Downtown Flint, MI and Blackstone's

So here we are ... almost at the end of August and I'm still trying to catch up on my posts from over a month ago!  Although being back to work has not really created more time for me to update my blog at least I've cut down on how often I have been eating out so I am not falling further behind.

While Emma and I were still on our shopping spree in Michigan, we discovered downtown Flint completely by happenstance.  We were hankering for something different to eat ... where we were staying there are plenty of mediocre chain restaurants and fast food places (it is the States after all, what could one expect) we wanted some decent food.  The GPS was of very little help with only highlighting the aforesaid chains and fast food joints.  Eventually we decided on Lone Star but as luck would have it, the GPS was sending us somewhere that doesn't actually exist outside of the cyber-map world.  Not to be discouraged, I directed Emma to keep on driving as I had a feeling we were getting close to something worthwhile ... after all there had to be something better just a little further!  Well, how about that ... there really was.  We found ourselves in the heart of Downtown Flint and before you make any snap judgements ... it is really nice.  There were lots of old buildings that were being restored and the main street was adorned with twinkling lights from one side of the street to the other. 

And, as luck would have it there was a street festival going on just as we were arriving with a square block of streets closed off to traffic.  After our dinner we took a stroll through the festival (I believe it was called the 'alley' fest or something like that.)

There were three or four stages with bands, vendors and lots of community groups ... although by 11pm things were beginning to wrap up but we had enough time to at least stroll around for a short time.

 

On the main street there were several choices for some cool looking places to eat.  Since it was a beautiful warm night we were hoping for a place with a patio ... there was no shortage of patios but there was definitely a shortage of tables on those patios.  We picked a place called "Blackstone's".

 

 

I didn't immediately get it and thought the 'green' Christmas lights were a bit odd, until I eventually realized it is an Irish pub and hence the green lights were for the luck o' the Irish!  The interior of the restaurant is really cool.  Restored to historic warehouse detail, the ceilings are 20 feet or so high and the wall behind the bar is exposed brick, an awesome mahogany bar ... and more green lights.

 

 

We had a short wait for the patio but we got a great table right at the edge of the sidewalk and there was lots of people watching to do, what with the street festival and all.

 

For dinner, I chose the Durant Reuben sandwich with the house chips.

 

 

It is served on marble rye which was fresh and perfectly toasted with enough thousand islands dressing and sauerkraut to make it a drippy gooey delicious sandwich.  The cheese was nicely melted and stretchy when pulled.  Just the way I like it.  And unlike the chips I had the night before these chips were super light and crispy.  They were not greasy and had a nice light seasoning on them.  I was very happy with my choice.

 

Emma decided to start with the soup of the day ... Dill Pickle.  It was a bit of a decision whether she should order it because when we asked the waitress about it her only comment was that she had only served one order so far that night but the customer said it was delicious.  She herself had not tried it and she was skeptical.  I had seen a version of Dill Pickle soup featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives one time from a Polish restaurant and it looked and sounded really good to me (a dill pickle lover) and I encouraged Emma to try it (the only reason I didn't order it myself was it was a warm night and I didn't want to have hot soup).  Anyway, Emma was very glad she ordered it.  It was EXCELLENT if I do say so myself.

 

 

The pickles are not so much sour after being cooked but they add saltiness to the flavour of the soup.  The base was a kind of leak/potato with some cream but it was not a heavy thick base but more of a slightly thick creamy broth.  I would go back to Blackstone's just for this soup ... and it's not even on the regular menu but was a special that night.  I'll have to attempt to make this myself at home ... but maybe I'll wait till there is cooler weather.

 

For her main, Emma went for the traditional Shepherd's Pie.  It arrived and looked very pretty.  The piped on mashed looked very fancy.

 

 

Unfortunately, the Shepherd's Pie was a bit disappointing, especially for the price.  The dish is quite small and the layer of lamb on the bottom is very sparse.  I had a taste and for me, not being a huge fan of rosemary, it was a bit too "over-herbed" for my taste, although that wasn't a problem for Emma.  More of an issue for her was the cheese on the potatoes.  The menu does not state that there is cheese on the mashed and Emma is not a big fan of cheese.  Overall, she thought it was an okay version of Shepherd's Pie (cheese excluded) but was not good value and she definitely would not order it again.

