While the localized flavor of traditional Santa Maria-style barbecue is slowly becoming more widely known, the tradition has ...

Crystal Bermudez is your community news reporter covering northern Santa Barbara County, including the Santa Maria, Lompoc and Santa Ynez valleys. The smell of red oak smoke and sizzling meat will ...

Santa Maria-style barbecue dates back to the mid-19th century, when settlers in rancheros throughout the Santa Maria Valley roasted sirloin over red oak fire. A century later, in the 1950s, Santa ...

California's Central Coast is throwing down the gauntlet this May, positioning Santa Maria Valley as the undisputed home of West Coast barbecue. As National Barbecue Month heats up, Santa Maria isn’t ...

The common list of American barbecue styles is familiar to most people at this point: Texas, Carolina, and Kansas City. But in coastal California, one of the country's lesser-known regional barbecue ...

Santa Maria Valley is the California Central Coast destination that put West Coast barbecue on the map. It started 150 years ago and has a rich history beginning in the mid-1800s when local ranchers ...

When a new spot opens in town, we can’t wait to check it out — and let you know our initial impressions, share a few photos, and dish about some menu items. First Taste, as the name implies, is not a ...

Locals braved the heat in Santa Maria this weekend to attend an annual festival celebrating the rich culture of North Santa Barbara County. On Saturday afternoon, Pioneer Park was filled with the ...

California is known for a lot of things—sunshine, wine, earthquakes—but its barbecue scene isn’t one of them. Which isn’t to say they don’t have it at all. There are, of course, the smattering of ...

Santa Maria Valley is the California Central Coast destination that put West Coast barbecue on the map. It started 150 years ago and has a rich history beginning in the mid-1800s when local ranchers ...