You don’t need a backyard grill to enjoy great barbecue.
Let one of these pitmasters from a Redding meat market or grocery store cook a tri-tip, chicken and more to mouth-watering perfection.
'Nice grill marks'
C.J. Lefort, co-owner of R&R Quality Meats & Seafood in Redding, said his barbecue masters grill between 500 to 1,000 pounds of meat each day on their weekly Friday and Saturday cookouts.
“So we cook it out here, but we have a hot case inside, just like the rest of our full-service counter. You take a number, you tell them what you want out of the hot case, and we’ll bag it up for you right then and there,” Lefort said recently, while standing next to the store’s outdoor grill and smoker. “We do pork baby back ribs. We do marinated chicken thighs. We do leg quarters. We do pulled pork. We do tri-tip,” he said.
Hands down, he said the most popular item off the grill are the boneless-skinless pineapple teriyaki chicken thighs.
R&R uses a two-step process to get the most flavor from its meats. They’ll grill using lump charcoal briquettes and then transfer meat to a smoker that uses dry oak wood in its firebox.
“Every single item has a different flavor to it. On the thighs, we have sweet and smoky or pineapple teriyaki. On the tri-tip, we’re doing a garlic and the sweet and smoky. The leg quarters have a chicken rub. The ribs have their own sauce to them," said Lefort. "It’s not just like one barbecue rub. They’ve got a bunch of stuff going.”
Said Patrick McDermott, one of R&R's main grillers: “We just kind of sear it — give it some nice grill marks and then we throw it in the smoker."
McDermott and one of his cooking partners, Vaipou Leota, were under their shade tent one recent Friday, keeping the hot case filled. It can be a grueling job, cooking in the swirling smoke with heat radiating from the coals. When Redding's temperatures start soaring, R&R will set up a swamp cooler outdoors, with fans.
McDermott gets to work at 7 a.m. on his Friday and Saturday barbecue shifts, while Leota arrives an hour later so they can start putting meat on the grill by 8:30 a.m. They’ll start winding down at 3:30 p.m. and stop at 4 p.m.
One customer who gets R&R’s barbecue about three times a month is McDermott’s brother, James. He raved about his little brother’s skills and how he volunteers to barbecue for relatives. “He’s ultimately the best,” James McDermott said. “He cooks at every family event. His Mom’s, my place, the park.”
R&R often will sell out of its barbecue, depending on the weekend. Lefort said they get really busy with lines any time a holiday is happening.
“If you have Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Memorial Day — anything that ends in a ‘day’ — on a weekend just gets absolutely crazy,” he added.
Lefort said R&R has been barbecuing since spring 2013, not that long after the business took over the next-door Buz’s Crab Stand.
Customers are able to custom order ahead of time and request how they want their meat — maybe a medium-rare tri-tip or one that's well done. The market also sells chicken and beef to cook yourself with various rubs and flavors.
What to know if you go to R&R Meats
- BBQ pricing: Tri-tip $14.99/lb. whole, $15.99/lb. sliced. Whole rack of baby back pork ribs $19.99. Marinated chicken thighs $5.99/lb. Pulled pork $8.99/lb. Combo plate $15.99.
- Grilling hours: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. every Friday and Saturday, from April through October. Store hours 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday
- Where: R&R Quality Meats & Seafood, 2159 East St., Redding.
- Contact: (530) 241-7770
- Social media
- Website: https://www.randrqualitymeats.net/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RRQualityMeatsandSeafood
Poll: Vote here! Who serves up Redding's best lip-smacking BBQ?
‘Nice crunchy edges’
In the outdoor grilling business since 1979, Kent’s Meats and Groceries at 8080 Airport Road in Redding brings out the barbecue every Friday, with everything usually ready between 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“We do tri-tip, St. Louis pork ribs and half chickens,” said Kent’s meat manager Jeff Marvel. “Poundage wise, we probably sell more tri-tip than anything else, but we do 300 pounds of St. Louis ribs every Friday too and almost 200 half chickens,” Marvel said.
Altogether, Kent’s usually barbecues between 900 and 950 pounds of meat on grilling day.
“I come in early on Fridays. I marinade 500 pounds of tri-tip. They make the marinade in the kitchen. It’s their secret thing. It’s always been the same marinade,” he said. Meanwhile, they’ll use a dry rub on the ribs and chicken.