 

No worries though.  We enjoyed some cold beers on the patio, on a beautiful warm night in what turned out to be a surprising find both in terms of the restaurant and the location.

 

 

Next time we are shopping in Michigan we will be heading back downtown and we'll definitely be checking out the Flint Crepe Co. located door to Blackstone's, and possibly some of the other restaurants on this main street which is seeing a much needed revival of buildings, businesses and customers.

 

"Eat Meat" at Famous Dave's in Michigan

The summer continues and Emma and I engaged in some massive retail therapy at the outlets near Flint, Michigan.  We were there last fall and had dinner at 'Famous Dave's BBQ' restaurant ... which was the start of my three meat obsession.  Hell, their slogan is Eat Meat ... can't go wrong with that I say!  Before we even got in the car heading for the U.S.A., Emma was already planning our return to Famous Dave's and their legendary three meat platter (I'm not kidding ... it literally brought tears to our eyes!  Ahhhh, what is better than two meats????  Three meats, of course!)

After a few hours of driving and marathon shopping on day one, by about 10pm we hit Famous Dave's for our three meat platter.  But wait ... there was no three meat platter on their menu this time.  Very disappointing.  I even asked the waitress what happened to the three meat platter.  Seems they have taken it off the menu.  I guess the Americans were not as enamoured with the concept of three meats as I am.  So now we had tears of sadness in our eyes rather than tears of happiness.  Ok ... there was still some happiness at the table -- it's still barbeque after all!

Famous Dave's makes a variety of sauces to spice up or sweeten up or zing up your barbeque.  Here is the gorgeous selection.  My favourite was a toss up between Sweet & Zesty and Rich & Sassy.  I guess because they both describe me so perfectly.  Ahahahaha!

If you go there and want to try the sauces, take note of the RED cap on top of Wilbur's Revenge.  It's not red just because they ran out of white lids (as I thought when I doused a bite of meat with it).  This is some es~spice~y sauce!  It almost brought tears to my eyes (again) and the bite lingered in the back of my throat for several minutes and after drinking some water and beer!

Now to the food.  We both chose the baby back rib combo which comes with your second choice of any of these additional meats:  Texas Beef Brisket • Georgia Chopped Pork • Southside Rib Tips • Barbeque or Country-Roasted Chicken • Chicken Tenders • Hot Link Sausage •  Beer-Battered Cod • Traditional or Boneless Wings.  Again, we both went with the Georgia chopped pork but with different sides.  Emma had two sides of the Wilbur beans (baked beans loaded with smoked pork, brisket, hot link sausage and jalapeño peppers) so in actual fact, the beans alone are three-meats!

Emma loves these beans!  They are v-e-r-y spicy.  I tasted them last fall and they are not for me (in fact, no baked beans are for me) but clearly they are good enough for her to forgo any other side dish.  She also doesn't like the corn bread, which I freakin' LOVE so I get double corn bread!

For my sides, I picked the cole slaw and barbeque chips.  The cole slaw is creamy and cuts the spicy richness of the meat.  The chips are dusted with Famous Dave's house bbq spice, but they don't taste spicy so much as smokey ... in fact, the spice dusting is a very similar flavour to Lay's BBQ chips.

Some of the chips were crispy and crunchy but many were soft and soggy so they were far from the best.  We also both found the Georgia chopped pork a bit fatty.  Aside from the barbeque sauce slathered on top, the pork itself had very little flavour.  They also serve the pork (as well as the beef brisket) on a slice of plain white bread.  Eeuuuwww.  I don't get that.

Anyway the baby back ribs are fantastic.  They are fall off the bone tender; smokey and a bit spicy and although they don't need it, you can add more of the side sauces to make your own unique flavour for the ribs.  You get a half-rack of ribs and this is a very good sized portion.  For me, the cornbread is DELIC!  Luvs it.  It is moist but not dense or dry and has a soft sweetness from the corn.  It is perfect in combination with the spicy smokey barbeque ribs.  And also a perfect vessel for delivering additional dollops of side sauce to your mouth.

Notwithstanding that we only got two meats, and not three, we were both stuffed.  This is a h-u-g-e meal and very decently priced for all this food.  Even though everything on our meal was not perfect, the good stuff (ribs, corn bread, Wilbur beans) is sooo good that I'm sure next time we are in Flint we'll be back for more barbeque!

