It all started when chef Derrick Jones came to Crockett for a sandwich during the pandemic. The longtime chef, who’d worked for years as a sous chef at Pixar Animation Studios, gave his compliments to chef and sandwich maker Randy Valdez, owner of Lucia’s Craft Sandwich, and the two men became friends, Valdez says.
After a couple of years of a friendship forged around food, they decided to start a restaurant together. They looked for locations for more than a year before space opened up next to Valdez’ sandwich shop in Crockett.
After a successful pop-up run, the restaurant received a beer and wine permit and is now open for lunch on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays as well as weekend brunch. However, it won’t be fully operational until the wood smoker they have planned is up and running, Valdez says.
“It’s kind of a long journey because of that element,” he says.
Smoked salmon, a cornmeal waffle, cream cheese, watermelon radish and mixed herbs are served at Bobby Mac’s BBQ, a new barbecue restaurant in Crockett. (Courtesy Sarai Fox)
Currently, they’re doing Creole and Southern barbecue, with Californian and New American influences. Menu items include a fried chicken sandwich ($17), pulled pork sandwich ($17) and smoked brisket cheesesteak ($18), while brunch offerings include chicken and waffles ($23) with Hennessy maple syrup, a breakfast burger ($18) and crispy boudin balls ($15), made with chicken, dirty rice, stuffed sausage, pepper jack and a hot sauce aioli.
Jones, who hails from the East Bay, grew up barbecuing with his grandparents, who had migrated here from the south. The restaurant’s name — Bobby Mac’s BBQ — is inspired by Jones’ two grandfathers, Bobby and Mac, who taught him the backyard art of smoking meat. Bobby went on to pay Jones’ tuition to attend the now-closed Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco.
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“Pretty much every culture in the world has some sort of barbecue,” Valdez says. “He’s introducing a lot of flavors that are more worldly than maybe your average barbecue pitmaster.”
Ultimately, the vision is to combine Bobby Mac’s BBQ, Lucia’s Craft Sandwich and Olympia Market, a market space, under one roof and call it Duke’s Dining Hall, according to the restaurant’s website.
The restaurant is currently scheduled to host a wine-paired dinner at 6 p.m. April 13 in collaboration with Yountville’s Hope & Grace Wines. (Tickets are $120; more information here).
Details: Bobby Mac’s BBQ is open from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m for lunch Monday, Thursday and Friday and the same hours for weekend brunch at 601 Second Ave. in Crockett; bobby-macs-bbq.com.