Marvel says his team uses Santa Maria-style grills with briquettes.
“It’s just a rack over heat. There’s no oven or convection-type cooking. It’s just a grill and that’s what we like. It gives you the nice, crunchy edges that you like on barbecue. The smokers don’t give you that,” Marvel said. “The grill gives you the crunchy edges and that’s the part of barbecue that I love most.”
While Kent’s does Fridays year-round, there’s always more business on nice days. “The sun comes out and that makes a big difference,” Marvel said. “We do even the day after Christmas. I mean, yeah, we don’t miss a barbecue.”
What to know if you go to Kent’s
- BBQ pricing: Tri-tip $13.99/lb. Ribs $9.99/lb. Half chicken $6. Beans $4. Potatoes $3. Bread $3.
- BBQ availability: About 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Fridays. Regular store hours 6 a.m.-10 p.m. seven days.
- Where: Kent's Meats & Groceries, 8080 Airport Road, Redding.
- Contact: (530) 365-4322
- Social media
- Website: https://www.kentsmeats.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kentsmeats
A holiday fixture
A common thread for each retail pitmaster we spoke with are their regulars. Many customers at the Holiday Market on Placer Street in west Redding are on a first-name basis with Kenny Schulte, a Redding resident the past 30-odd years.
He graduated from the deli to the grill and has been cooking tri-tips on Fridays and Saturdays outside the supermarket the past eight years. He says the summertime is the busiest, when he rustles up probably 100 tri-tip roasts a day.
One reason Schulte says he likes his job is that he gets to fellowship with people. He’ll probably have 200 customers on a weekend who might hear Schulte’s jokes and stories.
“I have a lot of regulars. I like making new regulars,” Schulte said. “So if somebody comes up and I start talking with them and find out they’re new, I go: ‘Well, since you’re new, I am required by law to tell you that you’ll be back.’ And then love when they come back and say, ‘You’re right.’”
Schulte, 72, uses a propane grill to cook his tri-tips using a Pappy’s brand rub. A customer asked him recently how many tri-tip roasts he’s cooked over the years.
“I tossed a number out and said 10,000. But then I started thinking and it’s probably between 45,000 and 50,000,” he said.
Schulte is such a fixture that he’s the only griller that some customers want. He was off the job for two months at the end of last year after tearing an ankle tendon.
“Let me tell you a little story about that. I had to wear the boot thing. I was with my wife at Walmart and a woman asks, ‘How are you doing? Good to see you.’"
“And she says, ‘My husband called me and said he was at Holiday and asked me if I wanted him to pick up a tri-tip.’ And she goes, ‘Well, who’s cooking?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen the guy before.’ She says, “If it’s not Kenny, I don’t want one.’”
Schulte also gets compliments from customers on social media.
He was at last year’s Taste of Redding when a customer asked if she could take his picture. “So I go. ‘Sure.’ I come to work Monday and a fellow worker said, ‘Hey Kenny, you see you’re on Facebook?’ I go, ‘What?’ Oh, so there’s a group called Redding Restaurant Reviews."
“The lady started out, ‘I know this isn’t a restaurant, but I want to give a shout-out to Kenny.’”
“That is gratitude,” Schulte said while choking up. “There were 450 likes and 50 comments. That makes you feel so good.”
One of Schulte’s Friday afternoon customers was Terry Zugar of Redding, who was grabbing a medium-rare tri-tip to take home. Asked why she’s been a longtime customer, Zugar said: “It’s wonderful. First of all, I don’t have to cook. And second, it’s cooked just right.”
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Another regular, Kathy Steiner, was getting a larger tri-tip, also medium-rare, to make sandwiches for her family of six.
“I get a tri-tip every week. They are just absolutely delicious. I like the way Kenny cooks it,” Steiner said.
Schulte said he loves his Friday and Saturday gig because of his customers. “These two days are the best job I’ve ever had because of my people,” he said.
The Holiday Market in Palo Cedro also offers tri-tip barbecue Fridays and Saturdays starting about noon.
What to know if you go to Holiday Market at 3315 Placer St. in Redding
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: These Redding meat markets, grocery stores serve up flavorful, fresh-grilled BBQ
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