Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Brisket over beef shoulder

OB favorite gets bigger, craftier

Brisket hanging off the edges of the bun at BBQ House Bar & Grill.
Brisket hanging off the edges of the bun at BBQ House Bar & Grill.
Place

BBQ House Bar & Grill

5025 Newport Avenue, San Diego

I never had a problem with the beef sandwiches at the BBQ House. I sure ate enough of them when I lived in Ocean Beach. Weekly visits earned me Regular status, greeted like a champ for ordering the cheapest thing on the menu — the trimmed edges sloppy joe. When I had a little extra cash I'd go for the beef sandwich, maybe even with onion rings. But only rarely did I order a beer to go with it.

Oftentimes I was on my way to drink some beer, or had just come from doing so — usually Newport Pizza or South Beach, the most reliable places to find good beer in OB ten years ago. BBQ House was purely about the food.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Things have changed. When I last stopped by this summer I found the place temporarily closed. The family who owns the place had taken over the old site of Cow Records next door, and remodeled the entire expanded space to install, among other things, a 30-tap draught system.

Beer's legitimately on the menu.

The restaurant reopened in August as BBQ House Bar & Grill, but I didn't make it back until a chilly late autumn afternoon. The pier was closed due to big wave damage, the beach was empty save for the winter sand berms, and Newport Ave was about as slow as it gets. But BBQ House had customers.

In the old BBQ House, there would have have been enough customers to fill up small, every-expense-spared dining room. But the new House has space to breathe, so while the roll-up doors opening the place to the doubled length of patio were closed, we lunchtime eaters were able to spread out comfortably inside.

A chilly weekday crowd.
You can even watch sports on the patio.

What used to be a low key shop with tasty slow-cooked barbecue has become a tastefully wood-paneled den, staged with a mix of low- and high-top tables, and several TV screens showing sports. The latter occupy the bar side of the room, where a worthy assortment of beers include even some smaller, newer local breweries. I ordered a Duckfoot chocolate and hazelnut porter guessing it would pair well with the sweet brown BBQ sauce of the house, though it's tough to imagine a beer that wouldn't to some degree.

The menu has changed little, with two notable exceptions. First, the sloppy joe is $4 — which I'm pretty sure costs more than the sandwich I used to pay for with a couple of ones and a pile of loose change. Still a great deal if you just want some food to wash down the beer.

A better look from the street for BBQ House Bar & Grill.

Second, according to the woman who took my order at the counter, they switched their beef cut from shoulder to brisket. Shoulder's a leaner cut, but sinking my teeth into the chopped marbled beef and medium-spicy sauce of this sandwich genuinely satisfied my indulgent 'que craving.

Maybe it's the beef, maybe it's the nostalgia, maybe it's the combination of the two in sweet updated digs, but I'm digging BBQ House better than ever. And drinking their beer.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Next Article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Brisket hanging off the edges of the bun at BBQ House Bar & Grill.
Brisket hanging off the edges of the bun at BBQ House Bar & Grill.
Place

BBQ House Bar & Grill

5025 Newport Avenue, San Diego

I never had a problem with the beef sandwiches at the BBQ House. I sure ate enough of them when I lived in Ocean Beach. Weekly visits earned me Regular status, greeted like a champ for ordering the cheapest thing on the menu — the trimmed edges sloppy joe. When I had a little extra cash I'd go for the beef sandwich, maybe even with onion rings. But only rarely did I order a beer to go with it.

Oftentimes I was on my way to drink some beer, or had just come from doing so — usually Newport Pizza or South Beach, the most reliable places to find good beer in OB ten years ago. BBQ House was purely about the food.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Things have changed. When I last stopped by this summer I found the place temporarily closed. The family who owns the place had taken over the old site of Cow Records next door, and remodeled the entire expanded space to install, among other things, a 30-tap draught system.

Beer's legitimately on the menu.

The restaurant reopened in August as BBQ House Bar & Grill, but I didn't make it back until a chilly late autumn afternoon. The pier was closed due to big wave damage, the beach was empty save for the winter sand berms, and Newport Ave was about as slow as it gets. But BBQ House had customers.

In the old BBQ House, there would have have been enough customers to fill up small, every-expense-spared dining room. But the new House has space to breathe, so while the roll-up doors opening the place to the doubled length of patio were closed, we lunchtime eaters were able to spread out comfortably inside.

A chilly weekday crowd.
You can even watch sports on the patio.

What used to be a low key shop with tasty slow-cooked barbecue has become a tastefully wood-paneled den, staged with a mix of low- and high-top tables, and several TV screens showing sports. The latter occupy the bar side of the room, where a worthy assortment of beers include even some smaller, newer local breweries. I ordered a Duckfoot chocolate and hazelnut porter guessing it would pair well with the sweet brown BBQ sauce of the house, though it's tough to imagine a beer that wouldn't to some degree.

The menu has changed little, with two notable exceptions. First, the sloppy joe is $4 — which I'm pretty sure costs more than the sandwich I used to pay for with a couple of ones and a pile of loose change. Still a great deal if you just want some food to wash down the beer.

A better look from the street for BBQ House Bar & Grill.

Second, according to the woman who took my order at the counter, they switched their beef cut from shoulder to brisket. Shoulder's a leaner cut, but sinking my teeth into the chopped marbled beef and medium-spicy sauce of this sandwich genuinely satisfied my indulgent 'que craving.

Maybe it's the beef, maybe it's the nostalgia, maybe it's the combination of the two in sweet updated digs, but I'm digging BBQ House better than ever. And drinking their beer.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Next Article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.