Sabatino's - Lido Shipyard Sausage Company

With only a handful of weeks left before summer is officially over, I felt it imperative to showcase a backyard BBQ favorite …sausage. Tucked away in a Newport Beach shipyard is Sabatino’s – Lido Shipyard Sausage Company. Peter Sabatino’s privately owned food factory is located next door to his restaurant where the family’s special sausage recipe, dating back to Sicily in 1864, and other food items are made fresh daily. The tubby tubes of encased meat are mixed with imported Sicilian goat’s milk cheese, various herbs and come in mild or spicy flavor.

As I left the comfort of my home in Laguna I contemplated the many dishes I wanted to try. Hungry and salivating, I walked past the outdoor hostess stand and dining patio into a lobby and storefront where a large refrigerated window display full of seafood, large coils of homemade sausage, fresh bell peppers stuffed with rice and sausage and other food items for take home beckoned.

Several of the pleasant staff greeted me and I was immediately seated. The bus boy quickly served me a small basket of French baguette slices and a delicious cup of complimentary soup. During these tough economic times I was pleased to discover Sabatino’s giving away a free cup of soup with my meal. My clam chowder was excellent - made with thick bacon pieces, tender bites of clams, dices of firm potatoes and oyster crackers. I may have enjoyed the chowder too quickly as the bus boy noticed me hastily gobbling up my soup and kindly offered another free cup (yes, I accepted)!

Grilled calamari steak limone is served piccata style with garlic, capers and fresh herbs, surrounded by lemon wedges and roasted red peppers. I am a seriously tough critic of properly prepared calamari (over-cooked, tough and rubbery calamari sucks) and my squid steaks were well prepared with a good balance of salty capers off-setting the tart lemon juice.

I rarely eat sandwiches but had to try the sausage sandwich at Sabatino’s. Peter and C’est Si Bon Bakery in Newport Beach have teamed up to create special baguettes made without yeast and very low in gluten with the end result a light, less filling bread. My Sicilian “low-fat” sausage sandwich over-flowed with fresh green peppers, onions and was served with a side of marinara sauce and a mixed green salad. One bite of the glistening, moist sausage sandwich filled my mouth with herbaceous flavors and sweet-salty cheese. I was satiated!

For my last attempt at a food coma I ordered the Pizza Sabatino – sauce and cheese pizza. With the addition of mushrooms, black olives, sausage and green peppers and made with fresh pizza dough this thin crust pie was mediocre at best. I must admit, my heart’s desire was won over by the fresh sausage, not a pizza pie.

Desserts at Sabatino’s are made fresh daily and include the “best Tiramisu around”, New York style cheesecake, cannolis and “After Dark in a Blanket” - homemade crepe stuffed with vanilla bean ice cream served with zabione crème, hot fudge and fresh strawberry sauce. After tasting many savory dishes my palate lacked the desire for sweets – my belly was full therefore I passed on dessert. Albeit, the After Dark in a Blanket teases my senses and sounds tantalizingly tempting!

My primary goal in dining at Sabatino’s was to try the homemade cheesy sausage. Fellow foodies don’t be mistaken the restaurant offers many more Italian food items from pastas, poultry, veal and seafood to a vegetarian menu. Wine and beer are available and should you decide to bring your own wine, there’s a $22 corkage fee.

Note: After my solo lunch I purchased one pound each of mild and spicy sausage and looked forward to the sights and lingering cheesy smell of grilling the fat tubes at home. After several minutes of cast iron grilling, I turned the sausages to grill the other side and noticed some crispy-chewy cheese chunks had oozed out of the meat casings and sizzled on the hot grill. As the goat cheese caramelized and hardened, I quickly picked off the crispy cheese cracklings and popped them into my mouth. The taste combo of moist and lean flavored sausage and Sicilian goat cheese was delectable!



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Open daily for breakfast, lunch & dinner
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Bludso's BBQ - The Real Thing!

Question: How often do you travel beyond the comfort and familiarity of the “Orange Curtain” to experience different types of dietary delights? If your answer is, “rarely” or “not very often”, maybe now is the time to expand your culinary horizons and venture out of the O.C. for some splendid BBQ! For all of you serious carnivores out in foodie blog land “Bludso’s BBQ” in Compton offers the best Texas style BBQ and BBQ sauce I have ever tasted (sorry Saul and Jami!) and all their accoutrements are just as fabulous.

