Nestled in The Orchard at Saddleback, near the corner
of El Toro Road
and Rockfield Boulevard,
is Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que. The exterior looks like a farm house with
side veranda (patio seating). Once you enter, the bustling servers are running
around with plates of barbeque and the decorative signs and photos pop out at
you with vibrant colors. It’s quite a heart-warming story.
In the Appetizer section are Lucille’s Onion Straws. A
mountain of irresistible buttermilk battered fresh onions, seasoned and
deep-fried and served with their own BBQ ranch dipping sauce. These onion
straws are amazing! These are fried like a good fried chicken – salt, pepper,
flour. If you can get the right combination, the flavor is addictive. The
portion is just right for 2 people to share while your barbeque plates are
being prepared. Thumbs up, way up!
Let’s get Low and Slow with some authentic Southern
barbeque! All of their BBQ is slowly smoked with hickory wood and served with
Homemade Biscuits and apple butter and your choice of 2 sides: Roasted Garlic Mashed
Potatoes, Shoestring Fries, Baked Potato, Potato Salad, Sweet Potato Fries,
Macaroni & Cheese, Creamy Cheese Grits, Southern Braised Greens, Creamy
Coleslaw, Honey Roasted Peanut Slaw, Fresh Vegetables, BBQ Beans, Fresh Corn on
the Cob or Sweet Mashed Potatoes.
The BBQ Two Meat Combo Platter is your choice of two of
Lucille’s best meats: BBQ tri tip, BBQ half chicken, baby back ribs, St. Louis ribs, beef
ribs, spicy hot link, pulled pork, rib tips or beef brisket. In this case, BBQ
tri tip and beef brisket were chosen along with creamy cheese grits and
shoestring fries. The tri tip was very smoky and tender. You can tell that the
tri-tip was smoked to perfection by the smoke ring on the meat (see photo). The
brisket was extremely tender and juicy, turning into almost pot roast level
consistency. The flavor had just the right amounts of smoke and salt. The
cheese grits were fantastic – creamy, cheesy, and a bit of a kick from the
jalapenos! The shoestring fries were okay. The coating on the fries tasted a
little weird, almost metallic. Thumbs up!
St. Louis Spare Ribs are lean, juicy pork ribs, seasoned with Lucille's special rub, slowly smoked, then grilled and basted with their homemade BBQ sauce. Southern braised greens and sweet potato fries were chosen as the sides. The ribs had a rich, smoky flavor with a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce. The ribs were a little tough – maybe cooked too long or too hot making them dry. But the sweet potato fries were cooked just right with a nice combo of sweet and salty. The greens had all the bitterness cooked out of them leaving only the base flavor of the leaves. Thumbs up!
Got room for dessert? The Snickers Ice Cream Pie is chopped Snickers bars mixed with vanilla bean ice cream in a crisp, chocolate cookie crust and served with homemade caramel and chocolate sauces. This dessert was like a Cold Stone creation in a pie crust. The chopped up snickers bars were minced and blended perfectly into the ice cream. The chocolate cookie crust helps keep the pie together and helps you scrape up the caramel and chocolate sauce. Thumbs up, way up!
If you are looking for some good Southern barbeque, head on over to Lucille’s. She’ll take care of you.
Atmosphere:
5 out of 5 stars
Service:
4 out of 5 stars
Décor:
5 out of 5 stars
Food:
4 out of 5 stars
For
more information:
23760 El Toro Rd
Lake Forest, CA 92630-4711
Lake Forest, CA 92630-4711
949.581.7427
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