Les Brasseurs Du Temps

Ahh, the summer ... it goes by so fast!  Since I've had six weeks off this summer, I've had plenty of time for going out and trying some new places to eat.  But strangely I haven't had time to do any cooking at home and I'm seriously behind in my blogging.  Perhaps I have to get back to work so I have time to update my blog!
Early in July Caitlin and I got together for dinner on the patio at Les Brasseurs du Temps an upscale pub over on the Quebec side.  It was a gorgeous evening and we were sitting at a table overlooking the river.

BDT (as it's known) is located in a beautiful, historic building; both the indoor seating area and the patio seating are huge.  BDT is a brewery (translation:  brewers of the time) and they incorporate many of their brews into their food.  You can look down to see the beer vats; one of the the brewmasters might even be making some adjustments to the current brew down below the main restaurant.  The menu has several Quebecois specialities (bison tartare, smoked meat and poutine) but they also some upscale pub grub and sandwiches served on local bakery fresh bread.

We had excellent service with a very friendly and attentive waiter.  Caitlin chose the mussels.  Of course, mussels are not my thing, but you get to choose the broth/sauce and her selection of "A la Provencale" (tomatoes, capers, olives and fresh herbs) sounded, looked and smelled delicious.  You get a massive side of fries with the mussels. 

These fries alone are worth going to BDT for.  And of course, in true Quebec style, the fries are served with a side of mayo.  If you want ketchup you'll have to ask for it.

Enjoying that first hot french fry:

I chose the club sandwich which is made with grilled breast of chicken and crispy pancetta.  And of course it comes with those awesome hand-cut, crispy fries and a giant pickle on the side.  The sour dough bread is rye lightly toasted and there is a side of garlic aioli mayo, along with a side of mayo for my fries.

My sandwich was very good; the chicken was perfectly cooked and nice and juicy and the pancetta  was super crispy with a good smokey, salty favour.  And rather than lettuce, there was arugula which added a peppery, bitter flavour.  We enjoyed a couple of beers from their very substantive list of house brews.  We took lots of pictures and had lots of laughs.

But since Caitlin thought that my hair looked better than hers (it's only because the sun was shining right at our table and the grey was glowing!!) so she had to take her pony-tail out to make her hair more 'spunky'.  Just the way the guys at work like it!

We had such a great meal and a good time that I knew BDT would be a restaurant that I would be returning to ... which I did last night with my sister.

BDT Revisted

Again, it was a hot and sunny evening.  Being a Monday night I expected that it would not be too busy but being such a gorgeous night I figured there would likely be some patrons on the patio, which there were.  Not long after we arrived most of the tables in our area were completely filled up - several with large groups.

Unfortunately, last night's dinner was nothing compared with my prior experience.  The service started out decently, but by the end of our meal our server had all but disappeared.  I ordered the Simon Bolivar (i.e. chicken) nachos.  The nachos are only on the lunch menu but both nights when I was at BDT I saw other customers eating them - sure enough you can order them for dinner.  Within moments of us ordering, my nachos arrived.  As soon as they were set in front of me (not by our server - who immediately left our table), I was sure they were not mine.  First off, they arrived WAY too quickly after I ordered them and secondly because they did not appear to have any chicken on them.  I called our waiter over and, sure enough, they belonged to the table beside us.  No problem, these things happen.  Shortly after, my chicken nachos arrived along with Bonnie's caesar salad.  I also had the "Le bouillon de la chaudière!" beer, a pale wheat beer, which was excellent.

I was quite happy.  They looked quite good with lots of chopped green & red peppers, chipotle sour cream drizzle and a decent amount of chicken.  However, upon digging in I was very disappointed.  The nacho chips had come from two different packages as evidenced by their different colours - the top layer being paler yellow but whole chips ... totally covering darker yellow corn chips which were clearly the end of the bag - they were all small broken pieces and crumbs.  The top layer of chips were also stale and chewy.  The guacamole is processed and had no flavour.  The chipotle cream is nice though, and the chicken was chipotle rubbed which gave a nice spicey flavour but not enough to make the nachos good.  I would never order this again.  And for someone who loves nachos, this was very disappointing.

