Spring Street Smoke House: Big House BBQ

Good BBQs in the Southland are few and far between. That’s why Chris Patterson, owner of the Spring Street Smokehouse in L.A.’s Chinatown, decided to take over his dad’s restaurant five years ago.

The Spring Street Smokehouse was originally a catering facility for the Twin Towers jail a few blocks to the east. Patterson’s dad had a contract with the government to provide three meals a day seven days a week to Immigration and Naturalization prisoners at the facility.

Chris Patterson, owner of the Spring Street Smokehouse in L.A.’s Chinatown, tells KPCC how to do barbeque right.

Right after 9/11, however, the government re-issued the contract due to a dramatic rise in arrests. His dad’s bid was the lowest, and he lost the contract. Without a job but with a fully functional kitchen, Chris decided to open a BBQ-style restaurant instead. When he realized its potential. he left his position as a personal trainer to take over the family business.

Chris says the restaurant has seen steady growth since its opening, which he admits is very unusual for an eatery. One reason, as he noted, is a lack of competition in the area, but another is the quality of the food.

Since they primarily feature only barbecue, they have their recipes down cold! The sauce is an old family concoction that, Chris says, his mom used, not for barbecue, but simply for simmering chicken. He loved it so much he “borrowed” it for Spring Street. The meat is cooked in a two and a half-ton indoor wood-fire Texas smoker. He uses mesquite and hickory to flavor and tenderize the meat. Since he doesn’t want to limit his barbecue to any one style, he offers pork, brisket and tri-tip on the menu. If it were Texas BBQ he says he couldn’t legitimately use pork, and only in California is tri-tip a BBQ favorite. Each variety of meat is smoked for a different length of time. For instance he can do hot links in an hour whereas pork must be smoked for sixteen hours to realize the full tenderizing benefits.

There’s no one chef at Spring Street Smoke House. Chris has developed the recipes, and he merely instructs his cooks how to prepare them. There are no seasonal specialties, and the menu rarely changes. There‘s smoked brisket, tri-tip, ribs, chicken and hot links as well as pulled pork and pulled chicken, as well as a nice variety of ribs: pork spare ribs, beef ribs, buffalo ribs and Chicago rib tips. Prices at Spring Street range from $3.75 for a sausage link to $22.95 for a full slab of pork ribs. There’s about a dollar difference between a third pound and half pound portion of meat, which is served with a choice of baked beans, slaw or French fries. There are also other traditional sides including mac and cheese, collard greens and red beans and rice.

On the menu are a few specials including a Best Beef Sandwich (10.95/14.50), comprised of smoked beef on a French roll topped with a creamy gorgonzola sauce; Burnt Ends (10.95/13.50), super smoky brisket bits smothered in BBQ sauce; and Smoked Cajun Shrimp (11.95) served over a bed of rice and roasted veggies.

Not too long ago, Chris began putting out a loaf of cheap white or wheat bread on each table. He says he did it at first because customers were asking for more than the slice or two he was serving to sop up the sauce. It became easier to just put the whole loaf on the table. Then he found out it’s always been a tradition in the South. In fact the same bread he uses, Town Talk, is the traditional brand. Why cheap sliced bread rather than a more tasty variety? Says Chris: it’s lighter, and you can consume more without getting stuffed. Who knew?

Chris offers an extensive variety of beer, both bottled and tap, including several from the local Angel City Brewery, never more than a few weeks old by the time the keg’s empty.

The Spring Street Smokehouse is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.

Get Directions to 640 N. Spring Street

Spring Street Smokehouse
640 N. Spring Street
(213) 626-0535
Los Angeles, CA 90012