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Heritage Barbecue expanding space with new smokers, seating and a historic barn

September 6, 2024

One of Southern California’s best restaurants is about to get bigger.

Heritage Barbecue, Daniel and Brenda Castillo’s lauded Texas-style barbecue joint in downtown San Juan Capistrano, is in the working stages of an expansion. In addition to six new covered smokers and an upcoming prix-fixe menu option, a 144-year-old barn from the nearby Casa Manuel Garcia historical site will move to Heritage Barbecue, repurposed as an indoor/outdoor dining space.

The barn, a wooden structure constructed in 1880 and later reinforced in the 1930s with corrugated steel, will be disassembled gingerly, piece by piece, and then hauled two blocks down Camino Capistrano to the Heritage site.

“I talked to the developer who is building a distillery on the property, and they wanted to catalog it and put it away. Then I had the idea of using it as a part of Heritage,” said co-owner and pitmaster Daniel Castillo, who received approval the city and the San Juan Historical Society to use the outbuilding. “Originally I wanted to use it to house our new smokers, but then opted to use it as an indoor dining space.”

Once completed, the revamped barn will seat roughly 50 diners inside, a handful of new outdoor dining tables and a dedicated bathroom.

Rendering of Heritage Barbecue’s space will feature a circa-1880 barn. (Rendering by Bickel Group Architecture, Almquist – courtesy of Heritage Barbecue)

“There will be a butchering and meat fabrication room with a big window where people can see, you know, sausages being made and meats being hung,” he said.

Renderings of the new space show a 22-foot tall structure with repurposed wood and corrugated metal that will feature the original barn door, new wire mesh and a dark bronze finish. “We’re repurposing a lot of of the wood that we can’t use into furniture, like communal tables,” he explained. The completed look will maintain the original structure’s aesthetically appealing patina.

The new expansion will offer patrons seated dinner service as well as new, yet-to-be-revealed seasonal menu items. “The menu will consist of a prix-fixe and then the rest of it people will be able to order off the menu” a la carte, said Castillo.

Heritage Barbecue will keep its current seating area and window service at the front of the restaurant; the new additions will be found in the back portion of the restaurant.

Construction will start at the end of the year, with an anticipated completion in early 2025.

The smokers at Heritage Barbecue in San Juan Capistrano. The new expansion will see six more added to the restaurant. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The timing for Heritage Barbecue’s growth couldn’t be better: The Michelin Guide once again bestowed it with Bib Gourmand honors, which the dining guide gives to restaurants that serve good food at reasonable prices, earlier this year. And Daniel Vaughn, the unimpeachable authority on all things barbecue, of Texas Monthly named Heritage as one of the best Texas-style barbecue spots in America (outside of the Lone Star State, of course).

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The plaudits, which came fast and furious after its 2020 opening, and the long lines of customers, which remain daily occurrences at the San Juan Capistrano institution, will help Heritage Barbecue allow for more guests to get their paws on some of the Golden State’s best food — barbecued or otherwise.

The Castillo family plan on opening Les Brisket Hut, a taco and wine spinoff, in Santa Ana later this year.

Orange County Register

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Heritage Barbecue expanding space with new smokers, seating and a historic barn

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