Where to find BBQ in Mid Penninsula

Perhaps you overlooked Montara.

Steve's Blue Pacific (on HWY 1, real near the Charthouse). Serves a BBQ all its own. Sort of a cross between CA Cuisine and Southwestern. At a fair price too.

It's not all that long a drive for you. You'd know that if you lived out here, where good food is scarce and sometimes a drive is in order for the landlocked.

 * Origin: PCUG BBS - San Francisco HST/V.32 415-621-2609 (8:914/201.0)

Someone wrote:
>Jason D. wrote:
>>Doubting that this group has a FAQ I'll ask: Where are the BBQ restaurants
>>in the mid-penninsula (San Mateo/Redwood City) area?. I've checked the yellow
>>pages but found only Firehouse in Burlingame (not exactly down-home BBQ.
>>
>There is indeed such a shortage.  I have to fly to my state of
>origin -- Texas -- for periodic restorative BBQ.  Nonetheless, you
>might consider:
>  - Goldie's Barbecue (near border between Palo Alto and East Palo
>    Alto), University Avenue

And since Jason and I have previously communicated about getting his resistance to capsaicin built back up after an absence, I'll further recomment the hot sauce at Goldie's.  They make three sauces: a mild, which had a slightly sweet, pasty texture to it; a hot, which was pretty good -- not too sweet, and as Chris Kantarjiev told me the first time he took me there, "What I like about the sauce at Goldie's is that when they say 'hot,' they don't mean 'sour.'"  Chris goes one or two steps beyond Curtis Jackson, I think, in his disdain for excessive use of vinegar.  Oh, and the third sauce is a medium, which seems to be just a blend of the other two.  Get the hot, Jason.  And get the beef, or the brisket, or whatever they call it: the lazy man's way to eat barbecue, just big fall-apart chunks of beef with no bones, no gristle, nothing but lean meat.  (Good hot links, too, if I remember right, though this was three years or so ago... is Goldie's even still there on Whiskey Gulch, or was that part of town torn down for the Sun site that never was?)

>  - Armadillo Willy's (near border between Palo Alto and Los
>    Altos), San Antonio Rd
>
>I suppose Goldie's is slightly preferable.  It certainly is more
>genuine in setting (i.e., funky).  A. Willy's has a feel of
>franchise (e.g., Chili's) to it.

Gotta agree there, though the teeny little place over on Saratoga- Sunnyvale Road used to feel less this way.  The one on San Antonio at El Camino seemed a little too packaged ("Hi-my-name-is-Sue-and- I'll-be-your-server-today-thank-you-for-coming-to-Armadillo-Willy's- can-I-take-your-order-please?"); the Sara-Sun place was more like the kind of hole-in-the-wall spot that should serve barbecue, and the guys behind the counter seemed really into it.

But if you're going that far south, check out Mr. D's in Sunnyvale, on El Camino near Henderson.  My meals there have been marred by the outgassing of paper plates in the microwave, though I understand about paper plates being part of the True Barbecue Experience (along with the slice of white bread that comes with the meal).  Mr. D himself (can't remember his name) is a great guy, from Oklahoma, who showed me the smoker he uses to cook his meats.  He takes it seriously; if you don't like his style of barbecue, you can't help but admire his sincerity.  I happen to think it was pretty tasty too; ask him about his hot sauce -- it isn't always available, but when it is, it tastes like pureed chipotles en adobo.  Good stuff.  They also do fine fried catfish there, in a crisp, even coating of corn meal, very juicy and very fresh-tasting; also red snapper cooked the same way. Far better than any fish-and-chips fried fish, but maybe that's because it's only been 50 years since my family left the Midwest and it's been 250 since they left Jolly Olde.

For a really weird barbecue, don't miss Rei dos Frangos at Benton & Monroe in Santa Clara.  By "really weird," I mean it's Portuguese style -- they make a mix of spices in olive oil, brush it on the food just before throwing it on the grill, and then cook it over open coals.  It's *great* grilled food, but I can see people having trouble calling it "barbecue."  Try the rabbit; you'll ahve to call 30 minutes in advance for them to prepare it (probably to thaw it, or maybe to run over to Race Street and buy one), but it's worth it. The spice mix, as close as we can get at home, consists of sweet and hot paprika (fairly mild, but with a little zing to it), garlic, thyme, cumin, and a few other undetectable seasonings -- maybe clove, maybe allspice,  it's all subtle and wonderful -- all in an olive-oil base.  The basting mixture was different for the different meats, I recall.  They will do whole suckling pigs if you order in advance, but they warn you that it's as expensive to get a whole small pig as it is to get a large one.  (So get a large one and invite the net!)

--Scott

In article , [email removed] (Jason E.
Durbin) wrote:
>
> Doubting that this group has a FAQ I'll ask: Where are the BBQ restaurants
> in the mid-penninsula (San Mateo/Redwood City) area?. I've checked the yellow
> pages but found only Firehouse in Burlingame (not exactly down-home BBQ.
>
> When I lived in Berkeley there was Flint's and several others. Is there a
> BBQ shortage on this side of the Bay?
>
> Jason Durbin
> ([email removed])

I'd just like to emphasize the mention others have made of Goldie's. It's the only place between Pearl's in San Mateo and some of the places situated further to the south that has oak-smoked meat and excellent sauce. It's as close to Flint's as you'll get within rea- sonable driving distance. If others haven't had a barbecue fix in a while, Rocky (Goldie's husband and proprietor of the EPA store) would appreciate a visit.

--Ron Drake

********************************************************************** Fred: "What about your 'SuperVision', SuperChicken?" SC:   "If we'd had supervision, Fred, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
**********************************************************************