9/17/2004 - 11th Annual Best of Orange County 2004
Best Barbecue! Every once in awhile you want to roll up your sleeves and eat yourself full, and a meal of homestyle barbeque with all the trimmings usually fits the bill. Orange County is known for sophistication, but judging from our winners, there's a lot of "down home" here, too.
Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que, 1639 E. Imperial Hwy, Brea.
Southern hospitality reigns supreme at Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que, where you can bring your whole family and more and satisfy everyone's hunger. And almost everyone who sits down wants a taste of the ribs.
"Most people order the ribs, absolutely," manager Maria Tapia said. "With the ribs and tri-tip, you can't go wrong."
What makes the food so good? All the meats are smoked in a Southern-style smoker oven over hickory wood and topped with Lucille's signature barbecue sauce.
Meals come with homemade buttermilk biscuits, with side-dish options including roasted garlic mashed potatoes, shoestring fries, baked potato, mashed sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, creamy cheese grits, baked beans, Southern braised greens, honey roasted peanut slaw, flame roasted sweet corn, a vegetable medley and potato salad.
If you have a family to feed and they want to taste it all, try the Backyard Family Feast. For $74.95 you get two racks of ribs, two half-chickens and a choice of four sides.
If you're bringing in an entire flock, an excellent choice that serves 15 people is the Super Feast, which includes three racks of ribs, two whole chickens, six sides, a salad, 2 pounds of hot links and 2 pounds of tri-tip for $189.95. When the meal's over, the used napkins are aplenty, but hunger is scarce. And the atmosphere seems to make the food taste even better.
"It's really lively but like you're at Grandma's house," Tapia said. "With blues going, the framed pictures...all I can use to describe it is 'homey'."
Lucille's offers specials that rotate every two or three months. The meatloaf dinner features two thick slices of homemade meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables. The smoked chicken pasta features red and yellow bell peppers and portobella mushrooms in a garlic cream sauce.
Best Bet: If there's room left, try the Mixed Berry Cobbler -- blackberries, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries with a crumb biscuit. Add ice cream for $1.