Marga's Foodblog

We've been going to the Alameda County Fair every year since our oldest girl was born. The kids love seeing the animals and the rides (and Mike is quite good at one carnival game so he always wins something for Mika), and we all enjoy the concerts. Last year we saw The Village People, and this year we enjoyed K.C. and the Sunshine Band and will see Smashmouth (Mika even knows the lyrics to "All Star", from Shrek) on Friday.

We haven't been particularly impressed with food at the fair, however. It's expensive, of course, (drinks in particular), but it's also not that great. The funnel cakes are OK - but not worth the calories, and the hot dogs are just hot dogs, edible but safe. Among the poor choices, Big Bubba's Bad BBQ seems like the best.

We've tried their BBQ beef and their Tri-Tip sandwiches ($7.50), and neither were remarkable. The same can be said about their grilled chicken ($9.75 for 1/2 a chicken). The skin wasn't crispy enough for my taste, and while the dark meat was tasty enough, the white meat was clearly dry.

The pork ribs, however, were great. They were meaty, tender and smokey, and perfectly scrumptious. We also liked the mild BBQ sauce, they complimented it very well. Indeed, I'll venture to say that these are the best ribs I've had in the area, saved for the ones at Everett & Jones. And at $7.50 for 4 large ribs, they are very well priced.

The only side we've tried are their baked beans. They were perfectly fine, though unremarkable, beans. The portion was large enough to share, but quite expensive at $3.

In all, we're planning to eat there again, but just order the ribs.