Buckhorn BBQ: Westfield Mall, SF & Vacaville

The original Buckhorn is in Winters, CA, and I've heard it's pretty much a steakhouse that everyone raves about. All these satellite restaurants of the local chain used to be called Buckhorn Grill, but since they're calling this BBQ, I've gotta say this is the only BBQ I've had yet in California that gets my full-throated endorsement.

These first two shots are taken at the location in Westfield Mall food court, an upscale mall in downtown San Francisco. Buckhorn's one of the best deals in downtown SF: half pound of juicy medium rare tri-tip, roasted vegetables cooked to perfection, corn muffin, and, the biggest surprise of all, mashed potatoes with gravy made from scratch that actually impressed me (I used to make stuff like this every day from scratch). Oh yeah, and Au Jus. For less than $20.

So we were running errands in Vacaville, about 25 miles north of here, and checked out the Buckhorn there. Got the Feast For Two: the key variation was the vegetable side, the Granny Apple Slaw, along with the tri-tip, mashers and gravy, Au Jus, and Corn Muffins.

Granny Smith apples, raisins, carrots, cabbage. Tasted like it was freshly made.

So good it's sinful.

You know what else is rare? Finding beef this tasty in California.