Jerk Shack is a local food truck and catering pop-up restaurant vendor, operated by a husband and…read morewife team, and headquartered in Rocklin, CA. Jerk Shack specializes in the cuisine of Jamaica, as the husband is a native of Kingston, Jamaica, and has been cooking since he was a young man. Kansas City met Kingtson at the 2nd Annual Placer County Fair Rib Cookoff!
Jerk Shack is a food truck that provides catering service and sets up shop at special events, such as farmers markets, corporate and private parties, local breweries, and county fairs. The truck has a presence at the weekly "Farmers Market," held every Tuesday at Fountains of Roseville. I certainly need to pay the event a visit!
The restaurant had a large pan of ribs, ready to serve to hungry rib-loving customers. Like all the restaurants in the rib cookoff, after each rack of ribs is removed from the grill, the rack is cut into individual servings.
Tickets for the event were sold in lots of 5 tickets for $10.00, and can be used in any combination at all of the 25 teams participating in the event. Since the tasting time was limited to only two hours - I wish it was a couple hours longer - I chose to only visit three vendors, and enjoy five ribs from each vendor, to allow me to chit-chat with the staff, take photos, and enjoy the delicious ribs.
The amazingly friendly owners of Jerk Shack, Shaun and Myisha Parker, treated me, and all of their customers like members of their family. These folks know how to grill/smoke amazing "Kansas City style" pork ribs, with a Jamaican twist.
My order of five amazingly-delicious pork ribs, from the kitchen of Jerk Shack. This fine restaurant was my last rib stop for the day, as I only had the opportunity to visit three restaurants in the short two-hour period the rib tasting part of the event lasted.
The rib cookoff rules required all ribs to be cooked "Kansas City style," as there was a certified Kansas City rib judge on hand, to ensure ribs were cooked in that genre of barbecue. Jerk Shack is a Jamaican restaurant, and it must have taken a "little doin'" for them to alter their Jamaican recipes to Kansas City standards, but the accomplished the feat with class and style!
My five ribs were large, tender, juicy and seared on the outside to a nice "crust," yet moist and tender inside. The ribs were definitely cooked "Kansas City style," but you could definitely taste a hint of Jamaican in the ribs and the sauce, as I suspect the ribs were cooked using pimento wood - flown in from Jamaica - and the sauce was sweet, and just a little spicy, with a hint of Jamaican flavor. Whatever the heritage of these ribs, this was delicious barbecue! Kingston met Kansas City at the 2nd Annual Placer County Fair Rib Cookoff in Roseville, at Jerk Shack!
Jerk Shack grills amazing pork ribs! Despite the fact that the cuisine of Kansas City and Kingston are thousands of miles apart, I simply loved Shaun and Myisha's delicious Kansas City style ribs, with a Jamaican slant. I'll be looking for Jerk Shack at The Fountains at Roseville, or another area "foodie" event in the near future.