Time for Barbecue in NB
May is National Barbecue Month, and you can satisfy your BBQ craving with some meaty offerings at several spots right here in Newport Beach. Traditionally, barbecue is wood-smoked, though plenty of practitioners utilize a grill or alternate cooking methods. Check out these barbecue offerings just in time for the holiday weekend!
Have you ever seen a pig riding a surfboard? You can at Balboa Bar-B-Que, a Balboa Fun Zone establishment from Ray Lee that debuted in 2013 with a logo that fits that description. This Texas-style barbecue establishment hickory-smokes baby back ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, and Louisiana spicy hot links and sells them all by the rack, pound, plate, or sandwich. Supplement with sides like mac and cheese, BBQ beans, and cole slaw and squeeze on a pair of house sauces, either original or sweet ‘n spicy.
Whole Foods Spice Rubbed Beef Short Ribs
Whole Foods is as much supermarket as lifestyle, and a smokehouse that burns mesquite yields a variety of prepared meats at the Fashion Island location. Pork ribs, pulled pork with garlic pepper, short ribs, tri-tip, and specials like pork belly, are all sold by the pound. Enhance your barbecue with a variety of sides found throughout the market such as mac and cheese and blue cheese potato salad. Of course, the market has an even wider variety of meats and proteins that you can cook at home, along with a host of seasonings, dry rubs, and sauces.
Bob Hodson Photography
Champagne’s has been a comfort food hub since Tina Voso and Rand McDevitt debuted the local eatery in 1989. For dinner, they serve a BBQ pulled pork sandwich featuring shoulder meat that’s spice rubbed and slow-roasted overnight, sandwiched on ciabatta with confetti cole slaw and house-made BBQ sauce. The tangy sauce is a point of pride at Champagnes with a tomato base and ingredients like garlic, chile powder, dry mustard, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire, and of course plenty of secrets. At lunch, they sell BBQ tri-tip sandwiches on French rolls. Around the Fourth of July, Champagnes also sells seasonal BBQ baby back ribs that draw crowds.
Bristol Farms’ in Corona del Mar Plaza, located down the hill from Civic Center, serves up a variety of mouth watering specialty dishes in their deli. Depending on the day, you might find baby back ribs slathered with BBQ seasoning, BBQ sauce, hoisin, and sesame oil. Free-range chicken legs are rubbed with BBQ seasoning, which includes paprika, allspice, black pepper, bay leaves, and chile powder. A nearby deli case provides compelling side dishes like tabouli, cranberry kale salad, and Chinese cole slaw.
Culinary Manager Mark Polintan helms the kitchen of this wood-fueled, bustling restaurant located in the heart of Corona del Mar. Almond wood factors into two Bandera cooking methods. A hardwood rotisserie turns in a custom stone oven, producing dishes like roasted chicken with apricot glaze and potato puree; and barbecue pork ribs, cole slaw, and blue cheese tomatoes. A grill burns identical wood to fuel proteins like barbecue beef back ribs, Kobe style tri-tip, Rutherford ribeye, and USDA center-cut filet mignon. Seattle-style barbecue salmon provides a break from the stockyards if you’re looking for something a bit lighter.
Chef Ryan Sumner features barbecue tri-tip sandwiches during lunch at this harborside eatery. Juicy meat is charbroiled, slow-roasted, and finished on the grill before joining sweet and tangy barbecue sauce, crispy onion straws, and Napa cabbage slaw on French roll. Fill up on tantalizing ‘cue beneath a glass lighthouse along the bay.
