A Heritage We Can All Be Proud Of

Heritage BBQ

31721 Camino Capistrano

San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

Did you feel the culinary shift that happened in OC earlier this month? After over ten years of writing restaurant reviews, there has never been something really, really worthwhile for people that live north of Irvine to drive south on the 5 Freeway for. Yes, there have been some standouts, but nothing that has garnered the buzz that Heritage Barbecue has generated in just a few short weeks. 

Not to jump ahead or anything, but this will be the first 4 and a half star review I've had in the last four years, and one of only four that I've experienced in OC. That's out of 879 restaurants I have been to. Yes, I am a tough reviewer, but after so many years of doing this, it's really hard for a restaurant to distinguish itself, but Heritage Barbecue has done just that.   

Even with all of these praiseworthy words, I'm sharing with you, my dear readers, I know a lot of you won't go through the trouble of eating here. Yes, it is not a place where you can get your food and be on your way within 15 minutes. There's no online ordering, no delivery service, and there's only one way to experience Heritage Barbecue, wait in line. This is barbecue that you have to plan your whole day around. Like the big barbecue spots in Central Texas. Where you line up hours before they open and hope and pray that they do not run out of the meat you were hoping to get before getting up to the order window. 

I've had Heritage Barbecue one time before, at one of their many pop-ups that they had at breweries throughout OC. You can read that review by clicking here. To summarize, we waited two and a half hours, but they had run out of their brisket, and I was so famished when we reached the front of the line that I forgot to order the sausage that was available. The items that we did have were all pretty spectacular though, and I knew I'd get another chance to try them out when they opened their long-awaited brick and mortar a few miles from where I live. Talk about feeling like I hit the lottery. 

Heritage Barbecue is run by a husband and wife team, Brenda and Daniel Castillo. In the early days, they started as a catering company but eventually transitioned into doing pop-ups at local breweries. Wherever they went they had huge lines, gained a considerable following on social media, and got raves from customers that waited a long time to try their food. On weeks when they did not have events lined up, they went to Texas to learn even more from some of the greats of barbecue. 

Last year it was announced that they were going to be opening in San Juan Capistrano, but as is the case with restaurant openings, delays turned into months, but they finally opened in early August. They have a pretty prime spot, right near the train station, across from the mission, and situated right near the intersection of Ortega Highway and Camino Capistrano. Parking is not really an issue, as I parked at the train station and walked a short distance up the hill near their patio. 

Make note that they are closed on Monday and Tuesday each week. On Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays they open for service at 3, and on Saturdays and Sundays, they start selling their barbecue at noon. As with most barbecue, they have a limited amount of food that they can sell in a day, so they are open until they sell out. I'd suggest wearing a hat, sunscreen, having water handy, and maybe even bringing chairs while you wait. Capistrano Brewing does offer beer and other beverages to the people waiting in line, which saved me from overheating. 

On a recent Wednesday, I arrived at 2:20 and still waited 90 minutes to get up to the window. Most meats are served in half-pound incremates, with the exception being the sausages, which are sold singularly. They offer turkey breast, pork ribs, pulled pork, sausage, and brisket every day, with the much-coveted beef ribs served only on weekends. There's also an assortment of sides and baked bread to help round out your meal. Keep an eye out for their specials board which features some hidden gems that you won't want to miss. Let's see if this initial trip to Heritage Barbecue's new spot was just as good as when we had it earlier this year. 

We might as well jump right in with what is the star of the show, the meats. For both Katie and myself I ordered One Pound of Brisket ($30), a Half Pound of Pork Spare Ribs ($13), a Pound of Pulled Pork ($26), and Two Sausages ($12). The only thing I missed out on was the turkey, which will have to wait until next time. The brisket was the best I have had, with a ribbon of fat running alongside the top of it, a beautiful smoke ring, and a melt in your mouth tenderness. However much you plan on ordering, add an extra half-pound to your order, you won't be sorry. I actually liked the ribs the next best. An excellent rub on the outside and with just the slightest of pulls, the pork came off the bone easily. These are not the tiny ribs you get at most places. They were full of meat. The pulled pork was another winner, with an excellent mixture of textures from the bark, tender pork, and little bits of fat chopped into a perfect pile. The meats are not overly smoked, where that's all that you can taste, but it hangs out in the background allowing the meat to stand out. They change out their sausages daily, and on this particular day, they offered a Serrano and Cheddar Beef Pork Link and a Pork Linguisa. The cheddar cheese and serrano one was the better of the two. The marriage of the beef and pork in the sausage, along with the cheese made this delicious. It could have used a bit more of the serrano though. The linguisa was the weak link in this tray of meat, (sorry for the awful pun). I was not in love with the texture of it inside its casing. It was almost gristly, and the flavor did not pop like the other proteins. Onto the sides.  

