There’s <i> Real </i> BBQ in Orange County

The first stop in my personal westward migration was Colorado, where I concluded that barbecue did not exist in any authentic form once you crossed the Mississippi.

I decided this after ordering a chicken sandwich at a barbecue shack in Boulder.

The place looked so authentic, with its weathered wooden siding and its chimney puffing clouds of aromatic smoke, that my hopes were high. But what I got was a grilled chicken leg--grilled!--and still on the bone. It came between two slices of supermarket white bread, actually the only authentic part of the act.

You want barbecue? Go east, young man, I thought.

I’ve since moderated this opinion, but if I harbored any lingering doubts, Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill has erased them. It’s a pretty big operation, with spacious booths and a lot of traffic, but barbecue-wise, it’s the real thing.

According to orthodox barbecue doctrine, there are four primary styles of American barbecue: North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas City and Texas. Barbecue aficionados can get downright Jesuitical when it comes to arguing the merits of each, but I’m not sure it’s so clear-cut. I can’t, for example, quite figure out where Wood Ranch falls into the scheme of things. Maybe it’s closest to Kansas City, which puts a special emphasis on the sauce.

Or maybe it’s some sort of California fusion. At any rate, I’m going to leave the categorizing to the smokehouse philosophers. The important point is that Wood Ranch dishes up some awfully good ‘cue.

This small chain of high-volume, family-friendly restaurants started in Moorpark in 1992. Now there are five in the Southland, the Anaheim Hills location the only one in Orange County. What’s impressive about it is the degree of quality control the enterprise has been able to maintain in the face of madding crowds.

On weekends, your name is taken and you’re handed a pager. There can be a substantial wait, but regulars don’t complain. The bar is a nice place to sit it out, but be forewarned: Drinks come in two sizes, large and small, and a large margarita is enough to fuel a large Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Not only is the meat itself of superb quality, it’s expertly cooked. Ribs, chicken and beef are smoked for hours before being finished off over a mesquite fire and slathered with a sweetish but nicely nuanced sauce that whispers of cloves and hints at garlic. The sauce has a chameleon-like quality. On beef, it’s full and round; on pork, it seems sharper and tangier; on chicken it’s somehow soft and sweet.

The baby back pork ribs are the star of the show. The $18.95 price tag may not be bargain-basement, but the serving is almost enough for two, at least if the two are somewhat less gluttonous than the folks I brought along to dinner. The crust gives way beneath your teeth to soft, moist meat, and the sauce is brushed on late in the cooking process, so it reduces to gelatinous perfection on the meat.

Also on the barbecue roster is Wood Ranch’s tri-tip roast. Ordered medium-rare, it arrives beautifully sliced and done to a turn, with just enough of that good sauce to enhance its flavor. The tender and succulent chicken is also a good bet.

I must add that, while my imaginary panel of barbecue gurus might look askance at the moniker, the sandwich dubbed as America’s Best BBQ Beef Sandwich is extremely good. The shaved tri-tip is shoveled generously into a sliced baguette that’s pleasingly besotted with the sauce. Its rich, smoky taste makes it the winning entry in the comfort food category.

Wood Ranch stays the course for the most part with its selection of steaks. The T-bone, at 20 ounces, is nearly two inches thick and is worthy of a “yabba-dabba-doo.” The filet mignon, on the other hand, is on the pallid side in terms of flavor. The restaurant also does good things with fish. Halibut was the catch of the day one time I ate here. Its marinade of brown sugar, whiskey and soy sauce was considerably more subtle than the enumeration of ingredients might suggest, and the baked fish itself was wonderfully fresh, moist and flaky.

The side dishes and appetizers are also consistently good. Killer Buffalo wings, anyone? Wood Ranch may play it a little too safe for my taste in the hot sauce department here, but the wings are pleasingly plump and the sauce nicely balanced.

The ranch fries are crisp on the outside and soft as you bite into them. Also good is the generous mound of sweet, wispy onion shavings billed as Famous Shredded Onions, though I didn’t care much for the watery salsa that came with the chips and salsa.

The BBQ chicken potato skins, on the other hand, are a good bet. They’re a treasure trove of chicken, green onions and cheddar cheese, and the vessel of potato skins they’re served in is slick with a fine layer of melted butter and pleasingly crunchy.

Peanut coleslaw is another delectable side dish, but don’t miss the skillet baked beans. They’re cooked down to the point of creaminess and are appetizingly redolent of mesquite.

Prices are moderate. Starters run $3.95 to $6.95. The sandwiches are $7.95 to $9.95, and the entrees $10.95 to $21.95.

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Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill, Anaheim Hills Festival Center, 8022 E. Santa Ana Canyon Road. (714) 974-6660. Open Mondays through Thursdays, 4-10 p.m. Fridays, 4-11 p.m. Saturdays, 3-11 p.m. Sundays, 1-9:30 p.m.