McLintock’s has been another of our favorite SLO restaurants over the years. The most well-known McLintock’s is in Shell Beach, and besides a saloon, contains a dining house and country store. Driving up coastal Highway 1 from Pismo Beach, you can’t miss it, on the east side of the highway with a giant wooden cowboy in front of the rough-hewn wooden complex. Famous for its high water pour, it’s quite a surprise when you don’t expect it to have your server pour your water with pitcher held high above the glass. But the Saloon in SLO is a less flashy, more modest place, tucked away between Tom’s Toys and a small Italian restaurant, and partially obscured behind the smooth-barked fig trees that line Higuera (and give the street its name). On Thursday evenings, however, all of Higuera comes to life with Farmers Market, and the cooks at McLintock’s set up their massive pit barbecues and begin grilling ribs, kebobs, sausages, and burgers. They also engage in entertaining banter and antics taking orders, and the line in front is always long. After we’d finished our curbside turkey leg appetizer (from SLO Brewing Co.'s barbecue pit) and strolled Higuera a little longer, ending up in front of rowdy McLintock’s, we figured we’d earned a sit-down dinner and even a beer. (Dogs and liquor aren’t allowed on the street during the Farmers Market.)
There are a couple of choice tables with tall chairs at McLintock’s by the big front windows, especially choice during Farmers Market when it’s a front-row seat to watch the barbecuing. To our surprise, though, the place was packed, and that’s where we got seated. We sipped our beers and decided to share the Trail Camp Steak, a 12-ounce tri-tip that came with salad, beans, garlic toast, and choice of potatoes; we chose baked. The steak was good, though not quite of the caliber of the Peppermill Steakhouse in Valentine, Nebraska. McLintock serves 100% USDA-choice corn-fed beef, and they’re butchered and cut on site. In the New Times Best Of, they won number one for best steak, and second in tri-tip, ribs, salsa, and kid-friendliness. The meal, an extra side of beans, plus two draft Buds, set us back only $22.
Who ARE these guys? I began to wonder. John Wayne’s initials in the 1963 movie McLintock! were G.W., but the restaurant is "F." Fact of the matter is, two guys with less catchy names got together 30-something years ago, buying out octogenarian Mattie Smyer, proprietress of a hole-in-the-wall Shell Beach eatery. Their names: Bruce Breault and Tunny Ortali. The second generation Breault (Toney) now runs the business, and it remains family-owned and operated, not interested in franchising or going public, despite its success.
McLintock’s SLO saloon is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Besides steaks, they offer burgers, sandwiches, "C" food, and salads. You’ll also find McLintock’s in Arroyo Grande, Paso Robles, and Steamers of Pismo in Pismo Beach.