In my experience, it seems like when a barbecue joint has excellent meat, they let their sides suffer, but that's not the case with Heritage Barbecue. Sides are served in half-pint containers, and I'd say they could feed one to two easily, but if you really like one of them, you're going to have no trouble inhaling one all by yourself. That's how I was with the Red White and Blue Potato Salad ($6), I did not want to share any with Katie. This gets its name from the cubed red potatoes, white pickled eggs, and the blue cheese crumbles spread throughout. It's also topped with bacon on top for added flavor. I loved the marriage of flavors in this. The burst of blue cheese in some bites, along with the creaminess of the potatoes and eggs, and the smokiness of the bacon made this the best potato salad I've had in a number of years. I'm getting two of these next time for sure. The Texas Trinity Chili ($6) was a special on this afternoon, and if it's available when you are here, you won't want to miss it. This meaty chili is made up of bits of brisket, sausage, and pork rib. A very hearty chili, and one you don't want to eat while wearing white, this had a depth of flavor that I was not expecting. The Classic Mac ($7) is made with cheddar and jack cheese and mixed with a mornay sauce and topped with a little chicharron. This is a pretty good mac and cheese, but as I ate it I kind of lost interest a bit. Maybe a little more of the topping would have kept me interested, but I will definitely try the one with chorizo and chiles on my next visit. 

To wrap things up, I got the Banana Bread Pudding ($7). This sweet little dish was a nice respite from all the savory items I had eaten earlier. It was not really a bread pudding, but more like pudding with sliced bananas and little bits of banana bread distributed evenly, and topped with candied pecans on top. Not an overly sweet dessert, but still it was a nice ending to any meal at Heritage Barbecue. 

Needless to say, I was beyond excited about this visit to Heritage Barbecue. Some might even say I'm a little obsessed. I have caught myself checking out their Instagram posts and stories very regularly, I find myself stalking their Twitter account to find out how long their line is, even though I have no plans to head over there, and whenever I'm asked about any new places I've tried, Heritage Barbecue is the first place that comes out of my mouth. Again, this is not the most convenient of restaurants to hit up, but trust me you will never think that Lucille's or Dickey's is great barbecue again. There's a reason there's always a line here, it's really just that good, and the people of South OC can count themselves lucky that Heritage Barbecue opened right in their own backyard. It's about time that people in North OC finally have a reason to venture south. 

Out of five trees, (because when you look back on your heritage, you are also looking at your family tree), five being best to zero being worst, Heritage Barbecue gets 4.5 trees. 

For more information about Heritage Barbecue, head to their website here: https://www.heritagecraftbbq.com/

Real Texas Barbecue Coming to OC Soon

Heritage Barbecue

31727 Camino Capistrano

San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

I admit I'm a little obsessed. I check Instagram about ten times a day. No, I'm not stalking Instagram models, checking to see how many people have unfollowed me, and no, I'm not keeping tabs on Katie's whereabouts. My usual first stop on this photo-rich social media platform is usually Heritage Barbecue.

I had started hearing raves about Heritage Barbecue about a year ago when they had transitioned from running a catering company to doing pop-ups in a wide assortment of breweries in Long Beach and Orange County on weekends. They grew legions of fans at these pop-ups which included hour-long lines, and the disappointment of having your favorite meats sold out before you could make it to the front of the line. Just based on word of mouth, their Instagram following has ballooned to over 20,000 and climbing.

The husband and wife duo behind Heritage Barbecue is Brenda and Daniel Castillo. Daniel graduated from the culinary program at Orange Coast College. From what I can tell from stalking them on Instagram, the weekends they did not have brewery dates, it seems like they were always in Texas learning more and more about barbecue from their barbecue friends at some of the best barbecue spots in the country. The couple was soon making more money on weekends selling their very in-demand barbecue, so the decision was made to forgo catering and go all-in on the barbecue.

It was announced last year that they would be opening a spot in San Juan Capistrano, right across the street from the mission, in the old Mission Grill spot. As is the case with most restaurant openings, delays are to be expected. What was originally an opening date in the fall of last year, is still in a holding pattern, but we have heard things are getting closer.

