Most restaurants are run to please everyone, so that a vegetarian, pescatarian, and hardcore meat fan can all find something they like. Rib joints are usually specialists. You go there for only one thing, tasty slow-smoked meat. If you don’t want that, you don’t go there. It makes sense because roasting barbecue the traditional way is sufficiently time consuming and labor-intensive that you really can’t do much else.
Mr. Cecil’s California Ribs is an anomaly on two counts – while their specialty is obvious from the name, the ribs are made in a way that is anything but traditional, and the menu is very wide-ranging. Over the course of several meals there I have tried most of the items on the menu, and while everything hasn’t worked, there are plenty of things worth a visit.
I started a recent meal with the “Jonathan’s Selection” appetizer platter, a sampler of ribs, hush puppies, hot links, chili, wings, and barbecued beans. At $20 the portion was hefty for two people and moderate for three. It was fairly priced, and a good way to try the most popular offerings from the kitchen. The wings were the spiciest thing on the platter, and the zestiest thing I’ve had from this kitchen. They stand with the best I’ve had locally. The hot links were subtler, conveying a nice slow burn rather than a fiery explosion. The beanless chili was mild by comparison, but that’s no insult. It had a deep, rich flavor based on slow-cooked meatiness rather than heaps of spices. I’d start a meal with a bowl of this any time. The baked beans were good too, brown sugar or molasses and smoke flavor infusing every bite.
Which brings us to the ribs, of which three kinds were provided – beef, baby back, and St. Louis style. I’m not usually a fan of beef ribs, which are often tough and flavorless. But these were very good, tender and beefy, slathered with a mild sweet-and-sour type sauce that had caramelized slightly. Compared to them, both types of pork ribs were mild, and all about concentrated meaty flavors and mild char, with only light accents from the rib rub and spices that are the front and center at most places. This is no flaw in ribs that are called “California Ribs,” because that implies an individual and original style, but is when it comes to anything called St. Louis style ribs. Not to be too much of a purist here, but I’ve had ribs in St. Louis and these aren’t them. St. Louis ribs are slow-cooked and sauced, then finished on the grill, and they have a distinctive spicy kick. These are the same long-bone cut served in St. Louis, but with the same mild spice treatment as the standard ribs. The ribs served at Mr. Cecil’s have an appealing crispiness to the exterior, no smoky overtones, and are served dry rather than sauced. The hotter of the two barbecue sauces that are provided move things a little in the traditional direction, but not much – the hot sauce here would be served as a mild sauce at most places, and the mild is extremely tame.
Having tried the ribs, we decided to go a bit further afield in our main courses. I selected the lamb chops, while my companion decided on smoked tri-tip. We also selected sides of Caesar salad, glazed carrots, roasted corn, and green beans. To pair, we picked glasses of Fess Parker Frontier Red and Seven Deadly Zins, wines that work admirably with the meaty flavors of good barbecue. The wine list here is exceptionally well-chosen and moderately priced, and sets an example for other barbecue joints.
The main courses arrived nicely presented, the lamb chops arranged in a small pool of tomato-mint vinaigrette, slab of pretty tri-tip with its crosshatched grill marks next to an ear of corn with the husk artistically tied. That steak was great to look at, but with the first bite I remembered why tri-tip is usually slow-cooked and sliced thin. Quick grilling makes this cut of meat tasty but very tough, and we ended up finishing the caesar and corn but leaving half of the beef on the plate. The lamb chops were greatly superior, tender and tangy, the lightly sweet mint sauce not overwhelming the natural flavors. The glazed carrots showed the danger of this. I expected sweetness in anything glazed, but these were candy-sweet. There was plenty on the plate, so we finished the green beans and other sides and still had a little room for dessert.
Only one of the desserts was made in-house, a rum cake that was moist and absolutely perfect, with plenty of rum flavor without strong alcohol overtones. It was an excellent finish to a meal that had it’s high points. While I haven’t ordered the tri-tip again, on other visits I’ve been quite happy with the catfish nuggets, and they even turn out a good burger. Mr. Cecil’s is a multifaceted restaurant, not a roadhouse rib joint, more ambitious than most of its kind and successful in many ways.
Mr. Cecil’s California Ribs is at 1209 Highland Avenue in Manhattan Beach. Open for lunch and dinner daily, full bar, wheelchair access OK to half of restaurant. Street parking only. For reservations, call 310-546-5400.
