BARBECUE: Here’s the Real McCoy

The Fourth approaches, and a young man’s fancy turns to . . . barbecue.

In and near Orange County, fortunately, there is a surfeit of good low-priced barbecue restaurants where we can eat in or take out, allowing us the option of doing a back-yard barbecue without actually having to do too much work.

Barbecue is pretty international. You’ll find it in countries such as Mexico, Thailand, China and Italy.

Here in the U.S.A., wherever you find barbecue, you find regional characteristics. Sauces vary. In Texas, the sauce is apt to be spiked with cumin; in North Carolina, it might have vinegar and red pepper; in Georgia, brown sugar and dry mustard. Wood varies too: hickory in the Midwest, oak farther east, and mesquite in California. Even the choice of meats varies. The Atlantic states favor pork shoulder, chopped up on buns; Texans go for beef brisket, and in Kansas City, they are rib crazy.

Below is a sampling of regional American and international barbecue restaurants here in Orange County. All of them sell their meats in various quantities, available to go; and all of them are reasonably priced. What’s more, as the Fourth falls on a Saturday this year, many of them will be open.

I know what I’ll be eating on the Fourth. Here are some options for you.

Western Ranch Bar-B-Que House

Fred Bernard may be a Los Angeles native, but he prepares his food with the firm hand of a Louisiana grandmother.

Bernard’s restaurant is a modest storefront with a hand-painted front window. All meats here are slow cooked in an oak-wood pit, and Bernard’s sauces, either mild or hot, are positively out of this world. The Deep South, particularly Louisiana, has a strong influence on the cooking here. The subtle taste of cayenne pepper permeates the hot sauce; catfish and snapper are always on hand; and on weekends there is an authentic file gumbo chock full of crab, chicken and sausage.

Bernard will sell you ribs by the slab, and goodies such as chopped pork and barbecued chicken by the pound. Baby backs are tender and firm, and the chicken, which has soft rather than crisp skin, is melt-away moist. There are particularly good hot links, a commercial brand Bernard buys (and declines to name), yes, but a perfect partner for this elegantly perfumed hot sauce.

Side dishes, sold individually by the pint, are great. Spicy rice (as opposed to the more popular dirty rice) is a must--it’s colored a deep brown from giblets, spices and secret ingredients. Ranch-style beans, greens, black-eyed peas and hush puppies are all exemplary. As a bonus, most orders come with big squares of what might be Orange County’s best corn bread.

Western Ranch Bar-B-Que House, 2662 W. Lincoln Ave., Anaheim; (714) 826- 8200. Open Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday till 10 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 9 p.m. Cash only.

Super Antojitos

Mexican-style barbecue on the Fourth is slightly non-traditional, it’s true, but this can be great hot-weather food and a refreshing change of pace for the adventurous. At Super Antojitos, a Santa Ana-based chain with five locations, barbecued meats are the specialty, and the choices may not be what you expect.

The South Bristol Street location is a homey adobe-style cafe with a terra cotta floor and twirling fans--the type of place that automatically lowers your body temperature. Expect it to be crowded with families and full of noise. Rock videos are invariably blaring away on the two TV sets.

There are four ways to have your barbecue here: (1), birria, advertised as barbecued goat meat but actually made with lamb; (2), lengua ranchera, soft, gelatinous bits of beef tongue in a spicy rich red sauce; (3), al pastor, dreamily crunchy multi-textured bits of marinated pork dripping with oil and spice; and (4), barbacoa, your basic barbecued beef with a few South-of-the-Border spices like cumin and garlic.

Most of the meats are sold in platos (plates), accompanied by the perfunctory rice and beans as well as superbly fresh tortillas (either corn or flour). In addition, there is a full complement of Mexican seafood specialties, tortas (sandwiches), burritos, tacos and so forth. Great breakfasts, too, and--on weekends only--menudo and pozole, huge bowls of the tripe and hominy soups that made Mexico great.

Super Antojitos, 2510 S. Bristol St., Santa Ana; (714) 957-0994. Also four other Santa Ana locations, and one in Fountain Valley (consult a phone book). Open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. All major cards accepted.

Naples Rib Joint

Barbecue purists might turn up their noses at this Naples institution where meats are grilled over mesquite chips rather than actually cooked in a pit. But the plain fact is, this mesquite adds a distinctive, attractive smokiness to whatever it touches, and ribs here, supplied by a local butcher named Mickey Berman, are just about the best I have ever tasted.

“Joint” doesn’t do justice to the ambience at this likable, clubby place, which, like its outside surroundings, is rather upscale and comfy. That could explain the prices here, on the high side for a barbecue restaurant.

As in most of these places, ribs are sold in slabs. The stars are the restaurant’s baby backs--tender, sweet, fall-off-the-bone ribs that deserve a more tangy sauce than the rather sweet one employed here. Spare ribs here aren’t nearly as tender, although they’re quite tasty. There is excellent mesquite-grilled chicken too, prepared with a variety of piquant marinades such as lemon garlic and teriyaki. Don’t miss the onion brick--fried shredded onion cooked in trendy cholesterol-free canola oil; but avoid the ho-hum sides--sticky sweet corn bread, ordinary fries and undistinguished beans. If you still have room, the original Hershey peanut butter ice cream pie makes a rich, gooey holiday dessert.