I could not wait to try Heritage Barbecue, so in late February, Katie and I trekked up to Bruery Terreux in an industrial area of Anaheim. Being that this was our first time attempting to have Heritage, we showed up at 12 noon and were met with a line. Service was to begin at this time, so we decided to not drive up here in vain, and decided to wait it out.

As the minutes turned into hours, I was starting to wonder if this was all worth it. I did have one beer while waiting in line, which did take a little of the edge off. We also made small talk with the people in line around us. Some who have had this barbecue before, and others who were like us, Heritage Barbecue virgins. By the time we had made it up to the menu board, two and a half hours in, the hunger pains became really strong. A stinging jolt rattled through me every time they announced that they had run out of an item, with the biggest punch to the stomach being when they ran out of brisket.

The brisket, alas would have to wait for another time, with me already planning on arriving at least an hour or two before they were going to be serving food the next time I attempted to have Heritage Barbecue. As we arrived at the ordering station, we had a limited selection we could order. We decided to get everything we could but made the mistake of not ordering the Chili Cheese Sausage, due to my extreme hunger pains by this point. We hastily grabbed our tray of portioned out food, found a place to sit, I quickly took some pictures with my hands shaking from hunger, and we finally dug in. Let's see if Heritage Barbecue was worthy of all the hype and the hours in line.

Here was the tray we waited close to three hours for. I loved the splashes of color on the tray, which resembled a painters palette to my hunger hallucinated eyes. When you are up at the front don't forget to ask for bbq sauce, mustard, white bread, pickled onions, peppers, and pickled cucumbers if they have them. Let's take a closer look at each item. 

First up is the Pulled Pork ($12 for a half-pound). Pulled pork is tricky meat for a lot of barbecue spots to master. It's hard to get it right because the pork can come out too moist, or very dry like sandpaper going down the hatch. Heritage hit the sweet spot between these two ranges. The shredded meat was tender and had just the right smokiness to it. I also liked the little shards that took a little more effort to chew through. Really good pulled pork.

Due to the hunger pains, I have mentioned numerous times in this post, and the excitement of actually having the food in front of us, I did not take a detailed picture of the Pork Ribs ($12 for a half-pound) that we also consumed way too quickly. The ribs came lightly brushed with just a small amount of barbecue sauce and a flavorful dry rub coating the outside of them. The meat underneath had just the right amount of smokiness to it, just like the pulled pork. It pulled off the bone with just a little tug, which is what I like in my ribs. Not that it needed it, but I used alternating bites of the pork with the provided bbq sauce and mustard. The bbq sauce was not overly sweetened like a lot of places make the mistake of doing.

Listening to the people around us, some were dissing the Green Chili Mac and Cheese with Chicharon ($4). I thought it was pretty sold. I mean it was not the best I have had, but I liked it. The cheese was not overpowering and clung to the noodle nicely, while the green chili kept things interesting. An added bonus was the crumbled chicharron for texture and the cubed rib tip perched on top, which was heavenly.

Maybe if pressed, I'd have to say the El Rancho Potato Salad ($4) was the weak link on this tray, but I even liked this. It had a great consistency to it, I liked the peppery bits, and even though I'm not a big celery fan, it added a nice crunch. Yes, another pop of flavor would have helped, but this was not too bad.

This long visit to experience Heritage Barbecue just whetted my appetite for when they eventually open in San Juan Capistrano. Just based on their pork offerings that we had on this afternoon, and the fact that they are known for their wildly popular brisket and beef ribs, I'm going to go out on a limb and proclaim that Heritage Barbecue is going to be the best barbecue that OC has to offer. Yes, a lot of people will be turned off by the fact that you have to wait in a long line, that they run out of items that you want, and it's not going to be the most convenient restaurant to eat at. After your first few bites, all of those negatives will melt away, and you will yearn for your next visit. If that's not the case, maybe Lucille's or Dickey's might be more up your alley. That'll be at least one less person in front of me in line.

Out of five school busses, (because I think every kid in every school in OC has visited San Juan Capistrano on a field trip), five being best, to zero being worst, Heritage Barbecue gets 4 school buses. 

For more information about Heritage Barbecue, it's probably best to check their Instagram page by clicking here: https://www.instagram.com/heritagebarbecue/?hl=en