NOW SERVING: Brett's BBQ heads to Encinitas for seconds

By LAURA GROCH - Staff Writer | Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:09 PM PDT ∞

Lots of restaurants have a water feature indoors ---- a fountain, a reflecting pond, perhaps a small waterfall.

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Not many have a water feature like the ones at Brett's BBQ: a wide stainless-steel trough sink able to handle three sets of sticky hands at once.

It's a tribute, perhaps, to the success of the finger-lickin' barbecued meats and sauces offered at each of two restaurants: the newest in Encinitas, open for two months, and one in 4S Ranch that opened in 2007.

"There's usually people lined up to wash their hands," said co-owner and chef Brett Nicholson, who said each restaurant has one of the big sinks installed in the dining room.

Nicholson and his partner, Bruce Weisman, opened the Encinitas location because "we couldn't cook any more food" at the first spot, said Weisman. "Everything is smoked, real authentic barbecue. We were going 24 hours, and we couldn't put any more food in the smoker."

The smoker at the 4S Ranch restaurant handled 500 pounds of pork and beef brisket, smoked for 14-15 hours; the Encinitas location has two bigger smokers and can handle four times that amount ---- a ton of smoked meats daily.

"If it's not smoked, it's not barbecue," said Weisman.

The Encinitas restaurant also is 5,000 square feet, much larger than the 4S Ranch restaurant at 1,300 square feet.

The partners "have always been around food," said Weisman, who worked at the same restaurant in Del Mar, Remington's, 27 years ago, where Nicholson was the chef. When that restaurant closed, Nicholson became chef at Red Tracton's and Weisman opened and eventually sold food businesses.

Eventually, the friends decided to open up their own restaurant. Why barbecue?

"Because we can do that better than anyone else," said Weisman, who said he handles the business side of the restaurant.

The kitchen is Nicholson's domain.

"I love barbecue," he said. "On holidays, I'd go home to Indiana and eat great barbecue. Then I'd be so disappointed when I came home" to Southern California, which is known perhaps for its grilling, but not for barbecue.

Nicholson used to smoke foods at home, and through the years he created his own barbecue sauce for the restaurants where he worked. "Over the years, we started getting a following for our ribs and sauce," he said.

"True barbecue is done by smoking meat all at low temperatures. That's what we have done. We make our own dry rub for all the meats, and then smoke it. When we put the sauce on, it caramelizes the sugars in the sauce ---- it gives kind of a candy coating, which is different."

Most popular, he said, are the pulled pork ($7.50 for sandwich, $12.95 for dinner) and the beef brisket ($7.50 and $13.95). Other sandwiches are pulled chicken and barbecued Texas rope sausage, also $7.50.

Dinners come with two side dishes and include baby back ribs, spare ribs and beef ribs, quarter- or half-chicken and combo plates. A half-rack of ribs is $14.95; a full rack is $21.95. Side dishes are cole slaw, potato salad, BBQ baked beans, french fries, hush puppies, sweet potato fries and corn pudding.

Those last two are from his Midwestern roots, said Nicholson: "My grandma used to make those."

For starters, sample chicken wings or onion rings, each $6.95, and yes, there's a green side salad for $4.95. But there's also a Pit Master Salad for $9.95 (or $7.95 without meat) that boasts smoked pulled pork, beef brisket or pulled chicken over greens, with smoked gouda, roasted sweet corn, black beans, jicama, tomato and sweet onion, served with BBQ sauce and ranch dressing.

For dessert, if anyone has room, there's bread pudding with whisky sauce and whipped cream ($5.95).

Opening a second location "scared us to death," said Weisman, "but now that we're going, it's filling up at night, and that's the key."

Brett's BBQ

1505 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas

(760) 436-RIBS (7427); www.brettsbbq.com

Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. weekdays; 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. weekends

Price range: sandwiches $7.50; entrees $6.95-$21.95