It’s not often enough that you encounter the union of business and pleasure. For a lot of people, making ends meet means putting passion on the backburner. But this long weekend you can see passion on the front burner, blazing up a savoury storm for more than a dozen seasoned rib-masters at Toronto’s annual Ribfest. These aren’t just portable grills rented out for a public occasion, and they certainly aren’t whatever that is you call a BBQ moping about on your patio. These are entire trucks custom built for the purpose of barbequing. A convoy outfitted with smokers and slow roasters, smouldering thousands of pounds of rib meat in rich heat for hours upon days, awaiting the moment you nibble them off the bone.

ART: Group art exhibit No Parachute Required has its opening reception tonight at Gallery 1313. The show features Alexei Vella, Michael Byers, Greg Hill, Kyung Soon Park, Christina Ung, and Urbanaut mastermind Rey Ortega. The exhibit explores the concept of risk-taking, and runs until August 3. Gallery 1313 (1313 Queen Street West, West Entrance), 8 [...]

Photo by DimsumDarren from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Famished one bright, sunny, morning, Torontoist was in no mood for the greasy spoon fare most oft served for weekend breakfast. We felt the need for something with a little heart, and so turned our gourmand gaze towards Spadina and Dundas, and the delightful dim sum options [...]

Torontoist loves a long weekend, but Labour Day has always felt bittersweet since it signals the beginning of the end of summer. Autumn doesn’t technically begin until September 23rd, but the city becomes a different place after Labour Day. Students return to school, other folks return to work, and don’t you even think of wearing [...]

The grand dame of Toronto’s performing arts venues, the Royal Alexandra Theatre, celebrates its 100th birthday tomorrow. To mark the event, the Mirvishes have organized a free open house from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., during which you can go on a self-guided backstage tour, eat free grub at the BBQ in front of the [...]

It’s that time again—dance, feet, dance. After a scrumptious BBQ or a cat-like nap, pick your bones up and head over to the Gladstone Hotel where A Man Called Warwick and guest DJ General Eclectic will be turning up the big tunes for all the lovely peoples. Best bet is to always arrive before eleven [...]

The second annual Canadian Redneck Games will be held this Saturday in Minto, Ontario. The Games came about after the residents of Minto decided to combat their image problem and rev up tourism by reclaiming the pejorative term “redneck” and giving it new meaning. According to the Canadian Redneck Games website, a Canadian redneck is [...]

We may be tired, we may be deaf, we may have caused permanent damage to our livers, but boy did we have a great time at this year’s NXNE. The music we heard, the BBQ’s we crashed, and the people we met were all part of why this is such an amazing festival. We can’t [...]

It’s Thursday, which means it’s the first day of North By Northeast and the end of our previews. In the final installment of our NXNE recommendations, we’ll guide you through the best that Saturday has to offer. And, if we may say so, Saturday has a lot of good stuff to offer. Before heading out, [...]

It’s NXNE Eve! One last chance to get a decent sleep before you find yourself staggering home at 4 a.m. for three nights in a row. Before we get to our picks, there are a couple of special Friday happenings that we feel the need to tell you about. First off is the East MEATS [...]

Chances are if you are a pervert, an intellectual, or a writer, then you are very familiar with the works of Chuck Palahniuk. The author of “Invisible Monsters”, “Choke”, and the cult classic “Fight Club” will be in town tonight to sign copies of his new book, “Rant: The Oral History of Buster Casey.” Palahniuk [...]

This Victoria Day weekend, two things will be on the minds of many Torontonians—beer and BBQ. The weather is good, you’re hanging with your friends, and you just want to kick back and chill with a cold one and a burger. You may have heard about what BBQing can do to your health and the [...]