Bonnie ordered fish & chips for her main along with a half litre of red sangria.  She had asked me how the fries were (I couldn't show her the blog entry for BDT since I hadn't updated it yet, at least I had the photos on my phone so I could show her what they looked like!)  When her fish arrived I was shocked at how dark the batter was.  Now I assume that it was made with BDT's dark brewed beer but even considering that the batter looked very over-cooked to me.

Ultimately Bonnie said the fish was over-cooked and soggy; there was lots of batter with no fish inside.  She said the caesar salad was good and the fries were good and she liked the atmosphere of the restaurant but the fish and service were both very disappointing and her sangria was 'okay' (well, you are at a brewery ... I'm just sayin').

By this point, I was finished my nachos (as much as I was going to eat) and our waiter came by no less than three times while my dirty plate was sitting there (side plate and napkin on top - I don't think he could mistakenly have thought that I was still eating) and he did not remove it.  This is a definite pet-peeve of mine when I'm out for dinner.  When I'm finished my meal, I want my dirty plate cleared relatively promptly.

We were both finished; our plates were all cleared; our drinks were finished; we'd indicated that we did not want any dessert or coffee; there was nothing but our water glasses on our table but still the waiter did not bring the bill.  He even stood looking at our table but  apparently did not think that it would be appropriate to bring the bill.  Finally, after at least 10 minutes we finally had to ask for the bill.

This was a very disappointing experience at BDT.  I'm not going to give up on it yet because it's such a cool place - the atmosphere, the patio, the location, the beer - it's definitely worth giving it another try - especially when I've had one great experience and I know Caitlin has been there a few times and has enjoyed it.

The Wellington Diner

So the other weekend we decided to go out for breakfast.  I had two ideas - both in the Westboro area:  The Wellington Diner or Baker Street Cafe.  The Wellington Diner is my favourite breakfast place in the city and when I have guests in for the weekend it's almost always a for sure go-to.  However, I've heard such good things about Baker Street Cafe and I've been wanting to try it for months.  Problem is, I've heard there is always a line up and we were none to early getting organized to go.  It was past 10:30am on a Saturday morning and just driving by Baker Street there were about 6 people waiting in line outside the restaurant.  I'm not sure how big the place is, but if there were even a few people waiting inside we could have been waiting for awhile.  I was hungry then, dammit!  I didn't want to wait in a line up, especially when I knew just down the road was a BIG YUMMY breakfast waiting for us!  So, back to The Wellington Diner we went.

I got my usual ... the Traditional Breakfast with ham being my choice of the breakfast meats (mmmmm ham, my favourite of all the breakfast meats!  Oh except for back bacon ... mmmmmm back bacon.  But back bacon is not part of the standard Traditional Breakfast meat choices.)  I ordered by two eggs over-easy and egg-y bread for toast.

There is always fresh fruit on the side.  The eggs were cooked exactly perfectly and they are not greasy.  The home fries are piping hot and cooked perfectly; crispy on the outside.  You can also 'poutine up' your homefries by adding cheese curds and hollandaise sauce, but I didn't go for this undoubtedly yummy, but extra fat and calorie, add-on.  You get a decent amount of ham; its sliced thin but nicely grilled with a little crust on the edge and perfectly salty.

Oh, and they serve a variety of bread.  You can choose between white, brown, rye or egg bread.  As far as I'm concerned, offering this selection gives The Wellington Diner a leg up over most other diners for breakfast. I love challah (holla!).

Heinous crime:  theft of a piece of egg-y bread!

He had the Big-y Breakfast which includes THREE eggs, all THREE breakfast meats (you know how I feel about three meats -- you can never go wrong with three meats) and home fries.  You may not be able to tell, but the Big Breakfast is not served on a plate, it comes on a small platter to accommodate all that food.  Eggs were ordered over-hard and again they were cooked perfectly (although I don't really know if you can mess up over hard eggs??!?).

He also opted to double-up on sausage and skip the bacon.  Seriously, check out the pile of sausages that were served.  Also, notice the stolen egg bread ... you would think with three eggs and that pile up of sausages and ham you wouldn't need to steal someone's egg-y bread toast!

