Smokehouse BBQ and beer

Finally, there’s beer to go with your brisket, and wine to pair with your chicken wings and beef ribs. After waiting for nearly ten months, chef Larry Vito has received the liquor license for his BBQ Smokehouse in downtown Sebastopol.

The liquor gods alighted just in time to celebrate another addition to the tiny gem of a restaurant that’s tucked along the edge of the parking lot of the Cinema 9 movie complex in downtown Sebastopol.

Walls.

When BBQ Smokehouse first opened last June, part of the charm of the 26-seat eatery was that it was essentially a fancy porch. The kitchen was enclosed, yet the remaining space was railings, capped with wagon wheels and shaded by towering trees.

Now, the porch charm remains, yet wayward rain and cold is kept solidly at bay, thanks to a tight wrap of handsome red canvas with huge, clear liner windows. On beautiful days, the walls roll up, and at night, they’re dropped, with heaters turning the space into a cozy cocoon.

As for libations, customers were “clamoring for wine and beer,” explains Vito.

The list includes ten bottled brews as well as draft on tap, such as Lagunitas IPA, Great White and Anchor Porter. Wine choices span 14 barbecue-friendly and well-priced labels, which you can browse via the colorful bottle display set up on the café’s ordering counter.

Cristalino Prosecco, for example, enhances caramelized five-spice Chinese chicken wings, andouille sausage, rib tips, and Vito’s signature of new potatoes stuffed with asiago souffle.

For Southern-seasoned barbecue chicken, try Angeline Russian River Sauvignon Blanc, or Amphora Chardonnay. Memphis style pork spare ribs love Pedroncelli Sangiovese, while 14-hour brisket gets a boost from Trentadue Old Patch Red, and North Carolina-style pulled pork sings with Hahn Pinot Noir.

Vito also recently added beef short ribs to his menu, the meaty monsters weighing in at nearly ¾-a-pound each, mahogany-hued and deeply flavored from apple, oak and nut woods.

In honor of the achievements, Vito is introducing wine and barbecue tastings on Sunday afternoons, offering six wines paired with six dishes.

“It will be a classroom format with a discussion about how the right wine can enhance the flavors of barbecue,” Vito says. “We will explore my claim that the sum of the whole is greater then the parts.”

The first tasting will be on Sunday, April 11 at 2 p.m. Cost for each event is $18 per person, and with just over two dozen seats to fill, the gatherings should sell out quickly.

As Vito says, “Our customers are discovering that, with barbecue, wine really is even better than beer.”

Details: Smokehouse BBQ, 6811 Laguna Park Way, Sebastopol, 707-575-3277, bbqsmokehousecatering.com.