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The Smoke Point BBQ’s Chef Jarad Gallagher has started opening his restaurant two hours earlier on weekends for brunch, a bold move when he is already expecting at least 350 people to walk through the door each of those days—his busiest days of the week.
“It doesn’t cost more for us to do it,” he said. “And my interest is, when you Google ‘brunch’ in this area, does Smoke Point come up? Will this get us more attention? And it is an opportunity to do something different. We’ll use our products, and people can determine whether they think it is worth it.”
Gallagher said he is indifferent about whether he serves two brunches or 100 because his staff is already in the building prepping for the day.
“Vertigo is excellent at what they do,” he said. “Fast service burritos and things of that nature. And G&G Cafe does an American-style breakfast, which you would expect in a place like that. I thought. ‘Let’s see if there is a desire here for brunch.’”
The menu features items not found on the regular lunch and dinner menu. Gallagher has combined his pulled pork, beef short ribs, tri-tip and more with classic benedicts, chile verde, and a few surprises to create seven dishes that are as delicious and innovative as the rest of his offerings.
“We get a lot of locals that come in for our brunch,” he said. “That’s who we see, and I think they’re happy with it. It’s always nice when there’s a change-up in menus anyway, and in this town, it doesn’t happen very often.”
I first met Gallagher in 2020, a few days before his Nov. 11 opening. He was standing behind a huge grill he had set up in front of The Smoke Point BBQ, handing out grilled bacon-wrapped hot dogs to people as they wandered through town, waiting for the Halloween events to start.
He looked like everyone’s favorite neighbor at a block party—the one guy who knew exactly who wanted a hot dog and who wanted a hamburger and how rare the burger people wanted it. His casual style did not give any hints that this Michelin-starred chef was going to make San Juan Bautista a Mecca for barbecue lovers.
Opening his restaurant at the height of COVID, Gallagher used his considerable knowledge of the trade to constantly reinvent his business in the face of significant changes in how people dine while maintaining the high standards of his food. And he has been fearless in sending up trial balloons, like the now-closed Outpost in Hollister.
“That place didn’t make much money,” Gallagher said,” but it didn’t lose money either.”
The upside is that he is considering opening a new restaurant in Hollister as early as 2025.
“It was a good learning experience,” he said. “It gave us a lot of metrics in terms of indoor and to-go dining in Hollister and the demand. Before we spend real money to open a full-service restaurant, we want to ensure we do it right.”
Gallagher has spent his life working in high-end restaurants like Chez TJ in Mountain View, La Folie in San Francisco (now closed), and Skates on the Bay in Berkeley, and currently leads the culinary team at the Iberian-inspired restaurant Broma in Mountain View. He said that running a small restaurant, in some ways, is more difficult than running an upscale one.
“People have a perception of what items are worth in a small business,” Gallagher said, “but not in a fine-dining restaurant, where we can build on the experience by throwing really luxury ingredients at it. Small restaurants are limited by how much labor they have, the talent within that pool and the price point, and that’s hard to build on.”
Gallagher said that the difference forces small restaurant owners to be more price-sensitive, which makes surviving in a small community like San Juan or Hollister much harder.
“It’s not just getting you to buy a hamburger,” he said. “It’s getting you to buy a hamburger with the side, an appetizer, a second or third beer or a bottle of wine. That’s how you build the guest check, and, given the economy right now, it’s really, really difficult to do that.”
Gallagher said that people who talk about restaurants in terms of liking or not liking the food are asking the wrong questions.
“Take Jardines de San Juan,” Gallagher said. “The environment is incredible. The margaritas are great, and the staff is great at what they do. You might not leave there thinking it is the best experience you have ever had, but you will always get very good food in a beautiful setting.”
Though he has a location in mind, Gallagher would only share the details that the new place would not be a barbecue restaurant and that he was not planning on catering to the Doordash and Uber Eats.
“I don’t have a lot of interest in the to-go food business,” Gallagher said. “It’s just not where I want to spend my time. I’m a restaurant guy because I like people like being around people. Is there anything inspiring about a DoorDash delivery driver who just kind of kicks his way through your door?”
Brunch at The Smoke Point BBQ
Fried Chicken and Waffle – My sampler included fried chicken strips, and waffles drizzled with hot honey and sprinkled with green onions. (The whole dish includes eggs.) The chicken was juicy and had a great texture complimented by the crisp, light coating. The hot honey, soaked into the waffles, helped to give the entire dish a nice warm kick. Everything about the dish was mouthwatering and perfectly prepared. The obvious local comparison is to the Hapa Bros, but, Gallagher takes his masterfully prepared chicken in another direction with a different kind of sweetness and his very own harmonious blend of spices. I could eat this one twice a day, and I think it is a must-try.
Banana and Vanilla Bean French Toast – Sliced bananas on French toast sprinkled with roasted coconut accompanied by smoked hickory bacon and maple syrup. The magic of this dish is the bread’s puffy tenderness, which had me staring at the slices as I tried to figure out where that marshmallowy mouthfeel was coming from. I loved what the bananas and roasted coconut brought to the dish, a little early-morning taste of the tropics, and the bacon grounded everything in many peoples’ favorite flavor. I can’t image a kid who would not demand this every time they came for brunch—it’s just a fun dish.
Smoked Beef Short Rib Benedict – Sliced beef short rib on an English muffin topped with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce, with breakfast potatoes. I usually have the short ribs slathered with barbecue sauce—South Carolina is my choice here. So the hollandaise, with its light, smooth lemony taste, was a nice change of pace. I love how the denser texture of the meat contrasts with the egg and sauce; the combination is very filling, even without the spiced potatoes mixed with still-crisp red bell pepper. I did sneak some North Carolina sauce for extra sweetness, but the dish was already great.
Hawaiian Sunrise – Smoked pulled pork on split Hawaiian rolls topped with spicy mayo, pickles, frizzled onions, teriyaki sauce, and scallions, covered with a fried egg and breakfast potatoes on the side. Gallagher’s pulled pork is already my favorite item on his menu in all its iterations. Over the last four years, I have probably ordered the pulled pork sandwich, which comes with cabbage salad and tart pineapple salsa, about 75% of the time, eating it as two open-faced sandwiches and dousing each one with the Central Texas and Kansas City sauces. Yum. So it did not surprise me when this was my favorite brunch dish. The presentation is alluring, with the crispy onions lying on the fried egg, and the whole thing is drizzled with sweet/sour teriyaki sauce. Hidden under the egg is a mound of moist melt-in-your-mouth pulled pork with mayo, adding warm-your-throat depth. You will look forward to the complex flavors in each bite.
The brunch menu also features a Chile Verde Tri-Tip Breakfast Bowl with a fried egg and hollandaise sauce, a Smoked Beef Brisket Breakfast Sandwich with a fried egg and smashed avocado, and a Dungeness Crab Eggs Benedict. The kid’s menu offers bacon, waffles, and French toast.
The Smoke Point BBQ and Provisions
206 4th St, San Juan Bautista
(831) 593-5009
Hours:
Saturday brunch 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Saturday lunch 12 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Sunday brunch 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Sunday lunch 12 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Closed Monday and Tuesday
Wednesday 12 – 8 PM
Thursday 12 – 8 PM
Friday 12 – 9 PM
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping to expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and give our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
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