Posted: Feb 4, 2010 10:55 PM
Updated: Feb 8, 2010 4:27 PM
If you've lived around the Central Coast for any amount of time (and you aren't a vegetarian), you've likely tasted the delicacy of Santa Maria Style Barbecue.
It's the popular menu item at festivals, parties, fund-raisers and brandings to the north and south. But try to find it in another part of the country and it's not so easy. It's definitely a local tradition.
Santa Maria Barbecue always includes certain items, kind of like Thanksgiving meals. In this case, it's usually a 2 to 3 pound cut of meat about three inches thick. It's often tri-tip, dry-rubbed using salt, pepper, and often a little garlic and parsley. It's usually cooked for about 45 minutes, and then sliced up against the grain of the meat to showcase the marbling of the cut.
Tri-tip is a cut of meat at the top of a top sirloin. Old-timers and out-of-towners may call it the "butchers cut" as it was often a cut butchers would take home to use for stew or make ground beef out of.
Brain Stein is a Chef for the Susie Q brand and knows the history of Santa Maria Style well. He says up until the 1950's, top sirloin, or the top block cut of meat, was used for Santa Maria Style Barbecues. Tri-tip made its way into the mix a few decades ago with the help of Santa Marians Bob Shultz and Clarence Minetti. Minetti had a market before he opened the well-known Far Western Tavern.
The roots of the Santa Maria Style Barbecue trace back to about 1850 when Rancheros were branding their cattle and would invite their families, friends and vaqueros to a big celebration when the job was done. Central Coast cowboys continue that tradition today.
You don't have to be a cowboy, though, to enjoy the Santa Maria Style today. You'll see it served up just about everywhere. And you know what's cooking when you smell the distinctive aroma of the red oak wood providing the coals. It also provides a distinctive flavor for the meat.
If it's a true Santa Maria style feast, the meat will be served with a green salad, pinquito beans, and garlic bread. The pinquito bean is grown exclusively in the Santa Maria valley. And the garlic bread is dry grilled, then dipped in sweet butter, garlic, parsley and a little Parmesan cheese.
The meat is served to showcase the natural flavor of the meat. Barbecue sauce has to place on an authentic Santa Maria Style Barbecue table. Salsa is, made from the fresh produce grown locally in the valley.
Dessert centers around the strawberry, a 110-million dollar cash crop for Santa Maria. In face, Santa Maria produces 30 percent of the strawberries sold commercially in the United States.
And if you're looking for a wine to pair it all with, go with a Pinot Noir, or Syrah from the Santa Maria Valley.
You may serve it all up just because it's good. But when you do, you're serving up a little sampling of the heritage and history of the beautiful Santa Maria Valley.
Stein says he's been to all kinds of barbecue competitions, and the Santa Maria Style Barbecue is the best in the world.

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D at Apr 30th 2010 7:51 PM
If you are really looking for THE BEST BBQ in our area, check out the Santa Maria Racetrack on the weekends - a Famous Chef - John Robertson works his magic and everything just "melts" in your mouth!
Jim Hilton at Feb 9th 2010 4:09 PM
Thanks for clearing up the strawberry production question. I thought that was a high number when I first heard it and I see others caught it too.
Melissa at Feb 9th 2010 3:26 AM
Maybe you should read more carefully, It says 30%, not 80%, so I'm really not sure where you got that number from?
As for restaurants that serve SMS BBQ, try Jocko's in Nipomo, Far Western in Guadalupe, and please avoid The Hitching Post. It has great steak but the sides are disgusting, and totally cheap. They give you a Del Monte Fruit Cup for pete's sakes. Nothing special there AT ALL. It's all hype. Jocko's is way way better and has sides that actually are modern.
jeanette at Feb 8th 2010 7:19 PM
Hi Friends. Well, I guess this is the beauty about interactive media. You are right...and I should have caught it. Deadlines got the best of me on Thursday. I did check once because I thought the number was high too, but was told it was correct. I wish I had checked with another source, but I didn't. Turns out a little mis-communication from my source and their written info led to the blunder.
Yes, California produces over 80-percent, but Central Coast produces 30-percent of national crops.
Thank you for caring enough to point it out and taking the time to comment. My sincere apologies.
Jeanette
are you kidding? at Feb 6th 2010 9:40 AM
California does, that is correct.... but Santa Maria is a small percentage of what is produced in state