Kevin Bludso, owner and operator of the BBQ joint, has been in business for a mere nineteen months and has incorporated fabulous recipes from his 90 year old grandmother who currently resides in Corsicana, Texas. Family is obviously very important to Kevin since he also employees them with sweet cousin Kiescha as the pleasant hostess and order taker and wonderfully, cool cousin Ronnell as manager, window washer, bus boy, grill master, etc. You name it, Ronnell does it.

We arrived at the BBQ joint and were lucky to find a parking spot on Long Beach Boulevard right in front of the restaurant. Although there is a small parking lot next door it only accommodates a handful of vehicles since half the other parking spaces are required to house the huge Texas style BBQ smokers that Kevin uses for grilling. Also, I should not call Bludso’s a “restaurant” since upon entering the rib joint you will find two small barred windows where you place your order and about 6 bar stools and a narrow counter to enjoy your feast. Sitting on an uncomfortable stool at the countertop waiting to eat my meal was the least of my concerns since the wonderful aromas wafting from the kitchen into my nostrils informed my brain that I was soon to experience some fine ass BBQ.

After much contemplation I decided on Order No. 33, “Meat Lunch Combo with Two Sides”, which included BBQ pork ribs, chicken and corn bread. For my two sides I choose collard greens and macaroni and cheese. I also decided on the sweet potato pie (screw the added fat and calories because I was going to have some of that dang pie and believe me it was worth every added centimeter on my waistline!). Come on folks, BBQ without southern sweet potato pie is like a summer day without sunshine…tolerable but not so nice afterall! The hubby also had pork ribs and chicken but his side choices were baked beans and potato salad. Kevin was also kind enough to send us an order of flavorfully, moist beef brisket for our sampling pleasure and trust me beef brisket fans out in foodie land, you will not be disappointed with his beef brisket.

Do the terms “orgasmic” and “meal” work well together in a sentence? If not, too bad since that is how I will describe my meal...it was ‘orgasmic’. Despite the fact that Kevin’s recipes are a family secret he was kind enough to share with me a couple of insightful facts that make his BBQ superior to all others I have tasted. The baked beans have small pieces of diced brisket in them and brown sugar creating a sweet, lovely infusion. Guys, the baked bean are absolutely delicious! As for the collard greens, Bludso’s adds diced pieces of moist, tender ham hocks, garlic and onions which gives these greens a nice broth-like consistency, unlike other collard greens I have tasted which are usually dry and bitter leaving a nasty after taste in my mouth.

As for the meats themselves they were all perfectly seasoned with cracked black pepper and other hidden spices and grilled fork tender. Bludso’s offers a choice of mild or hot BBQ sauce…I prefer the hot sauce and actually ate my sauce by the spoonful (I know, how utterly tacky of me. Manners aside…more sauce please)!

If I were in the business of rating dining establishments on a scale of one to ten, I would rate Bludso’s a “ten” for food and a “three” for ambiance and that is only due to the seating arrangements since you dine at a slender, cold, metal counter on uncomfortable bar stools. Hey, do not let that dissuade you from cruising out to Compton for some heavenly BBQ since Kevin’s future plans are to purchase the building next door and create a full service restaurant with comfortable seating for your dining and gluttonous pleasures.

In addition to ribs and chicken, Bludso’s offers pulled pork sandwiches, sausage links, fried and smoked turkeys and many more taste treats. For that sweet tooth fix desserts include peach cobbler, sweet potato pie, red velvet cake and banana pudding. Currently, there are no alcoholic beverages available due to a lack of a liquor license but maybe in the future when the new addition to the restaurant is complete.

Thank you Granny Bludso for your diligence, commitment and expertise in perfecting Texas style BBQ, BBQ sauce and all the yummy side dishes that accompany this great meal and for allowing your grandson to bring those delectable recipes to Compton, California for our dining gluttony. Venturing out of the O.C. for fabulous BBQ may not be such a bad idea after all!

Cheers!


Open 6 Days a Week - Closed Mondays