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Highway 61

1620 Bayview Ave., Toronto

416-489-7427

www.highway61.ca

$60 for dinner for two with beer, tax and tip

One day in early fall, I was sitting outside at my family's camp, watching the sky change colours as the sun set – and for once not thinking about food. At that moment, our camp sous-chef, JoJo, arrived with a tin-foil packet that he said contained a few ribs. As a rib aficionado, I was not over the moon to be presented with them by the camp sous-chef, so imagine my surprise when the first bite revealed ribs of extraordinary character. The meat was pale, moist and deeply flavourful. They were more succulent and tender than any I had ever eaten. After a lifetime of searching for the ultimate ribs, there, under my nose and unbidden, were the best examples I have ever met.

This, of course, called all my heretofore rib cookery into question. Sometimes I massage raw ribs with garlic and dried herbs, leave them to marinate half a day and then grill them. Sometimes I grill, coating half way through with homemade sauce. And sometimes I parboil before grilling. But nothing I do is on a par with JoJo's delectable ribs.

Having sucked every morsel from the bones, I marched to the camp kitchen for answers. Chef JoJo gave it all up: First, he peels the almost invisible membrane from the bottom of the rack of ribs, then he simmers the ribs in water flavoured with carrots, onions, celery, parsley and lemon (the lemon to bleach the meat, its acid to break it down and tenderize) for an hour and a half, taking care to barely simmer, because boiling toughens meat. JoJo then drains the ribs and puts them in the fridge for half an hour to firm the meat slightly. The final step is brief benediction on the barbecue with homemade barbecue sauce.

Brilliant! Peeling the membrane removes a layer of toughness. Simmering in court-bouillon adds flavour and tenderizes. The bar just got several notches higher.

Which isn't necessarily salutary for Highway 61, the southern barbecue shack on Bayview. It's a cute, clever boîte, with barn-board walls (including in the lavatories) and fun pics and sayings on them betwixt and between the Harley-Davidson and classic rock posters; some include “The blues ain't nothin' but a good man feelin' bad” from Leon Redbone and a coffee ad that advises, “You Can Sleep When You're Dead.”

All of it suggests that Highway 61's creators have wit and grace. Servers are helpful and nice as well. The place is kid-friendly and it has live blues on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Behind the bar is a silhouette of John Lee Hooker, patron saint of blues and barbecue, both of which were born in the southern United States in general and the Mississippi Delta in particular. Goin' out back to the smokehouse where the ribs and briskets were cooked long and slow was just the thing for singin' the blues long and slow.

Our northern concept of ribs, which we cook fairly quickly on the backyard barbecue, is not that. Highway 61 doesn't even have a grill, because meats are cooked in smokers, long and slow. There are side and back ribs, offered with or without barbecue sauce. Their sauce uses less sugar and salt than others and is better for it, although it stops well short of the dazzle factor. But our bodies are better for the side ribs being Rowe Farms organic.

These people try harder. To start, they do a credible shrimp gumbo. Being served lukewarm isn't helpful, but the soup has lots of spicy sausage and robust broth. Their Cajun shrimp starter is also evidence of taking care in the kitchen. The shrimp are nicely cooked and bathed in red sauce with just enough hot and sweet.

But on the main event, JoJo from camp has them beat. Even taking into consideration the apples-and-oranges factor (they smoke, JoJo grills), 61's ribs are merely pleasant. They're pretty meaty but drier than JoJo's. I like my ribs ultramoist, and these aren't.

Highway 61 also does the other long 'n' slow smoked classics of southern barbecue. The pulled pork, however, is far too sweet and arrives lukewarm. The smoked chicken is better, with more of its own flavour intact under the smoke. The brisket is tender and tasty and it avoids a common fate of brisket – terminal dryness.

Southern barbecue by tradition offers very particular sides. Don't, for instance, go looking for green broccoli. If you like sweet potato frites, you're home free. The sweet potato frites at Highway 61 are fresh, crisp and mellow, but skip the ranch dip, which tastes bottled. Also skip the regular frites, which are fresh but neither crispy nor sweet. Ditto the onion rings, which are the size of bagels and should include a bypass for all the grease that is so generously pooling under them. So sing the blues.