Once upon a time, Santa Maria Style Barbecue was a truly local secret, but as with all good things, the word has begun to spread far and wide. Indeed, we earlier looked at a tri-tip specialist in New York City, and more recently featured a Santa Maria BBQ restaurant in the California desert.
Now, across the wires comes additional word of Santa Maria Style Barbecue popping up in formerly unlikely places. First up, we have the Mavericks Oak Pit Grill in Golden, Colorado. According to a recent report, the restaurant invites patrons “to experience a new style of BBQ: Santa Maria features all-natural top sirloin grilled over oak wood (not what commonly comes to mind with barbecue).”
(A new style of BBQ? New for Colorado, perhaps. But we must remind everyone that our local barbecue tradition is rooted in the 19th century!)
The report continues, “Letting the meat speak for itself is what Santa Maria-style is all about. Not covering over the skill of the pitmaster with a zingy sauce is a bold move, but it shows the confidence and skill with which Maverick’s grills all its meats.”
Well said!
Santa Maria Style Barbecue is also getting a foothold in the Windy City at Lillie’s Q restaurant. There, Chef Charlie McKenna “serves a hodgepodge of influences that favors variety over one local style. Coleslaw-topped pulled pork sandwiches are distinctly Carolinian; smoked tri-tip is native to Santa Maria, California…”
In other words, the secret of Santa Maria BBQ is increasingly out. At the end of the day, there’s nothing like enjoying it right here in the Santa Maria Valley, prepared by the local masters with truly local ingredients. But it can’t hurt to have folks’ appetites for Santa Maria BBQ being whetted elsewhere as well.
On that note, we give a tip of the pitmaster’s hat to our Santa Maria BBQ ambassador’s across the nation!
