Day 153: Real Barbecue: Smoked Ribs, Salmon, Pulled Pork, Baked Beans, Coleslaw and Onion Salad
It’s on days like this that I’m so thankful to be a carnivore.
I’m going to dole out some advice today: if you are ever invited to a 1st birthday party and the birthday girl’s Dad happens to be a chef, go. If said Dad is Kevin Turner from Brava Bistro (one of my favorite restaurants, and not only because of the lobster poutine), cancel all your other engagements if you need to in order to attend. This was hands-down the best first birthday party I’ve ever been to; after all, when the kid is only 1, there doesn’t tend to be much in the way of entertainment beyond the food. Not that it’s not a ton of fun to stand around policing toddlers while discussing puppies and potty training and who’s pregnant again, and I’ve never been one to turn down a hot dog and a cupcake. But this was serious barbecue, which always trumps everything else. They started smoking the meat yesterday, in one of those smokers that’s so big it arrives on a trailer and requires its own license plate.
This is only half the smoker. The poundage of pork and sausages probably came close to outweighing me (or at least my left thigh - probably not my right one) and I think I counted 6 sides of salmon. The baked beans were dark and sticky, with big chunks of bacon mingling among them. I could have plunked myself in an adirondack chair and eaten a vat of them.
The photos really don’t do justice to this work of art. I could hardly stand photographing my food instead of eating it, and I didn’t want to stand over my plate for too long and allow my tears of joy to water down that mayonnaisey (that’s a word) onion salad. It was just thickly sliced sweet onion liberally coated with either real mayo or crème fraîche (and something else - celery seed? I’ll ask Kevin) - so simple, but a perfect companion to the pulled pork. Had I realized this right away, I would have lobbed more onto my plate.
As we were leaving (they were still trying to get the keg of beer going - why are kegs always so fussy? and whoever heard of a first birthday kegger anyway?) Mike said “I feel like we just walked off a movie set.” Between the idyllic back yard setting with colourful paper lanterns, jumpy castle, spinach dip with shrimp stirred into it and bottomless chafing dishes of actual, real, true barbecue, we were both waiting for Steve Martin to ride in on a horse and give the birthday girl a pink pony. Or to wake up on the couch in a puddle of drool and realize it was time to get up and go to the party.
(Note to self: stay friends with the Turners. There will be more birthday parties coming up. Stay in particularly close contact around the end of May.)
This all raises the inevitable question: what am I going to do for W’s 3rd?
June 01 2008 | eating out | 4 Comments »
