Photos courtesy of The SmoQue Shack and Fatboys Facebook pages.
By Robin Levinson
For years I have been complaining that Ottawa, nay, Canada in general, has no good BBQ. What passes for BBQ up North is often boiled ribs finished on the grill, or *gasp, rotisserie chicken. Ottawa’s beloved Ribfest, which claims to be an “authentic” BBQ contest, is a sad disappointment. Their dry and measly little ribs are overpriced and covered in a sickly-sweet sauce. Their chicken is cooked on a rotisserie and then grilled. It just won’t do.
BBQ nuts like me are obsessed with the utopian ideal of what “authentic BBQ” really tastes like. Check out any thread on Chowhound or Ottawa Foodies, and you’ll come across vehement BBQ lovers with a variety of opinions on what makes for “real” BBQ. We yearn for the perfect rib, the picturesque drumstick that at once recalls roadside stands, hot summers, junebugs and sweet tea.
Of course, such a quest is inevitably futile. The best that I can hope for north of the Mason-Dixon line is a cheap imitation, a copy of a copy, of that utopian food that evokes a heavy nostalgia for a land I have never known.
So when I heard that Ottawa opened not one but TWO “authentic” BBQ joints, I had to see how they measure up to my BBQ fantasy. Both are in the Market, mere blocks away from one another. The SmoQue Shack was the first to open, back in August. Then, after a bit of hemming and hawing over liquor license issues, Fatboys Southern Smokehouse finally opened December 8. A Christmas miracle!
Read on for a smackdown between the two newcomers to Ottawa’s BBQ scene.
