Your astrological sign had better be “carnivore.”
Craft by Smoke and Fire in Old Pasadena is a festival of meat, from beef to beef, to mostly beef, along with some lamb and turkey. Although there is actually a vegan dish hidden deep in the menu, don’t embarrass yourself by asking for grilled salmon or chicken tenders. That’s not happening.
This is beef, carnivores. Don’t be looking for some fancy delicate appetizers.
We first chatted with Craft by Smoke and Fire owner Isaias Hernandez back before his Texas-style BBQ spot threw open its doors. The would-be barbeque-preneur first opened in late spring, and now here in the dog days of summer, it’s packing them in, even on a normally slow Tuesday night.
The spacious eatery sits in a historic 1925-era 6,000 square-foot property was renovated in 2019, next door to the former location of a 1922 Fire Department livery stable, and joins a busy restaurant neighborhood which includes Agnes Cheesery, Buca di Beppo, Gyu-Kaku, Green Street Tavern, Rocco’s Tavern, Beer & Claw, Boiling Point Concept, and 850C Bakery Cafe.
Of the menu, Hernandez says, “We have a direct relationship with Harris Ranch in Central California, so because of this relationship, all of our meats are fresh.”
The barbeque is made from scratch, said Hernandez, with a menu that includes homemade jalapeno sausages, giant short ribs and briskets.
And we wasted no time partaking in as much of it as we could.
First came the cocktails. My Designated Drinker (I don’t indulge) took full advantage of the colorfully named “Burn the Ships.” Be warned: This is a seriously grownup drink. It features Dickel Bourbon, Johnnie Walker Black, demi syrup, a Luxardo Cherry, housemade Tobacco Bitter, Angostura Bitters, and Cointreau.
My associate appeared very pleased and none the worse for wear. Clearly a sign of a good drink.
The barbecue show began with a prime brisket quesadilla.
Before we go any further, if your doctor is advising that you go easy on red meat, there are numerous other delicious seafood and chicken eateries not far away. At Craft by Smoke and Fire, you’re here for the beef.
The Prime Brisket Quesadilla is a large flour tortilla, Oaxacan Cheese, Prime Short Rib, Comeback Sauce, cilantro, and onions. It’s sliced and covered with the Oaxacan cheese, and for the timid, it could easily be your whole meal.
And the hits just kept on coming.
Next up was a Big Rib-Lowski Burrito, part of their barba-cruda street food menu. This is the most startling burrito you may ever encounter. It’s a prime short rib, with a three-cheese blend, some mac ‘n cheese, some fries, some comeback sauce, and some cilantro. It’s some burrito.
Our server actually asked us if we wanted him to remove the bone for us. When we agreed, he pulled the skeleton out of the entire construction, leaving only the short rib, wrapped up in the everything of everything else.
This burrito is a major project. Bring a friend or make room in your fridge.
The table quickly become more and more crowded with a short rib brisket, which was essentially the meat from the burrito without the burrito; a rack of lamb—New Zealand grass-fed drenched lamb rack, smoked low and slow for more than two hours—and a brisket and short rib sausage, I suppose, just because they could.
“Whew,” sighed my associate, after a busy 30 or 40 minutes. “This was work.”
Yes, it was, and the best work is never done quickly.
Thus, we lingered at the table until a dessert suggestion made sense. We opted for a Mud Pie, as good as you hope it will be, and a smoked Cookies and Cream dessert, which is apparently provided by a local vendor, and features a “charcoal-activated” ice cream that looks like playground asphalt, but tastes like Cookies and Cream.
No more questions, please. Just try it.
We rolled out onto Green Street finally, having happily consumed a good portion of our combined body weight in beef and carrying a large bag of What We Couldn’t Finish.
I promised I would be back. It will likely take a while. I can’t eat like that very often. But you can.
It’s a large menu. Try everything we didn’t.
Craft by Smoke and Fire, 30 W Green Street, Old Pasadena. (626) 529-5584. www.Craftbysmokeandfire.com.
