It’s a short work week, and we at Young & Hungry Central have just the thing you need: beer and dining recommendations for the Fourth. We also have something for your reading pleasure:

The top blog posts of the week.

1. Obama Ate Here: The Working Map (with apologies and gratitude to BrightestYoungThings)
2. What Did Your $10 Ticket Get You at the Safeway Barbecue Battle?
3. On July 4th Weekend, Buy American Beer
4. Breadline Busted on 19 Health Code Violations, Ten of Them Critical
5. Dairy Godmother’s Owner Doesn’t Want the Obama Bump That Ray’s Hell Burger Got

Photo by cristinabe via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution License

The organizers of the event sent me two tickets in the mail. Had I paid for them, like almost everyone else at this outdoor meat fest, they would have cost me $10 each. I used one and went solo to the massive event, which stretched five blocks along Pennsylvania Avenue NW. I didn’t bring much money with me and, since I had lost my check card recently, didn’t have access to any cash from the portable ATMs on site.

I almost starved to death.

I have to admit that I was startled by the fact that my ticket got me next to nothing to eat. I had, perhaps foolishly, expected that the contestants in the barbecue battle would be, at the very least, offering samples to the public. That was not the case — at least when I was there on Sunday afternoon. Most of the samples available were products that Safeway, the sponsor, was pimping.

Regardless, I decided early on that I was not going to pay Famous Dave’s or Old Glory any money for their crappy barbecue. I was going to eat freebies only — or I wasn’t going to eat at all. I wasn’t here for the music, after all. I was here to eat.

Here’s what I ate:

1. A sample of Rancher’s Reserve flatiron steak (Safeway tie-in)
2. A sample of dry-rubbed pork loin (Safeway tie-in)
3. A piece of bread slathered in Stubb’s barbecue sauce
4. A two-bite chopped brisket sandwich and two slivers of sausage, courtesy of Stubb’s Feed the World campaign (nice peppery kick in the sausage)
5. A small plastic cup of diced watermelon (not much sweetness)
6. A small plastic cup of Gold Peak lemon-flavored tea (very sweet)
7. A piece of bread dusted with Todd’s Dirt (which tastes of oregano and garlic and something sweet)
8. A sample of the “orange whirl” SunnyD smoothie (which tastes like a liquid orange creamsicle)
9. A Luna bar with lemon zest
10. A small bag of sliced red apples

I opted not to stand in the long, long cattle line at the Safeway Sampling Pavilion. I had no desire to wait 30 minutes for a bite of Perdue chicken, Oscar Mayer weiners, or Lay’s potato chips.

So by the time I left the event, I had eaten exactly one small sample of barbecue, thanks to Stubb’s generosity. I’m sorry but Luna bars and sliced apples do not make a barbecue battle.