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| - So... I was all excited to hear a Santa Maria style barbecue place was opening up in Scottsdale. I looked at the website, read about it on AZCentral, watched a segment on Fox 10 and the more I heard, the more apprehensive I became. It just did not seem like Santa Maria style. But we bit the bullet and gave it a try hoping for the best.
Walking into the place, it seemed like it could have been uprooted from the Central Coast, dark wood, big tables, a nice grill in front but what the heck was a smoker doing here? There are no smokers in Santa Maria. There were also piles of wood stacked around the patio that they call red oak. California Coastal Red Oak is the wood of choice but that ain't it. Not sure what they were trying to pass off but it goes with the rest of the charade. We were quickly seated by a manager who was very nice and accommodating, we had a nice place on the patio and the weather was great.
Next concern, bbq sauce on the table. There is no bbq sauce in Santa Maria style barbecue. Silly. Our waitress was very nice and I was pleasantly surprised that they had Firestone 805 on tap, hadn't seen that outside the central coast. The food menu was pretty big but the only meats that were Santa Maria-esqe were the tri-tip and the chicken, so I ordered the chicken/tri-tip plate with beans and the Mac and cheese. My wife had the veggie burger with a Caesar Salad.
Tri-tip is a tricky meat to cook, best served medium rare. But this is where that random smoker came in, the place first grilled the meat and then smoked it to well-done. Well-done tri-tip is dry and tasteless. Alas, this was dry and tasteless. I will say the chicken was excellent, juicy and flavorful. I would order that again. When the waitress came by to ask how everything was, I asked for salsa, as salsa is a standard part of Santa Maria style barbecue. She seemed surprised by the request and told us they had no salsa in the entire restaurant. WTF?
Ok next thing, Santa Maria beans are a little pink bean called pinquitos which are not cooked sweet. They are savory with chile powders and onions and transcendent when done right. The crap beans they served were sweet and definitely not pinquitos. The Mac and cheese was tasteless and gluey. My wife's veggie burger was dry so she had to make use of the bbq sauce. We finally understood why it was there. The salad barely had any flavor. I did enjoy the toast that was included but again not Santa Maria style.
Overall I liked the space, the service was solid and the chicken was excellent but the place is just another bbq place. Nothing but using tri-tip makes this a Santa Maria style restaurant so before they continue using that term, they should first find Santa Maria on a map and maybe make a visit. The roadside open pit places that are set up every weekend blow the doors off the Smokehaus. And remember when you are looking for Santa Maria on a map, it's in California not the south.
No matter how many of the owners friends put in fake reviews, the place is still not good. Oh well
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