You know how much I love BBQ! From San Diego’s Phil’s to San Mateo’s Willy’s, whenever i travel, I’m on the look out for BBQ. But what abut at home? Don’t I have it covered. And when I’m in downtown LA, there’s always one spot I love to check out: Sprint Street Smokehouse BBQ.

The food is great, the locale is low key, and the beer is a perfect selection of local and far out brews that compliment the BBQ.

What makes Spring At unique, other than a BBQ spot in LA, is that its in actually Chinatown. At one point, downtown LA actually technically four BBQ spots. Besides Spring St, and sorry if I don’t remember the names, but there was Lee’s(?) on the corner of Figueroa and Sunset. The owner actually had a second satellite location on 7th street, and then there was a spot in Grand Central Market which closed years ago, but now a redesigned front space at GCM has been re-purposed as Horse Thief, a store front of sorts BBQ spot.

So that leaves Spring St. as the only place you can grab some ‘Bones and Brisket’ in a neat sit down spot with TV’s and music. Interestingly, they actually used to host a comedy night here, but no more.

What catches your eye as you enter is the selection of beers available. Of course they feature Angel City, the localest of breweries, but they also feature San Fernando Valley and Ventura County in addition to San Diego and San Marcos brews. But don’t worry, it you feel only foreigners make the good stuff, England, Belgium, Canada and New York are represented. Hey, they might as well be from another country – no one can understand that accent!

Although there are plenty of BBQ spots surrounding Spring St., I’m sorry, but Korean BBQ does not compare. Pork Ribs, Beef Ribs, Brisket and Burnt Ends are what we mean when we say Barbeque!

And in no BBQ spot is worth its Salt Lick if they don’t have their own BBQ sauces to compliment the meat. I normally wait until about half way through the meat before I start adding extra sauce. That way I get to enjoy the flavor of the meat, and then BAM! I kick it up a notch!

And fear not, it’s not all meat. There are plenty of healthy dining options to join the meat elite. Their sides are just awesome! Slaw, mash, the mac and cheese is killer! And yes, the roasted veggies hold their own as a star with the chili being some of the best you’ll taste anywhere. Honestly, I’d order the chili over most menu items in other restaurants. But here, BBQ is king!

Spring Street Smokehouse

640 N. SPRING ST. 
LOS ANGELES, CA 90012
213.626.0535

Memphis Minnie’s stands out as a weird spot for a BBQ joint. In a residential neighborhood of drab gray and cream coloured, densely packed housing, here’s this bright red ‘Bar-B-Que joint’. But even more, Haight Street is famous for it’s hippies and vegan food culture. Good thing for me, that Haight Street is a mile or two up the road. The is lower Haight, low low lower Haight. And this is meat!

Inside the eye catching red is a meat factory of the highest order. Memphis Minnie’s has been in San Francisco for decades, written up all the time in the SF Chronicle mag and various other article about the other San Francsico treat: BBQ.

The meat here is simple, yet effective. The meat seems a little thin on the bone, but makes up for this in flavor. The smoke comes through clean and smooth, like a fine shot of Johnnie Walker Blue. I do like the fact that they offer classic BBQ sides: Collard Greens, Slaw, Fries and Mac and Cheese head the menu. Various other side are offered, but why?

You’re encouraged to eat on-site as this allows you to hand pick your sauces. Again, I like starting off with straight meat, and then work my way up the sauce chain. The Mustard and Texas Red were good choices. The Vinegar, not really my style, but not bad. The Beelzebob Breath is a jalapeno infused, and is more hot than flavorful. it detracts more than enhances. But it is fun with friends seeing who can put the most on the their meat.

The fun of the shop are the old school self promotion walls. This was all the rage back in the day, pictures, posters, magazine articles and City Hall certificates take up what ever space is not already filled with various t-shirts. Some are actual souvenir shirts, others just funny stuff from over the years, joined by a huge Memphis Minnie piggy picture. Good fun spot.

Memphis Minnie’s BBQ Joint and Smokehouse

576 Haight St,
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 864-7675

Smokestack Barbecue, which resides in the Magnolia Brewing Company building brings together my two favorite things: Beer and BBQ. Walking in you just know this is going to be a memorable spot. The place is done up in an old San Francisco warehouse. Full-on 1920s exposed mortar, aged support stacks that are holding up the 30 foot ceiling above us.

Bleached faded benches from a 1950s yard sale that were left out in the rain, the place oozes character and charm. It’s total retro throwback to a backyard garage, rusted and stained from years of good ole backyard BBQ use.

The bar is an interesting and fascinating set up. A mix between pre-prohibition saloon and an absinthe haberdashery, it is flooded with light from huge factory windows that are not at all conducive to nursing a hangover the next morning. This leans towards that comment about the shabby nobility in being drunk by mid afternoon.

As I’ve mentioned before, unfortunately, the food did not live up to the expectation. Although the menu is extensive, a little to foodie for barbecue spot in my opinion, my spare ribs seem to Dryden and on the verge of jerky. Granted this was one single visit in the middle the day in the middle of the week, so of course I must do right by them and visit again. Consider the arm twisted.

But as always in these matters, it’s the beer that saved the day. They’ve got a great menu, and my Midtown Amber Ale worked out just perfectly for this…meal. this was a launch as I would never combined barbecue and work for lunch. So next time I’m in San Francisco on oh cool spring evening, Smokehouse BBQ, here I come.

A wise man once said, “A day with bad barbecue is still a good day.”

