Saturday 7 July 2012

Oh Canada Ribfest

Oh Canada Ribfest
June 29 to July 2, 2012in fat

Waterdown Memorial Park
Waterdown, Ontario



In her opinion:

Well, every foodie knows that the arrival of summer also means the arrival of ribfests across our province. This holiday weekend there was two that I knew of, The Toronto Ribfest at Centennial Park and the Oh Canada Ribfest in Waterdown, Ontario.  But there's a schedule printed here of all the other ribfest events throughout the summer.

We went to the Oh Canada Ribfest sponsored by the Rotary Club.  It wasn't the biggest ribfest I've been to but it had plenty of choice.  Edgar and I just decided to spit a feast...there will be tonnes of ribs this summer so no need to go overboard on our first try! 

We opted for Boss Hog's BBQ since we hadn't tried them in the past. We got the Bosses Feast for $24.00 which included 1/3 of a rack of ribs, 1/4 of a chicken, pulled pork, beans and coleslaw.  We also got a Nickel Brook Organic Lager to wash it all down.

This was excellent. The sauce was delicious. The ribs and chicken were cooked perfectly. The pulled pork was outrageously delicious. I love pulled pork and this one was not disappointing at all. The beans were full of porky, sweet flavour. I also thought the coleslaw was very well done. I love a good mayonnaise based coleslaw.

It was my first time trying the Nickel Brook and I have to say...I really enjoyed it.  Good crisp beer.

I'm looking forward to  many more Ribfests this summer...in fact, I think Mississauga Rotary Ribfest on July 19 -22, 2012 is calling my name.

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In his opinion:
Ribfests are some of my favourite Summer events. At any given weekend you can find some form of Ribfests happening in Soutwestern Ontario, giving everyone a chance to try some great BBQ regardless of where you reside.

Our initial plans were to attend the Toronto Ribfest at Centennial Park but after waking up late and realizing that the drive was twice the distance made us chose the Waterdown Ribfest.  Having no clue how good or big it was and having only the unfinished website for the event to go by, we were taking a bit of a risk by blindly following our instincts.

Waterdown is a short drive for us and before we knew it, there we were. The Ribfest was being held in combination with a Carnival and both were being held at Waterdown's Memorial Park. I will be the first one to admit that Waterdown is a bit more "rural" than my city taste can usually handle but I was willing to give it a try. 

I was pleasantly surprised as I arrived to the park, noticing that there were a lot more BBQ selections than I expected. Some of the one's that do the usual Ribfest circle were there like Camp 31, Boss Hog's, Ribs Royale and Kentucky BBQ.

We decided to try Boss Hog's feast which consisted of 1/3 ribs, pulled pork and 1/4 chicken. The platter also came with beans and coleslaw.
Let me start with the ribs since it is Ribfest afterall. They were extremely tasty with just the perfect amount of smokiness not to make them too dry. That's actually one of my biggest pet peeves. Many ribs I try are dry and over smoked, even from some of the  famous and award winning rib houses. 
The chicken was also very good with crispy  skin and smothered with a tangy sweet  BBQ sauce. Then there was the pulled pork...delicious. Beautifully slow cooked shoulder cut pork, marinated perfectly in BBQ sauce, and melt in your mouth perfect.

All in all it was a good experience, a smaller scale ribfest, in a  rural setting hit the spot. Unfortunately, my picky eater, almost vegetarian son was only satisfied across the street, at the Golden Arches...really???




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