The coffee is passable - typical diner coffee, in my opinion, but we both had a couple of refills so it's clearly not too bad. The service is fast and friendly. Every time I have been to the Wellington Diner the staff have been pleasant and for as busy as the restaurant usually is for breakfast, the food is served very quickly and it's always hot.

The place is old-school typical diner, with big windows out front so it's nice and bright; checkerboard tiles on the floor and a cool 'loft' dining area upstairs looking down on the patrons below.  So far, I've not found a better diner breakfast in the city, and I've tried quite a few.  This is my favourite ... but seriously if you want to wait in line for your breaky, keep heading down the road to Baker Street Cafe ... and then I'll be able to get a table when I arrive at The Wellington Diner no matter what time I get there.

Pressed Cafe

About a year ago a new 'coffee' shop opened in my neighbourhood.  This is Pressed Cafe.

I was so excited to have a gourmet coffee and sandwich shop so close by my place.  And I was not the least bit disappointed the first time I went there, shortly after they opened.  The place is really cool inside with some re-purposed wood, a church pew, a HUGE barrel with a carved out butcher block as a garbage can, antique/eclectic lamps and chandeliers.  They have big windows looking out onto the street so you can watch what's going on, and this summer they added the petit patio out front and those steel fabricated mug sculptures, which conveniently serve as mini planters for their fresh herbs.

The number one thing about Pressed Cafe is the staff is excellent.  They are so friendly and helpful.  Every time I have been in there, the level of service is outstanding.  In fact, a few weeks ago I went in for a coffee and walked out with this free cupcake:  chocolate caramel.

These are Auntie Loo's cupcakes, another local to my neighbourhood bakery ... oh, and they are vegan.  The cupcake was awesome ... rich chocolate flavour, perfectly chocolate but not overly sweet icing and the pièce de résistance:  the smooth, buttery, creamy caramel on top.  Yum-A-Rama!!!!  Awesome and perfect with my coffee.  It was presented to me in this super cute little paper bag (loves it ... very good for the environment).

But I digress, back to the cafe.  They serve gourmet sandwiches with fresh local ingredients (hence the 'pressed' in Pressed Cafe ... from the grill press that they toast the sammies on).  They are house smoking meats, making homemade soups and beef brisket chili, lots of vegetarian options and fresh seasonal salads.  On weekends they feature a waffle brunch (which I have yet to try but since I love waffles, you can bet that one of these days I'll get there).

Pressed Cafe features local artwork on the walls, open mic nights on Sundays and other community events.  For you Hintonburg, Mechanicsville, Lebreton Flats (or anywhere nearby) residents it's important to support our local businesses and this is a place that is very worth supporting.  If you haven't been to Pressed Cafe yet, get there ... you won't be disappointed.



Hintonburg Public House

So far this summer I have already been lucky enough to see my dear friend Stephanie twice when she has been in Ottawa visiting from Dallas, TX.  A month ago we went to The Grand in the market for thin crust pizzas.  Then last week, I picked the Hintonburg Public House for dinner for the two of us.  As you know, this was one of the locations on our Hintonburg Foodies Walking Tour and I've been wanting to check it out since they opened so this was the perfect opportunity for Stephanie and I to spend some quality time together and eat some (hopefully) yummy food.

It was a Monday night so we didn't make reservations.  We arrived at about 6:30pm and frankly, it's a good time we got there when we did because within 30 minutes the place was packed and there was a short line up waiting for tables.

One of the selling features that the owner of the Hintonburg Public House mentioned is their selection of local, micro and craft beers.  I've been known to enjoy a beer or two in my time, so I chose a pint of the Kitchesipi Heller High Water.  Pretty tasty ... liked it.  I know, shocking, right?  Stephanie being more refined than I am, chose red wine.

The restaurant is very cool, eclectic decor ... mis-matched tables and chairs, dishes (some of which I'm sure are the same patterns that my grandma had, which we inherited to the cottage) and lots of recovered/salvaged wood.

I had checked the menu out on-line before we went out.  The menu is updated frequently so it is nice that it is available on-line to see what changes might have been made.  I was torn between two choices:  the beef burger or the schnitzel.  Once we arrived, Stephanie took some time to review the menu because there are lots of unique and different choices on both the bar snacks and appetizers menus.