Naples Rib Joint, 5800 E. 2nd St., Long Beach; (310) 439-RIBS. Open Monday through Thursday, 4 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday till 11 p.m., and Sunday, 3 to 10 p.m. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted.

Thai Nakorn

For a change of pace, you might want to try some Thai barbecue this Independence Day. Thai Nakorn specializes in the fare of northeast Thailand, and that makes for some of Orange County’s hottest cooking--full of scorching hot chilies, pungent lime juice--and the sweet complexities of lemon grass, fresh mint and coconut milk. Ice up that beer. You’re gonna need it.

The killer dish here is the Thai barbecued chicken, cooked over coals and so good that Thais from Los Angeles drive down to buy them whole. An entire chicken, dripping flavor and crust crisp with Thai spices, is $9.75.

But Thais just plain love to barbecue, period. A Thai Nakorn specialty is barbecued shrimp salad with onion, mint and chili. The shrimp, which are seriously addictive, taste as if they have been smoked slowly for days, and the greens are hotter than a Bangkok summer. Then there is Thai barbecued sausage, a wonderful dish that tastes almost American. Eat it Thai style in cabbage leaves with the hot pepper sauce that comes alongside, with some fragrant and delightful sweet rice served steaming in a finely crafted woven bamboo crock.

Thai Nakorn, 8674 Stanton Ave., Buena Park; (714) 952-4954. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Closed Monday. Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club accepted.

Richard Jones Pit BBQ

In Texas, barbecue is synonymous with beef brisket, and Richard Jones serves it up in force. The secret of Texas brisket--tender wood-flavored slices, blackened around the edges--is slow smoking in a wood-fired pit. But this restaurant--which recently added 14 billiard tables and 12 color TVs, making it one of the area’s biggest sports bars--does it a bit differently.

Richard Jones cooks its meats in a stainless-steel pit in which a succession of meat-filled racks rotate cannily, in conveyor belt fashion, over a wooden fire. It’s quite an invention. The wood, pure hickory, essential to the regional style that means Texas, burns in a clay oven attached to the rear. Wood is shoveled in through a furnace-like door about five feet behind the meats, and smoke circulates continuously, perfuming the meats like Chanel. The results speak for themselves.

The classic Texan barbecue dish is smoked beef brisket, hand-sliced and served on a French roll with pickle, onion and the house barbecue sauce. You can’t say you’ve eaten real Texas ‘cue until you’ve had one. You might also consider the Texas sampler, baby back pork ribs, barbecued chicken, beef ribs, Texas sausage and pork spare ribs--a good three pounds of meat and bone brought out on a huge platter. These are dry-style meats that I personally fancy, though they’re not to everyone’s taste.

Richard Jones Pit BBQ, 279 E. Orangethorpe Ave., Fullerton; (714) 992-4801. Also at 5781 Santa Ana Canyon Road, Anaheim Hills; (714) 998-5364. Both restaurants open Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday till 10 p.m. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted.

Burrell’s Rib Cage and Burrell’s Bar-B-Que

It’s impossible to mention barbecue in this county without mentioning Fred Burrell, the king of ‘cue in these parts. Burrell’s three restaurants--two are called Burrell’s Rib Cage, and one is named Burrell’s Bar-B-Que--are more than just the best and most authentic barbecue restaurants in Orange County; they are gastronomic near-shrines.

Burrell’s cooking is North Carolina barbecue, true to the traditions of the Mid-South. It’s sloppy, saucy food infused with the perfumes of hickory smoke, smothered in a redolent red sauce rich with pepper, vinegar and exotic spicing. Most typical of this style is his barbecued pork shoulder sandwich, an overflowing heap of sauced, shredded meat in a French roll topped with creamy cole slaw. The meat is multi-textured, at once flaky, crispy, and chewy-- as if several shoulders cooked to different degrees of doneness had been chopped up into the same sauce. There are also extraordinary hot links, the casing charred crisp and, inside, a terrific snootful of chili, garlic, nutmeg and ginger.

Burrell’s Bar-B-Que, the newest of the three restaurants, serves a grand Southern-style breakfast with grits, stuffed biscuits and even red-eye gravy--a thick country gravy made with, of all things, coffee grounds. Another specialty here is gumbo, chock full of shrimp, spicy rice and Burrell’s crumbly hot link sausage. No matter what you get, at any of these three places, you’re bound to strike gold.

Burrell’s Rib Cage, 305 N. Hesperian St., Santa Ana; (714) 835-9936. Open daily, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Also at 1701 E. McFadden Ave., space J, Santa Ana; (714) 541-3073. Open Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays till 11 p.m., and Sundays till 9 p.m. Both restaurants are cash only. Burrell’s Bar-B-Que, 14962 Sand Canyon Road, Irvine; (714) 786-0451. Open daily, 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; breakfast served until 11 a.m. Monday through Saturday only. Visa and MasterCard accepted.