Sunday, October 6, 2013

Beachwood BBQ - Seal Beach, California

I have heard great things about this next place, Beachwood BBQ.  The location I chose to visit is the Seal Beach location.  Beachwood BBQ has another location in Long Beach. The Long Beach location is equipped with a brewery.  The Seal Beach location has the same beers on tap but cannot sell growlers.  I used visiting this location to check out the town.  I have only been to Seal Beach one other time and felt that this outing for barbecue would be a good excuse to explore.  Beachowood BBQ is nestled along side other store fronts within walking distance of the beach.  The community is adorable, but I came to try the food.

The menu is complete with fried green tomatoes, pulled pork, ham, and lest we forget, tri-tip.  The bar stocks over 20 local beers on tap.  The atmosphere is low-key with jabbering locals and trivia games on hand. I snugged up to the bar, scanned the menu, and ordered fried green tomatoes with lemonade right off the bat.  The fried green tomatoes had a fry batter similar to mozzarella sticks.  The combination was good just unexpected.  No horseradish sauce was available but ranch was.  I ordered the ham with beans, slaw, and corn bread.  Hubby ordered what sounded like and amazing sandwich full of pig with a side of smoke asparagus.  The sandwich included pulled pork, ham, and bacon.  The pig sandwich is a special and is not available daily.

Our meals came quickly and looked amazing.  Even though the barbecue was advertised as Carolina style, I would have to oppose.  Beachwood BBQ has come up with something very different.  If I were to invent California style barbecue, this would be it.  The ham was thick not thin sliced and a bit salty with a sweet-smoky vinegar based sauce.  The beans have a good balance of savor and sweet with actual smoked meat inside.  The coleslaw comes in more than one variety on the menu.  The creamy coleslaw I ordered was dotted with chunks of pineapple.  I would have never thought of adding pineapple to coleslaw, but it was a delectable surprise.  Another yummy surprise was my Yankee style cornbread with cranberries.  Overall, the meal was fabulous, even if it was not a recognizable barbecue category.  Husband's meal was of the same caliber.

The pork, ham, and bacon was served on a pretzel bun with the same sweet-smoky vinegar based sauce as the ham I ordered.  You just cannot go wrong with the combination.  I was sinfully good.  The asparagus was prepared perfectly with a good balance of firmness and smoke flavor.  I gleefully enjoyed the two bites I stole from him.  I am looking forward to sneaking back to Seal Beach in December for the Christmas parade and barbecue.

My suggested improvements would include:  no need to advertise as Carolina-style.  Coin California-style BBQ.  Update the sauce to fit the the newly coined label.     

Ambiance:  5.0
Food taste/quality:  4.5
Overall review:  4.75


The above rating is based on overall appeal of the ambiance, food quality, and food taste on a scale of 0-5.0.  5.0 is the best rating possible