Here Comes A BBQ Spot From The Hog & Rocks Guys

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• Picture this room, filled up with long picnic tables holding beer and bbq.
• And there will be a swanky design too, naturally.
• The current kitchen.
• The current exterior, lot of potential!

Building on the rising momentum in the Bay Area bbq scene, the Hog & Rocks guys have revealed their plans to open a Texas-style barbecue restaurant in the Mission. They just signed the lease for the former senior citizen home on 19th street you see above; so now owners Scott Youkilis, Eric Rubin and Dave Esler can hammer out the nitty gritty, like the name, the menu, the decor details, etc. before opening some time in winter. What we know so far: the format will be a counter-service, meat-by-the-pound affair, backed by a full bar. This afternoon, we grabbed Sir Youkilis to ask him some of our more burning questions.

You're opening a bbq spot. We've been circulating the idea for about a year. We're going to go for it.

What are the meat offerings going to look like on a nightly basis? We'll definitely have a few pig options, beef and poultry every night. There will always be vegetables too. Then we'll have other things like lamb and goat as specials. Like if we get quails in from Texas, we'll add that. Or maybe we'll do squab from time to time. We're not going to necessarily have ribs every night, but if people are picketing outside asking for ribs, we'll probably give it to them. Because we want people to be happy, you know.

And then, will there be sides you order separately or something? Yes, it'll all be listed on a big chalkboard every night. I have a gigantic list of sides I want to do. It'll be seasonal; so a braised green could be collard greens one week, kale the next; we'll have the various kinds of potatoes, mashed, grilled.

Will you be going the Southern route with cornbread and all? There's talk of cornbread, or maybe our own housemade rolls or fresh-made tortillas. A lot of it will change often and will be based on what we have and the seasons.

Where do you plan to source your meats? We're still figuring that out.

Will you have an open kitchen? Yes, you'll be able to see the smoker and the grill. The bulk of the cooking will be done on those. We'll also have a six-burner range and a double decker convection. Do you know what kind of smoker you'll have yet? We're still researching it. There are these smokers from a company called Old Hickory that are massive, but we're not sure that's going to fit. We're definitely not going the custom route because we want a proven machine.

How about the cocktails? There will be a full bar, so at this point we're focusing on things that come from barrels, like tequila, whiskey. We're starting there.

And the wine and beer program? We'll probably do wine and beer on tap similar to what we do at Hog & Rocks, with 8 or so beers and 2 or so wines.

So, 2300 square feet, how many seats is that? I think we'll be able to get 60 or 70 downstairs. Twenty or 30 on the mezzanine. We haven't done planning or permitting or finalized the designer yet so a lot is still up in the air with the design, but we'll be filling you in as we figure things out.

What's your vision for the interior at this point? It'll definitely be communal tables. People will come in, order at the counter and sit down with their friends on long picnic-like tables next to people they don't know. The room will almost feel like a mess hall with an openness like a barn. So it will be a fun place, Hofbrauhaus-house style. So kind of like the back area at Zeitgeist? Yeah, kind of.

· Scott Youkilis and Friends Plot A Mission BBQ Joint [ISSF]
· All Previous Hog & Rocks Coverage [~ ESF ~]