Even though the schnitzel was one of my possible choices, it was missing from the menu when we got there.  I still had to make a decision between the beef burger (with homemade pickles, grilled onion, bacon and Russian dressing) served with fries or the fish & chips.  Lots of people around us were ordering the fish & chips and it looked and smelled de-lish!!! 

In the end I picked the burger.  I was also keen on, basically, every appetizer ... but I knew I was going to be stuffed with just my main.  And man, I'm not kidding ... I was stuffed!  Check this out:

Awe-some!!!  Notice on the top of the burger ... that is house pickled cauliflower -- delicious!!!  Who knew???  So yummy.  The burger was huge, it was moist and juicy.  They offer it cooked to your taste, suggesting medium but I asked for mine just slightly more than medium and it was perfect.  Its messy and drippy; if you want ketchup they house make that too.  The burger bun is soft and fits the huge patty perfectly.  The fries are hand cut and crispy.  Absolutely delicious.  I'm very glad I made this choice!

Stephanie decided on two small appetizers.  The marinated cheese curds (from the bar snacks menu) and the mushroom soup served with coddled egg and crouton.  I tried the cheese curds ... tasty.  Cheese curds are not really my thing; as Stephanie described them:  cheese curds with Italian dressing on them! 




The mushroom soup however, looked really good and Stephanie said it was very tasty.  It had a very rich dark colour, it smelled earthy and nutty and was thick and creamy.

For her main course, Stephanie chose the trout with chickpeas, caramelized onion, cherimoula and yogurt.  I don't even know what cherimoula is ... but it sounds cool ... cher-i-mou-la ... cher-i-mooouu--la ... cher-i-moooouu-laaaaa.  Sounds cool.  The trout dish was absolutely beautiful when it arrived.  The colours were spectacular.  Since fish is not my favourite thing, I didn't try it but Stephanie enjoyed it.  She said it was an excellent meal.

As I said, it was a busy night.  All the tables were full.  If I had one complaint about the Hintonburg Public House it was really really noisy in there.  Of course Stephanie and I had lots of catching up to do and we were non-stop chatting as usual when we get together, but there were moments when it was hard to hear one another over the noise in the restaurant. 

However, the food and the atmosphere of the restaurant definitely make up for that one minor complaint that we had and I would not hesitate to recommend the Hintonburg Public House and definitely will go there again.  I can even see just going and sitting at the bar for a cold beer and some bar snacks - that would be a totally fun weekend afternoon.

All talked out and totally satisfied:

Smoked Baby Back Ribs and the 2012 Ottawa RibFest

Here's some brand new information.  I LOVE ribs.  They are the perfect 'meat-on-a-stick' meal, straight from nature.  No soaking bamboo skewers; no poking your fingers to thread your meat on the sticks.  Perfect!

In my on-going attempt to figure out how my portable (barbeque top/oven top) smoker works, I decided to it yet again.  My first attempt with turkey breast didn't end up smoked at all.  This time, I thought I'd try some baby back ribs.  I want my baby-back, baby-back, baby-back riiiibbbbs!

I have a few different flavours of wood chips.  For my baby-back ribs, I decided to use the 'hickory' flavour.  The first step is to soak the the wood chips in water for 30 minutes to keep them from flaming.  Then line the bottom of the smoker with the wet chips.



The first thing you should do to prepare the ribs is to remove the silver skin (on the 'bone' side of the ribs). There is no point in cooking them with the silver skin, because it just gets dried out and chewy.  You can't really eat it.  I actually forgot to take it off, but that's okay because the dogs loved eating it.  Anyway -- back to preparing the ribs.  I used a dry rub of:  smoked paprika, mesquite steak spice, garlic powder, cajun spice, a bit of cayenne and some dried chipotle rub.    There is no science to the rub - just find whatever spices you have on hand and make sure you cover both sides well.



Raw Meat Alert:

Now on to the barbeque for 'smoking'!!!  Hopefully.  I put the smoker directly on the burner; the last time I tried it on the grill/rack and found that the temperature of the chips did not get hot enough to get them smoking.  The key to smoking is:  low and slow.  I wanted the barbeque temperature around 250*F but it was running a bit hot - maintaining a temperature of closer to 300*F for the whole time I was smoking them.  My barbeque has a cast iron lid so if there is smoke going on inside, it should work to flavour and cook the meat.  I kept them on for 1 hour and 45 minutes.  To be honest, it was only in the last 15 minutes of smoking that I actually started to smell the wood.  I think I should have left them on for another 30-60 minutes.  With ribs, you don't really have to worry about them being overcooked.  The longer they cook the more tender and fall-off-the bone they should be.

