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.

Ottawa Ribfest 2013

The 22nd Annual Ottawa Ribfest was kicked off on Wednesday. Furious Pete was at the event and  attempted to break the world record for eating the most pulled pork in six minutes. He ended up setting a new world record by wolfing down 7.5 pounds of pulled pork in that time.

We had initially planned to go down to the ribfest for dinner on Thursday, but things changed and we went for a late lunch on Friday instead. This was the new plan:

• Andrew and I would go down to ribfest and have a late lunch
• We'd get some drinks at McD's and then get BBQ from Camp 31 and Silver Bullet
• Andrew would bus to the Dragon Boat Festival afterwards to volunteer
• I would head home with the goods

Random Tidbits: May - June

Grandma Tea's jang (aka lo mai gai, nom asom, sticky rice with mung beans and pork) is the best in our extended family. Nobody can make it taste as good.


I typically don't go crazy over them like Lucy. But on one particular day, I fried up some of Mom's batch of jang and had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Perhaps I was lazy to make anything else. Perhaps.





We had a large spread of food during one of our extended family dinners last month. Before that, Mom tried out a new batch of ham chim peng. They were still quite dense. I think that we need some double-acting baking powder or just give the dough more time to rise before frying.


Lucy helped make the prahok khati (aka minced pork curry with anchovies). It's different from gapit pao, which is made without the anchovies. We ate the prahok khati with sliced cucumbers and rice.


There was also salt and pepper shrimp and a large hot pot of samlor maju (Cambodian sour soup) with skate. My aunt also brought over bo kho.



We ended up having leftovers of a few things. Since we had some bo kho, I soaked some noodles and had it for lunch the following day. My aunt added her homemade spice blend in addition to the bo kho seasonings, which made it more fragrant and spicy.



We started to plant some herbs in our garden. This was the basil plants after a few days of being close to the flowers -- they got snacked on by little critters! That's my basil! I don't know youuuu!



How about some homemade baozi? Mom woke up super early and decided to make some. She experimented with adding canned beans and chickpeas. It tasted fine to me.





For Andrew's birthday dinner, Mom made a layered mung bean dessert called banh da long in Vietnamese. She made two types: one was softer than the other.



I had lunch with CA the day after. We opted to share the condensed milk brick toast at My Sweet Tea for dessert. When it arrived, we were both glad that we shared one order. We thought it was too much but then proceeded to inhale it in under five minutes. Woops.

The rain still hung around Ottawa. It wasn't as hard as the torrential rain we had the evening before, but it still rained hard, although it was brief.

We had a BBQ pork rib dinner. The pork ribs were baked in the oven for about two hours before getting a turn on the BBQ. We made a sauce using the pan drippings, onions, sugar, ketchup, and BBQ sauce.




Lucy and Jimmy brought some chocolate cake. We couldn't finish it, despite the pot of strong jasmine tea. The cake reminds Lucy and I of Matilda. Oh gerd, where's Mrs. Trunchbull? I definitely added some peanut butter to my slices of cake afterwards. It tasted like a peanut butter cup, except that the proportions were the other way around: more chocolate than peanut. It was so good!

Toronto Marathon Weekend 2013

My weekend was spent in Toronto for work. I helped cover the GoodLife Fitness Toronto Marathon as a sports photographer with the MarathonFoto company. You can read more about what it's like to work the event [link]. This post is about all the food.

Ottawa Ribfest 2012

My younger brother, Andrew, and I took a little visit to Sparks Street and brought home some BBQ goodies for the family dinner. We only went to two different stalls: Bibb’s BBQ and Camp 31. Our plan of attack was to get two full rack meals (that’s with coleslaw and beans) and a half-pound of pulled pork. We weren't going to get any chicken because they're not that flavourful. They get baked in the oven and then sit on the grill, absorbing whatever smoke there is, and get finished with a mop of sauce when it's ordered. If you do buy bottled BBQ sauce from the stands, then baked chicken wouldn't be a bad idea.

If you haven't gone yet or you're planning to go, but you aren't sure what to expect, head over to this post where I wrote down some tips.

Starting from Metcalfe and Sparks Street, we walked westward down Spark Street to do some scouting at Ottawa's 21st annual ribfest. The first stall we came upon was Bibb’s BBQ. Since we were there while most government employees were still at work, there were only two people waiting in line. We walked by a few more stalls before reaching O'Connor. I can't remember which ones though. Sorry. I just wanted to find Camp 31 and Bibb's BBQ, buy our stuff and go home as quickly as possible.

