Battaling LA Traffic to Get to Britt's BBQ

Britt's BBQ

408 Main Street

El Segundo, CA 90245

Believe it or not, this is a milestone post in our blogs three-plus years of existence. Of course, it will not be a post about a place in our beloved OC, but will instead be a review of a restaurant in El Segundo. We were on our way to taking Chuck and his lovely wife, Stephanie to LAX for yet another trip to South Carolina. In return for our dropping them off, Chuck graciously offered to buy us dinner near the airport, as long as I could find a suitable place to eat. I did a little research and came up with what would be our 400th post, Britt's Bar-B-Que.

I was a little worried when we were driving up this way though because I was looking on the wrong side of the street for this place, but we eventually found it. Because it was a dark and misty night, this beach town was pretty sleepy. I could imagine that when the weather is nicer, it could be a lot harder to find parking on this main drag of El Segundo. The inside of the restaurant matched the lack of people from outside. There was only one other table of two eating at Britt's when we arrived. Throughout the course of our visit though, there would be numerous people coming and going to get to go orders.

Britt's is not a big restaurant by any means. They have eight tables, with some seating outside when the weather is a little more conducive to sitting out there. Britt's is owned by the Kovar and Cail families. The restaurant is named for the deceased daughter of  Tracy Cail, one of the co-owners. It had always been Brittany and Tracy's dream to open a business together, but a 2008 traffic accident prevented that from happening. Britt's is a living tribute to Brittany and a place that both families hope she would be proud of. I love when there are little stories behind family-run restaurants. I also love when the food is good too, so let's see how Britt's Bar-B-Que stacks up.

The four of us were pretty hungry from our hour drive up the 405, so we got the Potato Rounds ($3.95) to start us off. These sliced potatoes were a cross between a potato chip and a french fry. They were freshly fried and good without being too greasy. They were heavily salted, but that just added some needed flavor to the potato. Nothing earth-shaking, but it quelled our hunger until our food arrived.

This is one of the newer sandwiches over at Britt's. I did not get the exact name of it, but from what I remember it was called a Jalapeno Chicken Melt ($9.95). This was Stephanie's choice for dinner. I like dining with Steph because she always gets something that has a lot of spiciness to it. Maybe it is because of her other half, Chuck lost his spiciness long ago, during the Roosevelt administration. It was natural that she would be getting a sandwich with jalapenos in it. This sandwich featured pulled chicken, macaroni, and cheese, and diced up jalapenos, all on Texas toast. Stephanie must not have read the description of this sandwich too closely, because she was thrown by the fact that this had macaroni and cheese in the middle of the sandwich. She is watching her carbs, so she kind of ate around this sandwich. She felt the chicken was moist and tender, and the jalapenos added just enough spice. I did not try this sandwich, but the Texas toast looked really good, and I would have been happy ordering this sandwich.

Katie also went the sandwich route at Britt's. She had the Tri-Tip Sliders ($11.95). She was really impressed with the quality of the meat here, calling it, "melt in your mouth tender." She also thought that they were generous with the amount of meat that they put on the sliders. The barbecue sauce was given on the side and offered a good amount of flavor when applied to the sliders. Katie would definitely get this again.

Chuck was also enticed by the special menu board above the registers at Britt's. He selected the Short Ribs ($12.95) for his entree. Again, they were very generous with the amount of meat they put on the plate. As short rib can sometimes be, Chuck felt these were a little bony and fatty, but he did enjoy his dinner. Again Chuck did not allow me to sample his plate, (he's very territorial over his food at restaurants). This plate came with two side items, which Chuck went with the Cole Slaw and the Chili Mac. The Cole slaw was pretty average, while I liked the fact that they offered the chili mac. It is something that you do not see on a lot of menus. This one was pretty good, but I would have liked it to have been served warmer.

It was my turn to order next, so I took this opportunity to get the Beef Ribs ($13.95). I am transitioning from ordering baby back ribs to beef ribs when I go to barbecue restaurants. I like that beef ribs have way more meat than the tiny baby back pork ribs. These ribs were definitely full of meat. They were very tender, with a liberal amount of sauce on them. Even with all of the sauce, the meat shined through. Great flavor, while remaining tender. These kept me occupied for a long while.

Here's a closer look at the Chili Mac and the BBQ Beans, which came with my order. I liked both of these sides, but the beans were the better choice here. They were not overly sweet like some places tend to make their beans. They had a good spice to them, and they came out warmer than the chili mac.

From what I can gather reading the online reviews of this restaurant, they give these Cream Filled Donuts to everyone as a thank you for coming in. This was a very nice touch, as well as delicious. The donuts were dusted with powdered sugar on the outside and filled with custard inside. We learned that these are made by an outside bakery. They reminded me of Hostess O's, the raspberry filled powdered sugar donuts that I had as a kid, minus the raspberry of course. A nice end to the meal.

I believe that Brittany would have been proud of what her family and loved ones have created here. I think it would be safe to say that she would be proud to have her name attached to this restaurant. The food was pretty good, the prices are more than fair, and this is the kind of family run business that you can just not help but to root for. The food is not drive an hour out of your way for, but if you are in the area, and are craving barbecue, then this could be the place for you. This was a great send-off restaurant for Chuck and Stephanie, as they went off to see their family across the country.

Out of five airplanes, (because the top four employers in El Segundo are all aviation business's employing at least 3000 workers or more), five being best, to zero being worst, Britt's BBQ gets 3 airplanes.

For information about Britt's BBQ, click here: https://www.bbqelsegundoca.com/home/