Barbecue Branches Out

Eric Anders, co-owner of Wood Ranch BBQ restaurants in Moorpark and Agoura Hills, isn’t afraid to express his confidence about a soon-to-open addition to his dinner-house family.

“I believe overnight we’ll become probably the nicest, most competitive restaurant in the city,” Anders said of the future establishment in Camarillo. “Our business philosophy is simple. We try to absolutely wow our guests, employees, shareholders and managers.”

Wood Ranch will try to wow the folks in Camarillo sometime in October, after a $1-million renovation to the site formerly occupied by McCarthy’s restaurant.

The doors of the new Wood Ranch will open at about the same time the Agoura Hills restaurant celebrates its second anniversary. The oldest sibling, located in Moorpark, has been open about 5 1/2 years.

If it seems like a growing chain, that’s because it is.

“From the beginning, we saw this as multiple restaurants; Eric and I just thought that was what our future would be,” said Anders’ business partner, Ofer Shemtov. “We actually are looking at locations now in the west part of the San Fernando Valley.”

For now, though, Anders and Shemtov have Camarillo on their minds.

“The menu will be just like the other two restaurants,” Shemtov said. “Our most popular dishes are tri-tip roast and baby-back ribs. And we will serve a lot of steaks, fish and salads. There will be a couple of additional items, but basically our core menu is the same.”

The restaurant will be managed and partially owned by Steve Feigenbaum, now general manager of the Moorpark restaurant. Johnny Flores, who has been training in Moorpark for the past couple of months, will head up the Camarillo kitchen.

* The Wood Ranch in Camarillo will be at 1101 Daily Drive. Its hours will be Monday-Thursday, 4-10 p.m.; Friday, 4-11 p.m.; Saturday, 3-11 p.m.; Sunday, 2-10 p.m.

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Throw together some chocolate, some coffee, fresh fruit, yogurt and a nonalcoholic liquid or two and you’ve got yourself one of two things: a pretty nasty stomachache or a rather tasty mocktail.

Amateur bartenders will be trying for the latter at a mocktail competition Aug. 22 at the Daily Grind coffeehouse in Ventura. The event, sponsored by the Lesbigay Coalition of Ventura County, is intended to promote the drinking of nonalcoholic beverages.

“It’s a partnership with the county of Ventura to lower consumption of alcohol, DUIs and youth access to alcohol,” said Toni Jones, competition director and president of the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Ventura. “The whole basis is to show alternatives--flavorful, tasty and fun kinds of drinks that don’t have to have alcohol in them.”

Each contestant, using a variety of ingredients provided by contest organizers, will then compete to concoct, on site, the most drinkable entry. The winner gets $50 and advances to a second round of competition.

Jones said mocktails created in a June contest were very palate-pleasing. “Mostly they were fruit, some of them were nectar drinks, half-and-half, nonfat milk, cranberry juice, apple juice, 7-Up,” Jones said. “They were delicious.”

* Lesbigay Coalition mocktail contest, 7-8:30 p.m. Aug. 22 at the Daily Grind, 607 E. Main St., Ventura.