BBQ House Expands Menu & Doubles Space in OB

Many readers and tipsters alerted us to the impending opening of BBQ House, which relaunches on Wednesday, July 29 in Ocean Beach after a two-month shutter and remodel.

Earlier this year, the beloved local eatery took over the next door space vacated by Cow Records, which moved across the street, bringing BBQ House's footprint to 2,500-square-feet. There's room for nearly 100 people now, in an expanded dining room with garage doors that open up to the sidewalk. And a new full liquor license will fuel a 30-tap bar that will offer happy hour Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m, with $3 wells and select beers, plus food specials.

Owner Abdul Attalah, who first opened BBQ House on Newport Avenue in 1991, still runs the restaurant with his sons, and the family says that their popular barbecue, slow-smoked over oak, will remain unchanged. But the menu has been beefed up, thanks to chef Keoni Simmons (Sushi on a Roll, Hungry Chef), who is riffing on the smoke theme with new dishes that include smoked portobello mushrooms, garlic-smoked shrimp and housemade chashu pork, which will be available atop Hawaiian noodle soup, called saimin, or tucked into a sandwich inspired by Simmons' creation for the World Food Championships in Vegas; the bread is a Hawaiian sweet roll, battered and fried. There will even be smoked bread pudding.

BBQ House's new operating hours are 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, with a weekend brunch menu in the works that will include a Bloody Mary built with housemade bouillon broth, rimmed with crushed chicharrones, and garnished with crispy pork belly and candied jalapeño.