BBQ sauce – Michael Eats

McExtreme Pulled Pork at McDonald’s (World Menu Heist)

Published on August 18, 2026August 19, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 30 Courtneypark Drive East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

The World Menu Heist! It’s back!! Is it sad that this is probably one of the highlights of my summer? Please don’t answer that.

As I was leaving the office at lunch today to head to McDonald’s, in my head I was like, we should all be chanting “Menu heist! Menu heist! Menu heist!” I believe this is a totally rational thought that doesn’t raise any troubling implications about my mental state.

For all the normal people out there who don’t get unreasonably excited about novelty menus at McDonald’s, the World Menu Heist is a promotion featuring various items pulled from McDonald’s locations around the world. This year, that includes France, Spain, Australia, Japan, and the Netherlands.

Obviously I’ll be trying everything (what do you think, I won’t be trying every item on this menu? Get out of here) but I started with the McExtreme Pulled Pork from Spain.

Here’s how McDonald’s describes it: “Pulled from Spain, now in Canada. Layers of pulled pork in BBQ sauce, beef, hickory-smoked bacon, white processed cheese, crispy onions for some crunch and creamy chipotle sauce for heat make for one delicious sandwich. One bite leads to another… and somehow it’s all gone.”

I’ve had some weird international McDonald’s menu items over the years, but somehow, pulled pork on a burger at McDonald’s strikes me as particularly weird.

It’s a tasty burger, though sadly, the pulled pork element is negligible. There’s a teeny-tiny amount of pulled pork on the burger, and it’s spread very thin over the large patty. You can taste the BBQ sauce, but I suspect if I had eaten this blind, I wouldn’t have even known the burger had pulled pork on it. There’s just too much other stuff going on.

I did try a little bit on its own, and it’s exactly what you think it’ll be. It’s pretty mushy and soaked in enough BBQ sauce to completely wipe out any pork flavour — but that sauce is tasty, and it’s pleasant enough as a burger topping.

Otherwise, this is probably one of the better burgers McDonald’s has come out with in a while. The creamy chipotle sauce is pleasingly zesty and very mildly spicy, and the BBQ sauce adds a nice sweet/savoury kick. The cheese, bacon, and crispy onions complement it well. It’s a solid fast food burger.

The McRib is Finally Back

Published on December 11, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2439 Steeles Avenue East, Brampton
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/

The McRib! It’s back! Sort of — for some bizarre reason, McDonald’s has chosen to only bring it back to five random locations in the GTA, mostly in Brampton. But you know what? This is the first time in like a decade that the McRib has come back to Canada, so I’m certainly not complaining.

I seem to recall that the last time the McRib came back, it wasn’t as good as I remembered. But my McRib nostalgia is strong, so of course I had to try it again.

It’s good! I was wrong, it’s good. It helps that I got a freshly-prepared one — it was quite dry last time, and that definitely wasn’t the case here. It also helps that I ordered it without onions, and with extra pickles instead, and yeah, that’s the way to go. Raw onions are for jerks.

It comes absolutely slathered in a slightly smoky, sweet-but-not-too-sweet BBQ sauce, which is a pretty big part of its appeal.

Maybe I just got lucky and got a very well-prepared one, but I think is probably one of the better things on the McDonald’s menu. Hopefully it’s not another decade before they bring it back again.

Carolina BBQ Quarter Pounder at McDonald’s

Published on December 13, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/

This isn’t one of the more exciting new items on the McDonald’s menu — I can’t imagine anyone getting too worked up about it — but it sure, why not. May as well give it a shot.

The Carolina BBQ Quarter Pounder, as per the McDonald’s website: “100% Canadian quarter pound beef patty topped with sweet and tangy golden Carolina BBQ sauce, hickory smoked bacon strips, crispy onions, pickles, and two slices of processed cheddar cheese served on a toasted sesame bun.”

It’s basically a gussied up Quarter Pounder with Cheese, though that Carolina BBQ sauce does actually make it stand out somewhat.

That sauce is pretty decent; it’s arguably too sweet (it’s intense), but the sweetness is somewhat balanced out by a satisfying tanginess and smokiness. It’s a solid BBQ sauce. And while it would be too overpowering on a better hamburger, on a dry McDonald’s Quarter Pounder, it works.

The crispy onions and bacon are a good addition, though their flavour is mostly wiped out by that very intense BBQ sauce.

Decent BBQ at Beauty Barbecue & Smokehouse

Published on September 3, 2018 by Michael Nusair3 Comments

Location: 2901 Bayview Avenue, North York
Website: https://www.beautybbq.com/

Judging by Toronto’s restaurants, really great barbecue must be the toughest thing to get right. Because there are a lot of BBQ joints in the GTA, and very, very few of them are much better than okay.

You can add Beauty Barbecue & Smokehouse to the “okay” list. It’s fine. I didn’t dislike eating there. It’s certainly not great, but I’ve had worse barbecue in the city.

I tried three things and a couple of sides: smoked + roasted pork shoulder, Torontreal smoked meat, and baby back ribs, along with grilled cornbread and kale coleslaw. I was really hoping to try the brisket; alas, it was sold out.

The pork shoulder was the oddest of the bunch. It didn’t even vaguely resemble the pulled pork you might be expecting from a barbecue joint. Instead, it was thinly sliced and tasted more like porchetta than something you’d find in the American south, with an overwhelmingly herby, rosemary-tinged flavour. I suspect it hadn’t seen a smoker in many hours (if not days) as it had zero smokiness and a mildly gamy reheated pork flavour.

The Torontreal smoked meat was a definite upgrade over the pork. Though it can’t compete with the best smoked meat in the city, it was nicely spiced and had a surprisingly smoky flavour. But the meat was tough and the fat was vaguely rubbery. Despite the fact that it was sliced very thinly, it was disconcertingly difficult to cut with a plastic knife.

The ribs were the best of the bunch. They had a good level of smoke and a nice texture — tender, but with a bit of bite. Something about them wasn’t quite clicking (I think maybe the rub?), but the vinegary-sweet sauce was tasty, and it was overall a quality rack of ribs.

As for the two sides, they were both solid. Neither particularly stood out, but the coleslaw was nice and zingy, and the cornbread was sweet, buttery, and satisfying.