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| - I am torn between 3.5 and 4 stars, but I did enjoy myself, so I'll lean upward.
Having been to Rose and Sons, and enjoying both that experience and BBQ in general, we were excited to go to Big Crow. I enjoyed the communal tables and the general ambiance of a camp dining lodge done up with hipster touches, but fair warning: it's loud. If you have any kind of conversation, it'll have to be at a volume that invites eavesdropping. (More fun when the people at your elbows aren't spending their entire meal discussing the merits of moving to the South Kingsway or putting $100k into your $700k home to sell it at $1.2. Really? This is two hours' worth of conversation?? Ok, ok, not the resto's fault, but just to illustrate how communal dining has its pitfalls.)
We enjoyed the Caesar salad with bbq'd bacon slab draped over it (although we didn't actually order the bacon option -- amidst the din, our server misheard us) and grilled shrimp with thousand island dressing, cocktail sauce, and Ritz crackers (David could have done without the Ritz crackers, but I have a soft spot for them), but off the bat noticed the salt quotient.
Our taste buds continued alternately singing and shriveling at the Miami ribs (tangy, rich, salty) and the baby back ribs with walnut (?) pesto (hint of spice, lots of salt -- without the pesto mostly just smoke flavour; with the pesto much more interesting). Coleslaw was tasty, not too creamy or too vinegary. Did I sense a saltiness in it too? Hard to tell by then -- my taste buds were inured by the rest.
Glad we went, don't need to go back. David does BBQ as well, if not better, and without the salt (I was up twice in the night for a drink of water). A fun place to go, though, especially on a crisp late-summer evening.
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