After crossing O’Connor, there was a porta-potty and porta-sink off to the side (correct me if I’m wrong… btw, I forgot to take a photo so I’m just reusing the pic from last year). We passed a few picnic tables on Sparks Street. It looks like the organizers of the event had put them out – at least I think they did. The picnic tables weren’t closed off and it didn’t look like it was part of any restaurant. In any case, walking by the tables, we found ourselves walking through some smoke. Silver Bullet’s grill was smoking away. All that baked chicken must’ve been absorbing the smoke as they waited for an owner.

Camp 31’s stand had the longest line when Andrew and I walked there. It seemed like more people were starting to flood in. Not needing to go any further down Sparks Street, we joined the line that was merely 8 people long.

Sandwiched between Camp 31's stand and Silver Bullet's stand, the Alabama’s Freshly Squeezed Lemonade stall sold cold lemonade. If I recall correctly, they were selling small lemonades for $4.00 and $6.00 for the large.

As we waited in line, I debated whether or not I wanted to buy another bottle of Camp 31’s Rajin’ Cajun BBQ sauce or to try another flavour (you could try samples of all of their sauces before you decided). We only had a few more drops left of the bottle I purchased last year. In the end, we decided we’d buy a bottle at Bibb’s BBQ instead. We bought a full rack of ribs meal ($24) and a full pound of pulled pork ($12). They didn’t sell half a pound.

We walked back to Bibb’s BBQ, bought another full rack meal and bought a bottle of their BBQ sauce. They only had one flavour – the one they use on their ribs and chicken. The three environmentally-friendly takeout boxes were stacked into a grocery bag and then we went back home to enjoy the goods. More after the hop...

Bo Kho Revisited

The last pot of homemade bo kho was a beauty! Grandpa and I kept asking Mom to make another pot, but she was waiting for beef spare ribs to go on sale. And what do you know, they went on sale last week.

Prime Rib Dinner

Our family loves steak. I love prime rib. Luckily our grocery stores had prime rib on sale (for about $4/lb). They only appear, at this price, about twice a year – once after Easter and another at the end of summer.

A couple weeks ago, our family helped prepare a prime rib dinner with a bunch of side dishes.

Richard and Andrew made a zucchini casserole with garlic, onions, strained tomatoes (passata), and parmesan cheese. This was a hit with the family. I particularly adored the concentrated tomato sauce on top of the zucchini.

Potatoes were quartered, seasoned with Montreal chicken spices (mainly dehydrated onions, roasted garlic and salt), then baked in a hot oven to cook and crisp up. These potatoes were really fluffy and seasoned perfectly. I'd probably add a bit of cayenne pepper to the mix to add a little heat next time.

A salad of green beans, red peppers, carrots and a mandarin orange dressing was also put together.

Once the prime rib was taken out of the oven to rest, the juices in the pan were used to make mushroom gravy with a bit of wine. This was made just before we were ready to eat.

I had bought some frozen Ace baguettes for something else, but I had to bring them out for the dinner. Just as we started to make the gravy, the baguettes were briefly baking in the oven.

After resting for about ten minutes, the prime rib was sliced. Everyone grabbed a plate and filled them up with all the fixings. That was quite the spread. Cheers, to another delicious prime rib dinner!

Ottawa's Chicken and Ribfest 2011

Just like many other Ottawa residents, our family had ribs from Ottawa’s 20^th Annual Chicken and Rib Cook-Off for dinner.

I brought my wallet, a camera, and a re-useable shopping bag (for the ribs) and met Lucy downtown earlier today. Our goal: To bring some delicious ribs back to enjoy at home. But before we met up, I did some scouting. I started from Elgin Street and Sparks Street.

Crabby’s BBQ Shack.

Keep walking down Sparks St and you’ll see a porta-potty and a porta-sink. This was a great addition this year, since there wasn’t anything last year. Well done organizers. Well done. I think I saw one more porta-potty and two more porta-sinks on Sparks St.

Texas Outlaws.

I think if you cross Metcalfe Street, you can find Bibb’s BBQ. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Gator BBQ Company.

Billy Bones.

Cross O’Connor Street and you’ll find Silver Bullet.

Then I think it’s the Alabama’s Freshly Squeezed Lemonade stand.

The two-time defending champs of the best ribs at the Ottawa ribfest; Camp 31. The photo at the top of this post was from Camp 31.

And finally, the last competitor this year is Uncle Sam’s BBQ.

Here’s the breakdown; in total, Lucy and I bought two and a half racks of ribs and a quarter of a chicken from three different places. Six people helped to eat everything. We got a full rack of ribs with coleslaw and beans for $24 at Billy Bones. Lucy probably added three or four pumps of their BBQ sauce. Most of it is hiding underneath the ribs.

