THEEVENT Great way to spend a Saturday with my best buddy! The Rock n’ Rib Fest is a annual event held in the City of Lawrenceville Town Square, which are the four streets that surround the Historic Gwinnett Courthouse. Part rock concert and part foodie paradise, there is a little something for everyone. Aside from the event vendors, all restaurants located on the square are open for business. Several of them were also competing for the best ribs. $ 24 = 8 tickets and each ticket was good for two ribs or two sides. The ticket girls were ready with tickets… but not cash to make change(duh) and we had to wait a while for them to build up enough change. As a small reward for our patience, they gave us 2 additional tickets for the wait. Wanting to save room in our bellies, IF we didn’t like the taste, we threw it away after just one bite. Here’s how the BBQ stacked up: — — — — — — - — - - THEVENDORS * LOCALREPUBLIC — It’s no secret I love this place! They don’t serve ribs on their regular menu(although they should), so remember that if you decide to go for a visit. Scott who is Head Chef & brilliant Grill Master, took first prize last year and will likely do the same this year. His ribs hands down were the best of the competition. But if I’m being honest(which Scott appreciates), they were nowhere near as good as the ones I bragged about in my last review of Local Republic: THOSE ribs were amazing, best ever, slap yo momma til she passes out then slap her back awake again GOOD! Today’s ribs I would only rate about 3.5 stars. * PAPACHUCK’s — The only other ribs in this competition worthy of purchasing. However, that being said, they were only a 3 at best. I’d be willing to try them at their Lawrenceville location to see if the taste is any better there. * McCRAY’s — Was ‘meh’ ok, but not a rib that would draw me into their doors. They were small baby backs and relied heavily on the BBQ sauce. They didn’t deliver that good BBQ flavor we hoped. 2.5 stars. * SPICEDRIGHT served a delicious looking Brunswick stew, but looks can be deceiving because the flavor was about 2 stars. Two bites and it went into the trash… not good! * OYSTERBAY — These ribs were our least favorite of the group @ 1 star. The conch fritter I managed to negotiate as part of my meal was more dough than conch. We vacation in the Caribbean Islands almost every year and conch is my favorite seafood while there. I eat it practically every meal, so I know conch. This was not good. Many of the competitors(I believe) used a brine to soak their ribs. If you don’t brine properly you’ll taste the salt water on the ribs, giving them a strange flavor. We sampled every competitor with the exception of three. The three we didn’t sample looked like amateurs. The ribs had no char or spices visible and by the looks of their meat, it appeared to be boiled or maybe oven baked… so we took a pass! Other food vendors included Texas Roadhouse, Hawaiian shaved ice, a Cuban food truck, lemonade stand, beer, Mexican, chicken nuggets, fried potatoes, sweets and a few others. The Mango-Strawberry lemonade was very good. You got a huge cup for $ 5 +1 refill. Some of the sweets were very creative, like the cupcakesicles. There were also plenty of things to do for kids like jumpers and races. Courthouse grounds had picturesque large oaks for plenty of shaded seating. — — — — — — - — - - THEVERDICT I love festivals and outdoor family events!!! I expected competition BBQ to be much better in flavor than I experienced, but it wouldn’t stop me from coming back next year. Hopefully they will draw better competitors and make Scott work hard for a win. If you missed it this year, get here early next year. It was packed with people and will likely continue to gain popularity each year :-) In my humblest opinion, most of the BBQ we sampled was not worthy of being called competition BBQ, but we had a great time anyway. Excellent weather, music, beer, BBQ and friends… how could you not have a great day?
