Slow and Low Smokehouse, a new barbecue restaurant in historic district, opening in Elk Grove

A newly opened smokehouse aims to become a hot spot in Elk Grove by introducing a new Texas-style barbecue experience to the city’s Main Street historic district.

Slow and Low Smokehouse, located in a spacious 1880s property at 9699 Railroad St. next door to Dust Bowl Brewing, opened its doors earlier in the week for hosting private soft openings for friends, family, influencers and restaurant insiders.

“We have a lot of our peers from the industry (as patrons),” Hargis said. “It’s one thing for us to say, ‘we think we did a great job,’ but it’s another thing for our peers, the guys that are chefs and owners of other restaurants, coming in to kind of give us a critique.”

The real test began Saturday evening, when Slow and Low opened to the public. The restaurant’s hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

After two years of work, restaurant owner Michael Hargis said he wants to create a fun, communal-style restaurant to the 6,500-square-foot space that can draw large crowds over delicious food.

“With the size of this place, we want to bring a lot of people together,” Hargis said. “At the forefront of it is great food, beer and cocktails.”

The plans for Slow and Low began in earnest during the COVID-19 pandemic when executive head chef Brock McDonald had surgery that limited his mobility, said Hargis, known for the popular LowBrau and Beast + Bounty restaurants in midtown Sacramento.

Hargis brought a barrel smoker to McDonald’s house for him to use as he recovered. He recalled a night when McDonald called him to say he thought he was getting pretty good at smoking meat.

“He started bringing (food) over,” Hargis said. “I swear to God, I’m not even a huge tri-tip guy (but) the first tri-tip he brought over, I was like, ‘Are you freaking kidding me?’ I finished it and then spent the whole rest of the day smelling my hand. (It) was so good.”

The men knew they were onto something. Once the location became available, Hargis said, they got to work.

Hargis said each of his establishments — including Holy Spirits on 20th Street — has its own uniqueness. Hargis said he imagines an ambiance at Slow and Low that doesn’t give an aura of a typical barbecue pit.

While wanting to give the business its own vibe, Hargis fell in love with the sense of community he found in Elk Grove and said the vision and that community was rewarding. He wanted to try something new, a business in a different area than he’s accustomed to.

“We felt that with all the development that’s going on in the historic district, there would be a great synergy between us, Dust Bowl and (nearby) Prost (Beer Hall) and some of the other cool things that are opening,” Hargis said.

Hargis was raised in Dallas and grew up eating from a barbecue spot called Solly’s Bar-B-Que that his mom worked at. She would often bring home plates of ribs, brisket and other barbecued meals for the family.

On the nights they didn’t have Solly’s, Hargis’ dad would fix wood-fired dinners.

“I was raised on wood-fire cooking. That’s actually why I wanted to open Beast + Bounty,” Hargis said. “There’s just something primitive about it. It’s just something that’s just simple but delicious. I love wood-fired cooking. I was raised on it. My dad probably makes the best ribs I’ve ever had.”

Those life experiences were applied to every aspect of Slow and Low’s approach.

The restaurant uses a 16-foot smoker pit — named Lena Ann — to slow cook all of the meats, operations manager Mike Williams said.

“We smoke on hard oak. We started smoking overnight — we smoke for 12 hours and everything’s fall-off-the-bone tender,” Williams said. “It actually has different zones and different chambers where we have one area for chicken — that’s going to stay at its prime temperature — brisket, tri-tip and just orchestrating the dance.”

Williams called the process a “labor of love.”

During one of the soft open events Wednesday, Ricky Yap engulfed himself in the tri-tip and brisket and said he was pleasantly surprised.

“Peppery, juicy, very tender with the sauce on the side. (They) cut the fat. It was a really nice bite,” Yap said. “Everyone’s getting something today. That’s what barbecue is though, right? You bring the family. We all eat and just enjoy ourselves.”

Jerome Love keyed in on the chicken: “It’s delicious — the rub is lovely — super juicy. It’s got a little spice to it. It’s great.”

An ‘elevated’ kind of food

Hargis checked out barbecue spots all over the country, especially in the South where barbecue is a staple. After trying multiple barbecue spots in Tennessee and Texas, what he noticed is that the majority look the same or have a similar feel.

He wanted Slow and Low to be different in every way possible.

“It’s really an intense style of food to cook,” Hargis said. “We thought, ‘why don’t we showcase it on a level that’s a little elevated’ because it really is an elevated style of food. Even though (barbecue) is down-to-earth and approachable, with the technique that it takes and the amount of time that it takes, it’s actually a higher-end kind of food, so we wanted the place to be nice.”

The rewarding feeling for Hargis is that he was able to bring his vision to life.

“The design inside, I wanted it to feel like desert vibes meets Scandinavian vibes. I always have an underlying Danish, modern vibe to my design,” said Hargis, who’s also an architect. “I wanted to explore linear wood. You’ll notice all the bench seating have different scales of linear wood. From the screen walls, that’s one scale, the binges are one scale. The bar has another scale. So rather than doing a whole bunch of different colors and things like that, I wanted to keep it pretty monochromatic and make the warmth from the texture of the wood.”

Slow and Low offers barbecue classics such as tri-tip, brisket, chicken, turkey breasts, ribs, sausages and pulled pork.

“I like the meat, it’s sweet. It’s a brisket. Yeah, it’s really good,” said Ken Turton, who got a sneak peek of the offerings with his wife, Melissa. “The rice is perfectly cooked. I like the artistry of the meal, the presentation is excellent.”

Menu items also include meals such as burgers, sandwiches and tacos, all complimented by the same cooking approach. Sides and appetizers include smoked beef-fat fries, potato salad, mini corn dogs and smoked wings along with slices of pie such as key lime, bourbon walnut and butterscotch banana cream.

Patron Brooke Butler, who is vegetarian, said the sides looked “too enticing” to pass on. She ordered mac and cheese, cornbread and an elote cup.

The Turtons also gave the corn meal-fried cauliflower a try.

“It’s very good. They did a great job. It’s hard to get it that crunchy,” said Ken Turton, whose real estate company leased the property to Hargis.

Melissa added: “It’s unique, crispy and they offer a bunch of different dry rubs or sauces for it. Like different flavors, you can customize it.”

The Turtons also tried one of the seven salad bowls offered — choices included the El Cobb, a Brocc bowl, a Love Child bowl and Texas-style chili bowl with greens. Ken ordered the Brocc Bowl and Melissa tried the southwest bowl which contains ranch beans, cilantro, rice, fire onions, cheese and avocado.

Emiko Someya ordered their El Cobb salad that includes smoked chicken, grilled corn, cotija, red onion, avocado, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, chile, soft-boiled egg and cilantro creme.

“It’s delicious,” Someya said. “I like that they have salad options because barbecue is usually all meat. So it’s nice to have a balance.”

This story was originally published June 1, 2024 at 5:00 AM.