When we lined up for the ribs, they had just changed the coals so we had to wait until they were hot again. Good thing they had a mechanical fan to speed things up. The downside was that all the smoke blew in our direction. They had put a few racks of ribs on the grill when they were heating up the coals, so the ribs were extra smoky.

Doesn’t it look tender and tasty? Billy Bones’ sauce was quite sweet. Lucy said that if the ribs hadn’t been smoky, the sweetness of the sauce would’ve been “…sickening.” The beans were really sweet, but that’s probably from their sauce. As you can see from the two pictures above, the tender and moist ribs were slathered with their sauce.

Jimmy made a spinach, mushroom, bell pepper, and red onion salad to eat on the side. We definitely needed some veggies, especially I ate too many ribs and felt sick afterward in 2009.

We got a full rack of rib combo at Camp 31. Camp 31 was one of our favourites last year, but the ribs we were given were mostly tough and dry. There were only two or three moist ribs – which only Mom and Dad were able to enjoy. The beans had a more rounded flavour than the beans from Billy Beans Bones. The beans from Billy Bones was sweet at first and then there wasn't much flavour after that.

Jimmy was unlucky and got a really tough piece. It looks like jerky.

I also picked up a bottle of the Ragin’ Cajun BBQ sauce ($6) at Camp 31. It was pricey, but we all really liked the kick it gave. I liked how the spiciness also lingered and cut through all the grease.

This was the chicken and rib ($15) from Silver Bullet. The sweetness of the ribs reminded her of the Chinese ribs (the one on the roast pork) we get, because hoisin sauce is brushed onto the roast pork ribs. Most of the ribs had a lot of tender meat. Silver Bullet’s rib pieces were the most consistent in both size and amount of meat, but they can’t really control the latter. I believe the organizers provide the chicken and ribs.

The one thing that I found funny was that out of the ones I walked by, I think Silver Bullet was the only place that had some kind of branding on the white boxes. I’m surprised no one else has picked up on it.

The chicken had no flavour. One of the reasons why we got it was to try out the Rajin’ Cajun sauce I bought at Camp 31. The chicken from every stand is and then finished off on the grill with a bit of their sauce. If you decide to buy a bottle of BBQ sauce from one of the competitors, you should get some chicken to mop up the sauce. That’s what we did.

After everyone had a chance to try everything from each of the three boxes, we chose our favourites out of the three stalls:

1^st place: Billy Bones

Dad, Lucy, Richard, and Andrew all liked the ribs from Billy Bones the most.

2^nd place: It was a tie between Silver Bullet and Camp 31

It was hard to judge the ribs from Camp 31 because most of the ribs were dry and tough. Mom’s favourite was Camp 31, but that's cause she got a rare piece of rib with tender meat. It's too bad their ribs weren't consistent. Jimmy mentioned that this would’ve been his favourite if the ribs were as moist and tender as Silver Bullet’s. Since Silver Bullet’s ribs had a lot of tender meat, Jimmy was able to enjoy this more.

I didn’t cast a vote because I barely ate anything. After spending two hours walking back and forth on Sparks Street, the perfume of the smoke and ribs just got to me and ruined my appetite. I’m also not a big fan of ribs. You can see my empty plate at the bottom of that picture. I struggled to finish everything (at least I was able to finish my salad).

This is probably the end of this year’s ribfest for us, but they’ll still be around for you all until Sunday, June 26^th. I'm not sure when the official judging begins, but I'll update the article whenever I find out.

We have a few tips on how to conquer the ribfest this year... 

1. Bring cash, patience, a raincoat and maybe an umbrella.
2. Go with at least one other person. 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 competitors.
4. Unless you plan to eat on one of the patios on Sparks Street, you should bring a re-useable bag that you can get at the grocery store. 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.

Despite the weather, I hope you can all go downtown and enjoy the chicken and pork stuff this weekend. I know it’s still early in the event, but what was your favourite place this year?


Update: Here are the winners of Ottawa's Chicken and Ribfest 2011...




Billy Bones knocked off Camp 31's powerhouse and took home the best ribs and sauce title and trophy.  Camp 31 did place second place in both categories though.

Bibb's BBQ took home the trophy for the best chicken. Texas Rangers and Boss Hog's came second and third respectively.


Read about our other experience:

• Ottawa Ribfest 2013
• Ottawa Ribfest 2012

• Ottawa’s Chicken-Ribfest 2010

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

• Ottawa Ribfest 2009

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