Anyway, 1 hour and 45 minutes later, I took them off the grill and let them cool.  In the meantime, I made this UNBELIEVABLE FRICKIN-KICKIN barbeque sauce.  OMG this was sooooooo freaking good.  I could have just eaten it with a spoon.  Again, there is no recipe and no measurements but this is what I used (in no particular order or volume):  ketchup, whole grain mustard, balsamic vinegar, honey, liquid smoke, Franks Red Hot hot sauce, PC Chipotle hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce.  Awe-some!!!!!  Yum-a-licious!!!

Eventually I sent them back to the grill and smothered them in the unbelievable, to-die-for barbeque sauce.  I grilled them on medium low for another 30 minutes, frequently brushing them with more sauce on both sides.

The honest truth is, they were still a little tough.  I should have both (a) smoked them longer and (b) grilled them for longer.  Nonetheless (probably because of my awesome barbeque sauce) they tasted great.  The dry rub was a little on the spicy side but the barbeque sauce was zesty, rich and flavourful.  As I get more accustomed to using the smoker, and how to get it to work better/properly I think I'm going to be getting WAY better as a back yard barbeque smoker warrior.  So long as they taste good ... that's the main thing though, and these baby back ribs sure had great flavour and were super meaty.  Nature's own portable meat-on-a-stick ... luvs it!

Here's the 'yummy shot':





Now, coincidentally the weekend after I made my smoked baby back ribs, it was Ottawa RibFest 2012.  I've been to RibFest at least four or five times ... mostly with the 'ex' but this year my sister suggested going ... which is only odd when you find out that she hates ribs.  She never eats them!  So imagine my surprise when that is where she wanted to go for dinner on Saturday night.

We arrived just after 7pm and I knew it was going to be busy.  That was an understatement to say the least. The line-ups at the grill shacks were probably 50-75 people deep.  Now it smelled g-r-e-a-t so we certainly didn't mind strolling from one end of Sparks Street to the other.  I also knew that there would be fewer people at the far end between Kent and Lyon.  And sure enough, the line ups were only about 5 people or so.  Not much of a wait for nature's perfect meat-on-a-stick.  I ordered "The Texan" which consists of ... you guessed it:  three meats.  Yay!!!  1/3 rack of ribs, 1/4 chicken and pulled pork!  Yummy-yummy-yum-yum.  That's what I'm talking about.  But wait!!!  My beautiful plan was foibled:  they were out of pulled pork.  D'oh!!!

Now I could have gone with just two meats, if I wanted just the ribs and chicken, but for me, the chicken is the least appealing part of these three meats.  It just seemed like the skin was not crispy and was not what I had in mind for "Rib" Fest.  I mean its right there in the title.  So in the end, I decided on the full rack of ribs. 

Here are my cutie ribs.  Just ribs ... no bothering with side dishes for me.  The ribs are not cheap but at least you get two meals (or more) out of a full rack.  They were very good; a bit spicy, beautiful fall-of-the bone tender.  I would have liked more sauce -- maybe on the side for dipping.  Bonnie chose the 1/2 chicken and she said it was delicious, albeit not easy to eat on a park bench!  Bonnie also had the baked beans and cole slaw as sides.  She said the slaw was really good.  The chicken skin went home for Dakota though.  It wasn't crispy and didn't look appealing.

Of course I love the RibFest.  I always remember the first year I went in 2005 with the ex.  We went just at closing time on Sunday night.  The ribbers were trying to get rid of the cooked racks of ribs before packing up and hitting the road ... and we got the deal of the century.  3 full racks of ribs for $30.  We were eating ribs for weeks after that.  You would think that this would have deterred me from going in the future ... but no.  One year I took Jake as well (pre-Gwenny days).  He thought he had died and gone to heaven -- until he realized that I wouldn't actually let him eat ALL the rib bones ... or any rib bones for that matter.  It was very hard to control him and since that time, I've never again considered taking him.