.Aptos St. BBQ Does Cali-Style Smoking, Low and Slow

The crew at Aptos St. BBQ have a passion for great barbeque, and have spent years and years mastering the process.

They roast, smoke, and serve up their meaty menu at their downtown Aptos location—takeout only for now—seven days a week from 11am-9pm, and even offer breakfast tacos every morning from 7-11am. They are also offering local craft beers to go, and have online ordering. General manager Jacob Marino has worked there for seven years and been the GM for the last two. He spoke to GT about their approach to barbeque.

What style barbeque do you serve, and what is your philosophy on barbeque?

JACOB MARINO: We kind of have a variation of styles, sort of like a blend between Kansas City and Texas barbeque—we call it “California barbeque.” Our philosophy is low and slow, with no shortcuts. We roast and smoke all of our own meats, usually for between 5-14 hours depending on the product. Our approach is quality, quality, quality, and we strive to serve the best meats that we can source.

What are a few of your most popular menu items?

Our brisket is probably our most popular, and that takes about 14 hours to cook. Our pork St. Louis style spare ribs are also a big seller, they take about six hours on the smoker with our secret rub, and then are slathered with our housemade barbeque sauce. My personal favorite sandwich is the Gaucho: It comes with beef brisket, grilled onions, provolone cheese, and a housemade chimichurri on locally sourced garlic francese bread. Our most popular salad is our Berry Bleu. It has mixed greens, berries, apples, pecans, blue cheese crumbles, raspberry vinaigrette and choice of meat.

What’s the deal with the breakfast tacos?

We started serving them about seven months ago, post-pandemic. We were trying to get creative and excite our guests with new menu options. We offer two types of breakfast tacos: pulled pork and brisket. They are served on a flour tortilla with eggs either scrambled or over-easy, and a ranchero salsa. They’ve been a hit. We started them with a slow rollout, and they have quickly turned into a favorite among locals. And really, who doesn’t want a taco for breakfast?

8059 Aptos St., Aptos. 831-662-1721, aptosstbbq.com.