rib_fes.html