And I wholeheartedly agree. Now whether or not somebody actually said it, it’s still my belief. And whenever I travel I always do my best to search out a barbecue spot. On recent travels to San Francisco, I’ve had a chance to rack up quite a few barbecue stays. Over a three day conference, I was able to hit a couple of spots. Of course my wife called me crazy, but then if you love barbecue you know I’m crazy like a fox baby!

San Francisco is a foodie mecca. But I was actually surprised at the variety of barbecue locations. Everything from mom and pop little shops, to art-trendy, food as a conversation piece hang out joints.

The prime example of this would be Smokestack barbecue, which resides in the Magnolia Brewing Company building. Walking in you just know this is going to be an incredible barbecue spot. The place is done up in an old San Francisco warehouse. Full-on 1950s exposed mortar, aged support stacks that are holding up the 30 foot ceiling above us. Bleached faded  benches from a 1950s yard sale that were left out in the rain, the place oozes character and charm. It’s total retro throwback to a backyard garage, rusted and stained from years of good ole boy use. Unfortunately the food is nowhere near as interesting. The collar greens were tough and rubbery, as were the spareribs, which seemed to have been left out for the last couple of days. The sauces served were kind of useless. Sorry, I don’t do Vinegar. And mustard is for ham and sandwiches, which left their BBQ sauce, that was sort of plain, sort of…just not quite there. The beer was good though.  @SFSmokestack

What I did like about the place is that the music is booming with 1950s and 60s soul Gospel. Cranking out James Brown, the predominate sound, was a great sound system and the benches that you’re sitting on were vibrating with his funk, but unfortunately the meat just does not live up to the hype.

Smokehouse Bar-B-Que

2698 3rd St, 

San Francisco, CA

(415) 864-7468

Well that was lunch, for dinner that night I venture over to Baby Blues in south south San Francisco. Now here’s the Texas juke joint that’s got the right flavor.  My ribs that were meaty, could’ve used an ounce more but OK, and sauces on the table had 4 flavors that bring it all to life. I know there’s a lot of people out there who swear never eat barbecue with sauce, but not me. I grew up with barbecue sauce and I’ll die with barbecue sauce.

And these sauces are to die for. I had a hard time trying to decide which was my favorite, the Molasses has a spicy sweetness to it that was just yummy, but the XXX, oh yeah, that hit the spot! Spicy, tangy, but full of smoke flavor so it retained its BBQ heritage. Can I have some tri-tip with these please? The sides were pretty good too. I chose Collard Greens and Mac & Cheese. And I was surprised, it actually tasted like Mac & Cheese. All too often, you show up at a BBQ joint around 9pm, and the M&C is dead to rights. But Baby Blues kept it real and it was still tasty and tender, and no Kraft Velveeta fake cheese taste. That was real Texas BBQ M&C flavor. OK, I’m getting hungry again…  @BabyBluesBBQSF

Baby Blues BBQ

3149 Mission St
San Francisco, CA

(415) 896-4250

For lunch the next day, I went in search of The Famous Rib Shack, but they’re closed on Tuesdays so I instead head over to Chicago for Ribs. This is really good chain restaurant BBQ. The ribs are huge, the sauce spicy, and the sides are flavorful. I have to admit it, I enjoyed it, but that may have been due to the fact that I just sat out on the back patio with the perfect sun warming my aching body. Then again, it may have been the 20 ounce beer as well. The M&C was a little Kraft-y, but the greens were good and the corn bread wonderful. With the exception of the distance from the office, this would be #1 on the list to revisit. With the sun, the beer and the BBQ, this is a killer combination. So next time, I’ll  just have to schedule a 2 hour lunch meeting to cover travel time @ChicagoForRibs1

Windy City Pizza and BBQ

35 Bovet Rd
San Mateo, CA 94402

(650) 578-1942

Finally, I head over that night to The Famous Rib Shack. This is down home mom and  daughter barbecue spot is a throw-back to the old BBQ spots we used to go to as a kid. Nothing fancy, no hipster memorabilia on the walls, except maybe someone’s little league trophy. It just reminds you of the little barbecue shop down the street when you were growing up. So I step up and order some baby back‘s collar greens and barbecue beans, what came out was nothing short of spectacular. The bones were so huge juicy tender and flavorful, spicy barbecue sauce with red chili pepper flakes visible, oh boy, screams of joy! The meat is tender the sides are flavorful and mom is a total sweetheart. The cornbread is top with honey, only true Carolinians do that, and I just love the old school red and white tray liners. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that since living in Houston.  But I highly recommend it as a stop if you are anywhere near SFO.

The Famous Rib Shack

223 El Camino Real
San Bruno, CA 94066

(650) 952-2809

Of all the pleasant surprises I’ve been afforded in life, Armadillo Willy’s is in the Top 10. This spot was a surprise due to the fact that it’s San Mateo location is right next door to my office! Yeehaa! So now, anytime I have to head up north for a team meeting, I get my BBQ fix on! This was good BBQ. The ribs are meaty and flavorful. The sauce is standard, but they put on just enough to compliment, but not over power the meat, which can stand on its own. The Tri Tip was so juicy, and cut it with a fork if you have to. I was disappointed that they had no classic sides such as M&C or Collard Greens, but with meat like this, I’ll get over it. This is a chain store “inspired” by Texas BBQ, and I would have to say, they do Texas proud. For convenience, this is my San Mateo go-to for BBQ. I prefer the classic sides, but if The Famous Rib shack is not open, or I don’t have the time allotment, AW is my spot!   @ArmadilloWillys

Armadillo Willy’s

2260 Bridgepointe Pkwy
San Mateo, CA 94404

(650) 571-7427