Three to eat: Meaty treats to beat the heat at Taste of Edmonton - Edmonton Journal

The dry rubbed St. Louis ribs from Smokehouse BBQ (four tickets), reviewed on July 21, 2022, at the Taste of Edmonton festival are cooked to perfection, have great texture and are neat, but no one would complain if they made more of a mess. Postmedia

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Before we start the meat meeting, the author acknowledges the challenges of presenting a dish like ribs at an event like Taste of Edmonton.

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The food here is most efficiently eaten sitting at any of the many steps, stoops, curbs and corners, benches or tables, covered or uncovered, licensed or unlicensed within paces of the vendors. But the paw-sized dishes they deliver are really meant to be carried around, or eaten while standing, ideally with a tasty beverage and the right crosswind.

Patrons, some in flip flops and T-shirts, others dressed for the fictional food truck semi-formal, have to be able to navigate the crowds, eat, speak and carry a drink without making a canvas of themselves. It’s not a ribfest, where a mess is expected. Thus are the challenges laid out before the pit and grill masters of Sir Winston Churchill Square. Brisket may be a no-brainer, but it isn’t easy.

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The smoked brisket cheese bread sandwich at Pamba is not to be passed on, even at four tickets, at the 2022 Taste of Edmonton Festival. It was reviewed on July 21, 2022. Postmedia

1. Brisket cheese sandwich, Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse, (4 tickets, booth 16)

You’re standing in a crowd, you’re exposed. You couldn’t count the windows with a line on you if you tried, but you have a question that has to be answered: can you fit this entire slider in your mouth at once, or is this handful of umami a two-banger? There’s actually no wrong answer, and it’s a nice choose-your-own-adventure moment that I’m loathe to prescribe for you. The bun is a little chewy and the contents are more than a little juicy, so line up your wrist with your elbow and follow your heart right to the nearest AED.

2 Pork Sisig with white rice, Joanne’s BBQ Truck, 3 tickets, truck C

The pork sisig and rice (three tickets) from Joanne’s BBQ Truck on food truck row at the 2022 Taste of Edmonton is a bargain that leaves you wanting more sisig and less rice. Reviewed on July 21, 2022. Postmedia

One wonders about portions at such a shindig. Fish rightly skewered one of his balls over the four-ticket or nearly $7 price (assuming you bought in bulk), a thought that weighed as I measured the portion I received from Joanne’s for just three tickets, surely a steal. The sisig, loaded with sliced jalapenos, delivered on the heat I was so desiring when I walked on the grounds, and which I missed dearly on my visit to St. Louis below. And the rice was nice, but I can do rice at home. I would have gladly handed over four tickets for a dish with more, well, meat.

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The dry rubbed St. Louis ribs from Smokehouse BBQ (four tickets), reviewed on July 21, 2022, at the 2022 Taste of Edmonton festival are cooked to perfection, have great texture and are neat, but no one would complain if they made more of a mess. Postmedia

3 St. Louis pork ribs, Smokehouse BBQ (4 tickets, booth 26)

Which brings us back to the mess of the human hand food experience. The cook on these ribs is unassailable, make no mistake. The caramelization and eye candy is there, as is the texture and mouthfeel. These ribs are neat and nicely presented, tender and moist. And there’s more than enough pork here to make even the tightest ticket hoarder happy for handing over four of them. But St. Louis is said to consume more barbecue sauce per capita than any other city in the United States (by a factor of two if St. Louis Magazine is to be believed). There has to be a reason for this. A neat handful of meat does make a modicum of sense at a festival like Taste of Edmonton, but if your ribs come without a wet nap, are you really in flavour country? Follow your own forks, folks.

crgilbert@postmedia.com

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Three to eat: Meaty treats to beat the heat at Taste of Edmonton - Edmonton Journal
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