Letter: Tasting some of the best barbecue in SLO County

Posted: 5:44 am, November 27, 2024 by Letter To The Editor

Jeffry is pictured here in the center.

Review of Jeffry’s Wine Country BBQ

By Peter Lucier

– Award-winning chef Jeff Wiesinger opened his famous barbecue restaurant on Father’s Day 2018. Located in downtown Paso Robles behind Norma’s Way. They have a beautiful covered outdoor patio, and a vast menu to satisfy your comfort food cravings. They proudly serve only locally made wines and beers. Seven years for any restaurant is quite an accomplishment, but to survive a pandemic plus record food and employee inflation Jeff and his family should be very proud.

Peter Lucier

My goal for this review is to help other local, family-owned businesses get some attention. As a local business owner, I am familiar with the challenges small business owners face. Taylor Swift gets plenty of eyeballs, so we want to showcase local family restaurants and businesses once a month. Our goal is to get you the reader to become their customers so we can have a vibrant small business community.

My confession: I had not dined at Jeffry’s Wine Country BBQ since 2021. My wife and I live in Atascadero, so we don’t frequently dine in Paso Robles like we used to. We will be back real soon. It was just my good luck, I belong to a great Monday Night Football group. Each Monday a family will be the food host and this time the host was Downtown Dave Nelson. I was licking my chops when he texted our group, he was ordering Jeffry’s Wine Country BBQ. Lucky day!

Dave ordered tri-tip, barbecued pork ribs, beef brisket, and paella. Oh my! Ironically, on Father’s Day 2018, I received a Traeger Smoker, and I have slowly worked on my barbecue skills. When we hosted MNF I proudly served what I felt was the best beef brisket I have ever made. I would like to take the credit, but I think it was great because I went to Suprema Meat Market in Atascadero. For only a few dollars extra I was smoking prime Harris Ranch brisket. I highly recommend Suprema Market!

Jeffry’s mouthwatering brisket was light years ahead of mine. It should be better as he graduated from chef school, and I can see why he has so many awards. I’m playing marbles and he’s playing Minecraft. The tri-tip was fantastic. Perfectly cooked with a rub that I am sure is the secret weapon. When we next dine at Jeffry’s I hope he sells it to the public. Barbecued pork ribs are not easy to prepare in advance and then placed on a buffet table. If not handled well, they dry out or get mushy.

These were perfect. My favorite dish of the night was the paella. No wonder Jeff has so many gold medals from the Pinot and Paella Festival. He’s the Micheal Phelps of paella! Dave had an opened bottle of 2020 Penman Springs “Old Block Vineyard Cabernet on the bar. Penman Springs is one of the quiet, classy, family-style wineries I remember visiting when we moved to Paso Robles in 2001. No fluff, just fantastic wines served by nice people. The paella paired with this cab was magical. Driving home I could still savor the flavor euphoria my taste buds enjoyed. I slept soundly and dreamed about having this gastronomic experience again.

Managing a restaurant and providing food for large events can’t be easy. This was a small gathering of 25 people so I guess Jeff can do this blindfolded. Since he is an ace at large events, serving hundreds of people, I am sure they could expertly accommodate your next party, wedding, or corporate event.

Thank you for reading my first review, please leave any comments or suggestions for another family-owned North County business to review. I am Peter Lucier, owner of Hearing Aid Specialists on the Central Coast. Serving SLO County since 1998. For details about Penman Springs visit their website, or better yet pick up a Jeffry’s paella burrito to go and drive on out and taste some fantastic Paso Robles wine.

Editor’s note: Opinion pieces and letters to the editor are the personal opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Paso Robles Daily News or its staff. We welcome letters from local residents regarding relevant local topics. To submit one, click here.