Bartender mom dips
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They obsessively create, tweak and tinker while also constantly collaborating with neighboring businesses and other artisans. It would have been enough, beyond the smoked meats, if the kitchen had just stuck to the basics - potato salad, corn bread, cole slaw, baked beans - but no. That includes not just chefs Nick Echaore and Eric Linares but also the pit crew who keep the California white oak embers glowing at a steady 200 degrees all night while the rest of us sleep. Daniel and Brenda Castillo haven’t just changed the way San Juan Capistrano smells, they have fundamentally changed barbecue for Orange County, maybe even California at large. It is something that must be lived and breathed, and rare is the band of hardcore believers who come together to create something as special as this. A person doesn’t just wake up one day and decide to smoke brisket and ribs like the ones at Heritage. Up and down Camino Capistrano, wafting through the park, all the way to Los Rios Street, you’ll catch the occasional whiff and feel its pull.Ĭentral Texas barbecue isn’t merely a genre of cooking, it’s a way of life. The seduction of 14-hour smoked brisket is palpable. You might not see Heritage Barbecue’s thousand-gallon smokers right away, but you’ll know when you’re getting close. When you pull off the freeway and swerve down the hill toward San Juan Capistrano’s historic core, roll down your windows. Heritage Barbecue – Restaurant of the Year
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Sausages in the smoker at Heritage Barbecue in San Juan Capistrano (Courtesy of Heritage Barbecue) 1. What the stars mean0 = poor, unacceptable★ = average, may have some noteworthy qualities★★ = very good, above average, a neighborhood gem★★★ = outstanding, exceptional quality, a regional standout★★★★ = transcendent, world class in every detail Ratings are based on multiple visits and reflect my overall reaction to food, service and ambience, taking into account a restaurant’s unique sense of place and point of view. And make no mistake: Restaurants with the Register’s two-star rating are very good places to eat, and OC has far more of those than I can squeeze onto this list. The good news is, we have hundreds of great places to eat, including 37 on this list with three stars, a few of which could very well be on the verge of a fourth. I’ve gotten close, but I look at restaurants here the same way I look at restaurants in Los Angeles or San Francisco, New York, London, Tokyo, Paris… I’ve enjoyed four-star experiences over the years at the likes of Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, Addison in San Diego, Lung King Heen in Hong Kong, Pujol in Mexico City, Il Palagio in Florence… We have nothing like that here, but it doesn’t mean we never will, so I’m not going to grade on a curve. Unfortunately, after 10 years of searching, I still haven’t found a four-star restaurant in Orange County. This is where every tiny detail comes into play. They transcend the everyday. They do not require silk cushions and crystal stemware, but comfort and professionalism are taken into account. To be clear, these don’t have to be ultra-fancy. These are destinations, the sort of experiences that people plan trips around. Two-star restaurants are very good places to eat, particularly if you live in the neighborhood or not too far away - but might not be worth driving 40 miles for. Three-star restaurants, meanwhile, do make you forget about that 40-mile drive. Their cooking and hospitality are always exceptional, often the best of their genre in the region, worthy of the trek. A four-star rating is somewhat akin to achieving enlightenment. But sometimes an average restaurant can have noteworthy qualities, like a standout dish or a view that trumps everything else. By definition, most restaurants are average, meaning one star. Ratings continue to reflect my overall reaction to food, service and ambience, all of which inform our decisions about where to eat. Star ratings continue to be based on multiple visits - except on the very rare occasion when a single visit allows me to eat everything on the menu.