Burlington Ribfest

Billed as the largest Ribfest in Canada, the Burlington Ribfest seemed worth checking out. We headed out early to avoid the awful traffic on the 403/QEW overlap and we indeed managed to avoid the worst of it.

As we drove down towards the lake in Burlington, I was somewhat surprised that it actually seemed nice. Janice, who frequents the industrial wasteland portion of Burlington/Hamilton, agreed that it was nice although it wasn't a surprise for her as she ribfested here last year.

Now, in terms of the ribs, there were a lot of ribbers. An overwhelming number in fact. We recognized some from earlier ribbings but we wanted to try something different. We spied Bibb's which Janice recognized from chowhound discussions. Their claim to fame here is that they have the only baby back ribs in the park. As a result they charge $1 more. Janice and I may like ribs but we're certainly not rib experts. Despite the dollar we figured we'd try out these "baby back" ribs. After getting over the initial disappointment that you seem to get fewer ribs in a baby back rib rack, we found that the ribs were very meaty. There was possibly a little too much fat for our liking but overall the sauce was good, the ribs tasty and we enjoyed the rack. The sides (beans and 'slaw) were also good and the slaw was fridge-cold which is always nice from a food poisoning-prevention perspective.

Anyway, this is probably the last ribfest for us this year. Will we back to Burlington ribfest next year? Maybe, the ribs were decent and given the selection, it seems like there are other up and coming ribbers that we need to check out.