Sparks Street Ribfest 2015 & Pure Gelato

Last week was the Sparks Street Ribfest. We're veterans when it comes to the ribfest. If you aren't familiar with it, don't fret. We're here to help. We have a few tips on how to conquer the ribfest (adjusted from the 2011 post):

1. Bring cash, patience, and, depending on the weather, a raincoat and maybe an umbrella too.
2. Go with at least one other person. The more friends, the better cause you’ll be able to cover more stalls that way.
3. If you are planning to enjoy ribfest with a group of people, you should try getting some things from a bunch of the vendors. Make sure to figure out who will be getting what and where.
4. Unless you plan to eat on one of the patios on Sparks Street, you should bring a re-useable bag to carry your boxes. You can enjoy your chicken and pork products along Spark Street if you don't want to take them very far. You can only sit and enjoy your meal at the various patios if you buy a beverage from them.
5. Grab lots of extra paper.
6. Add lots of extra sauce on the side. Most vendors will have a table on the side where you can get paper towels, forks, and extra sauce.

Richard, Andrew, and myself were the runners this time. We figured out what we wanted and went out.

Prior to lining up, I did a bit of scouting:

• There was a very long line to get the twisted potato
• There were more porta potties this year
• A lot of the garbage cans were overflowing in and around Sparks Street
• Vendors were beginning to sell new options like beef ribs, beef brisket, and cornbread
• Stella Luna had a cart and were selling their remarkable gelato

Our total haul:

• "Vegetarian" from Crabby Shack: pulled pork, chicken, and half a rack of ribs
• Full rack with coleslaw and beans from Billy Bones
• Full rack and beef ribs from Gator BBQ

We took everything to Lucy's place and enjoyed it along with her shoyu buttered corn. There was a bit leftover, but there was plenty of food to feed seven adults. Maybe we'll try to make some homemade cornbread next time to go with all of this.


After dinner, we went to Pure Gelato for some dessert and then briefly checked out Glowfest on Bank Street. Out of the 8 total flavours we got, my favourite two were the peanut butter and vanilla. The least favourite was a unanimous vote: the tiramisu. The liqueur ruined it.

It was definitely an enjoyable night with the entire family. It's more difficult to coordinate all of our schedules, but I hope we can do more of these in the future.

~*~

Pure Gelato

350 Elgin Street

613-237-3799

 

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Read about our other experiences:

• Ottawa Ribfest 2013
• Ottawa Ribfest 2012

• Ottawa’s Chicken and Ribfest 2011

• Ottawa’s Chicken-Ribfest 2010

• Diet-Busting BBQ Chicken and Ribs 2009 (Lucy's lunch)

• Ottawa Ribfest 2009