Meat Me in Santa Maria

It’s a bit more modest than the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland or Cooperstown, N.Y.’s tribute to baseball, but neither of those made me hungry. After perusing the Santa Maria Style Barbecue Hall of Fame recently, I couldn’t wait to get to a restaurant.

Having just moved to the area, I wanted to taste the quintessential meal that I’d heard and read so much about when I lived in Los Angeles during the 1970s and ‘80s. In the process, I discovered the hall of fame and learned to appreciate a style of cooking that Californians have been enjoying for a century.

The hall is actually a room in the Santa Maria Valley Historical Museum, in this Central Coast town of about 69,000. Photographs and memorabilia that cover the walls and fill several display cases chronicle the foods this area is famous for. Staff at the adjacent Chamber of Commerce supplied me with a list of area restaurants, and I was off on the trail of some hearty eating.

Many meals later, I concluded that what’s cooked, the seasoning used and the accompanying side dishes have been expanded, varied and even totally changed since the mid-1800s, when Santa Maria barbecue originated. But the single factor sacred to everything is the use of live red oak as the heat source.

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Back in the 1800s, huge cattle ranches dotted California’s Central Coast. Most of the time, ranch hands handled the work, but when it came time for calf branding and roundups, more help was needed. Family and friends would pitch in, and when the work was finished, the owners served a Spanish-style barbecue. A pit was dug in the ground, and beef, threaded onto willow limbs, was cooked over a fire made with wood from local oak trees. Bread, salsa and pinquito beans were the traditional accompaniments.

In the early 1900s, metal rods replaced the tree branches, and in the late 1930s, sheet metal and concrete cooking pits with mechanically operated systems to raise and lower the rods were being used at some of the ranches.

By that time, stag barbecues were also being served in town at the Santa Maria Club, which had been formed in 1920 by area businessmen. The club’s menu, copyrighted by the Chamber of Commerce in 1978 along with the name Santa Maria Style Barbecue, included top block sirloin beef from the upper back of the steer, barbecue beans, tossed green salad, macaroni and cheese, salsa, toasted French bread, a simple dessert and coffee.

Local restaurants had also begun serving foods cooked over red oak. Some of them--the Beacon Outpost, Landmark, Shaw’s and Valley Farmer--have closed, but a few from that era remain and others have opened.

In the 1950s, only well-aged top block sirloin beef, 3 inches thick, was grilled, with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Today, you’re more likely to see tri-tip roasts and ribs, some brushed with tomato-based barbecue sauces.

Metal grates have replaced the rods over the cooking pits. Pork ribs and chops, chicken (whole, half, parts or kebabs), turkey drumsticks, linguica and other sausages, quail, ham and all sorts of seafood now share space with the beef.

Sourdough is often used instead of French bread. Macaroni and cheese has disappeared or been replaced by macaroni salad. Salsa may or may not be available. Tossed green salad is almost always part of most restaurant meals.

Pinquito beans are still used as an accompaniment, but the seasoning varies, and sometimes they are even combined with other beans. Menus list them as chili beans, trail camp beans or ranch beans, but all are similar.

Despite my consumption of ample amounts of beef, beans and atmosphere, I couldn’t reach a decision on my favorite of the restaurants and street stands. I’ll leave that for you to decide.

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A few blocks north of the Hall of Fame, the Swiss Chalet has been cooking meat in its oakwood pit since 1942. It grills five cuts of steak ($17.95 to $22.95), beef and pork ribs ($11.95 and $19.95), pork chops ($16.95), chicken ($11.95), prime rib on Friday and Saturday ($19.95) and sweetbreads ($14.95) and serves them with soup, salad, a choice of potato or rice pilaf, salsa, beans, garlic bread and coffee.

Lobster tail (market priced), crab legs ($22.95), calamari ($15.95) and most of the other seafood offerings can also be cooked over oak. Red-and-white checkered tablecloths contrast with the dark wood in the cozy two-part dining room reminiscent of a ski chalet.

A little farther north, at Donovan Road, the Central City Broiler has similar offerings and prices, but the meats are brushed with a house barbecue sauce. You get a choice of soup or salad and baked potato, fettuccine Alfredo or French fries, along with sourdough bread.

Fortunately, Richard Chenoweth, director and curator of the Santa Maria Valley Historical Museum and Hall of Fame, had provided detailed directions to my next stop, the Hitching Post in Casmalia. It’s only 13 miles south of Santa Maria via Black Road, but I drove for what seemed like a long time before spotting the big sign pointing to the restaurant.

Casmalia was a cow town of about 1,500 people at the turn of the century. Today, there are only about 200 residents, but the Hitching Post draws customers from the surrounding towns, as well as tourists. Situated in a 100-year-old historical landmark building, the Hitching Post’s weather-beaten walls are covered with mementos of the Old West.

