DMC Boston recently staged an invasion of the 2014 “Smoke This” Rib Fest in Cambridge for an epic afternoon of rib-eating and music-listening. The weather, always a little bit hit-or-miss in Boston, was definitely a "hit!" We enjoyed perfectly clear blue skies and crisp fall air for the entire afternoon.
We each received 10 taste tickets and the opportunity to vote for who should win this year's coveted title of Pit Master. Immediately, the strategizing began. With at least twenty stalls to choose from, we knew we needed to choose wisely to avoid sacrificing valuable stomach space on sub-par samples.
Given our location New England, a bit of a dead-zone for barbecue, the overall rib quality was surprisingly good. The group’s resident rib experts were a little confused by some of the more exotic rib varieties (the presence of P.F. Chang’s was particularly unexpected) and slightly disappointed by some of the demonstrated rib-cooking techniques (every stall but one cooked on a grill rather than in a smoker …blasphemy!), but in the end, we all ate until we were too full for even another drop of barbeque sauce…
… and still had taste tickets to spare! We decided to pool our resources and redeem our last thirteen tickets of a heap of everyone’s favorite cherry ribs, which we could take home with us to enjoy at a later date.
But then, tragedy struck.
The delightful subtly cherry-flavored ribs were gone, and we were saddled with a pile of rather unfortunate Thai-flavored ribs instead. Hurt and confused by our disappointment, we were prepared to declare the day over.
Then, just when all seemed lost, our eyes stumbled upon a most welcome sight; a little old man heroically bestowing balloon animals upon swathes of children! With a group average height of around 6ft, we figured we could probably pass for kids, and collectively requested that he make us a dinosaur. He graciously obliged by creating a rather impressive pterodactyl.
The pterodactyl has been accepted into our office as an honorary employee… although he is looking a little deflated these days.
Overall, Rib Fest was a day devoted to eating large quantities of meat, enjoying beautiful weather, and behaving like mature adults. We hope to return next year to eat even more ribs!
