Daniel Castillo’s salsa-verde-smothered, hickory-smoked tri-tip, topped with buttery ripe avocado slices and served with a “Caesar slaw,” just steps away from the breaking waves, seems like a mirage at first.
But Smokehouse By Heritage Barbecue has been quietly operating in Bolsa Chica since May 3rd. Since then, it's been a secret known primarily to surfers, beachgoing families, and e-bikers on the boardwalk, lured in by the enticing smell of his carne asada-style tri-tip.
“Eating barbecue with tortillas and salsa is how I like to eat barbecue at home,” Castillo, a 2025 James Beard Award Finalist for “Best Chef” in California, tells L.A. TACO after a visit.
Unlike Heritage Barbecue, the emphasis at Smokehouse by Heritage BBQ is on Castillo’s tri-tip, which he marinates like carne asada and cold smokes for two hours, and then sears on his Santa Maria-style grill over hickory until it melts in your mouth. You can see the collagen on the thick-cut strips of beef.
Castillo summarizes his menu as “ Latino-style meets Black-style. It’s ‘hood, but finessed.” There is no macaroni and cheese, but there is a macaroni salad. The slaw features cotija cheese, an homage to the Caesar salad.
The only brisket on the menu comes in the form of burnt ends, and the only barbecue sauce available is a spicy one made from chipotle chiles. According to Castillo, omitting brisket and straying away from Texas-style barbecue is the whole point at his new barbecue oasis. On weekends, there are breakfast tacos and a “smokehouse breakfast burrito” featuring brisket burnt ends, avocado, and potatoes.
“It’s how I learned to cook barbecue in my front yard, outside of traditional Texas-style, which is what everyone is obsessed with right now,” he says.
In a nutshell, it feels like a Chicano version of the chef’s crazy popular Heritage Barbecue, despite being located in “The world’s 1st Honky Tonk on the Beach,” as Heritage Bay describes itself.
It’s also right on the sand, and there are buckets of ice-cold cans of beer available for $55. The reason Castillo never promoted the place on his Instagram account is because he wanted his beachside restaurant workers “to first get their feet wet” (no pun intended).
This is a significant development for fans of Castillo’s work, but it's particularly welcome if you can’t take the usual two-hour trek from Los Angeles to San Juan Capistrano to wait in line and feast on it.
“We serve our barbecue here with corn tortillas (sourced from a local tortillería),” he tells L.A. TACO.“I want this barbecue style to remind you of picking up a chicken from Juan Pollo—that kind of vibe.”
To get it off the ground, Castillo and his wife, business partner Brenda, slept in their van for the first couple of weekends, as they live closer to San Diego. “We showered at the beach showers because we wanted to make sure everything was as delicious as it could be when we were first starting out.”
According to Castillo, he drew inspiration for his latest concept from the backyards across southern California, as well as black BBQ icons like Kevin Bludso of Bludso’s, and with a nod to barbecue chain spots like Chris & Pitt’s. But with way better meat quality. He uses Mary’s Chicken and Duroc pork from Kansas.
Castillo summarizes his menu as “ Latino-style meets Black-style BBQ. It’s ‘hood, but finessed. It's Califas-style.” There is no macaroni and cheese, but there is a macaroni salad. The slaw features cotija cheese, an homage to the Caesar salad.
Smokehouse by Heritage Barbecue will be open until “the end of October,” as it is a summer-only pop-up for now. However, Castillo confirmed with L.A. TACO that it will stay open as a ghost kitchen for deliveries in the neighboring areas after that.
Just like that, Smokehouse by Heritage Barbecue may have just ushered in a new era in California barbecue history.
18751 Pacific Coast Hwy. Unit # 3, Huntington Beach, CA 92648