I watched dinners being grilled on the glass-enclosed indoor oakwood barbecue pit. Quail is served (two 4-ounce birds, $15.95), along with items similar to those at other barbecue restaurants. Dinners are accompanied by a fresh vegetable tray, bay shrimp or fruit cocktail, green salad, baked potato or homemade French fries, garlic bread, coffee or tea, and ice cream or sherbet. The Hitching Post is the only restaurant I visited that doesn’t serve some type of beans.

I also heeded the advice of local people I met along the barbecue trail. “I’ve lived here since 1972 and eaten at them all,” said Susan Stever of Arroyo Grande. “Jocko’s has the best filet. It’s consistently good.”

That sent me to Nipomo, eight miles north of Santa Maria. I found Jocko’s at the corner of Tefft Street and Thompson Avenue, just east of U.S. 101. It’s a no-frills place with Formica tables, a tile floor and an interesting history.

Named for Ralph “Jocko” Knotts (his nickname came from a cartoon character monkey his friends thought he resembled), the original Jocko’s Cage was a saloon the opened, following Prohibition, at one end of a garage and service station run by Knotts. The present Jocko’s restaurant opened in the 1950s.

In addition to filet, which I agree is terrific, and other steaks, chops, ribs, sweet breads and chicken, the pit at Jocko’s grills ham steak ($11.25) and a couple types of sausage ($9.75 to $11.50). All are served with salsa, salad, relish, potatoes or steamed rice, beans, garlic bread, coffee and dessert.

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I was also told about Far Western Tavern on California Highway 1, nine miles west of Santa Maria in the tiny town of Guadalupe. It occupies a 1912 building that was originally the Palace Hotel and maintains a western decor, although it is the most formal of the places I visited.

Tables in the carpeted dining room are covered with dark green and white linens. Cow hides are used as drapes on the tall windows along one wall. Other walls are adorned with cattle and deer head trophies.

The house specialty--a good choice--is Bull’s Eye Steak (eye of the prime rib), available in 6-, 14- and 20-ounce sizes ($15.25 to $29.95). For an extra $2.50 you can top it (and several other of the steaks) with bearnaise, pinto mushroom or whiskey cream sauce. The dinner price includes shrimp cocktail, choice of soup or salad and baked potato, French fries, grilled polenta or steamed rice, pinquito beans, salsa and garlic toast.

Lower-priced Sundown Dinner Specials are offered, 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and include a 6-ounce Cowboy Cut Top Sirloin, regularly priced at $12, for $9.50.

Early bird specials are also available at F. McLintocks, just off U.S. 101 in Shell (Pismo) Beach. Most entrees are $9 to $13, Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m., Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

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McLintocks is a popular watering hole on weekends and doesn’t accept reservations, so go early or expect a wait. They serve the Baseball Cut Top Sirloin and several other cuts of steak with ample portions of onion rings, salsa, salad, trail camp beans, garlic bread, ranch fried potatoes and either an after-dinner liqueur or sherbet or ice cream.

I also sampled barbecue at reasonable prices on Saturday afternoons along Broadway in downtown Santa Maria, where many of the local service clubs grill foods on their mobile barbecue pits to raise funds for their organizations.

Another good tasting opportunity is the farmers’ market on Thursday nights in San Luis Obispo. Each week five mobile barbecue pits are rolled onto a six-block section of Higuera Street that is closed to traffic in the heart of town.

If the length of the customer line is any indication, McLintocks seems to be the most popular. But others also have loyal backers.

“Old Country Deli is the best,” said Ilene Eisen, a former San Luis Obispo resident who now lives in Monterey. “When we come back to visit, we always make sure we’re here on Thursday,” Eisen said as she and her son Josh sat on the curb enjoying ribs and a tri-tip sandwich.

I liked the idea of comparing barbecue from McLintocks and Old Country Deli with Mo’s (tasty traditionally cooked ribs), SLO Brewing (good turkey drumsticks) and Nothing But the Best (try the linguica sandwich). So one night I collected samples from all five and went home for a serious tasting. Too much food and still no consensus. The quest continues.

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GUIDEBOOK

Santa Maria

Grillwork

Getting there: Santa Maria is 170 miles north of Los Angeles on U.S. 101.

What to see: The Santa Maria Style Barbecue Hall of Fame, 616 S. Broadway; telephone (805) 922-3130.

Where to eat: Central City Broiler, 1520 N. Broadway, Santa Maria; tel. (805) 922-3700.

Far Western Tavern, 899 Guadalupe St., Guadalupe; tel. (805) 343-2211.

F. McLintocks Steakhouse and Saloon, 750 Mattie Road, Shell Beach; tel. (805) 773-1892.

Hitching Post of Casmalia, 3325 Point Sal Road, Casmalia; tel. (805) 937-6151.

Jocko’s Restaurant, 125 N. Thompson Ave., Nipomo; tel. (805) 929-3686.

Swiss Chalet, 516 N. Broadway, Santa Maria; tel. (805) 925-7310.