Where can you find some awesome barbecue in the San Fernando Valley? Today on Eat Live Love San Fernando Valley, we’re at Rib Ranch BBQ in Woodland Hills.
Mike, it’s great to be here man.
Hey, my pleasure. Nice seeing you again.
All right, so tell me a little bit about this place, because what a lot of people don’t realize is this place is steeped in a lot of community history.
Yeah, well, we’re just starting out from 1970, actually. The restaurant started over on Parthenia and Sepulveda, started by two twins, Bernie and Lenny Kahn, and they happened to be friends of my father. So my father said, why don’t you go down and see if you can get a job back in 1972. I was 17 years old at the time, and I started washing dishes and cleaning kitchen equipment.
So they moved here in the summer of ’74 to this location and it was just a little picnic bench out in front. And then in the summer of ’75 they hired their first waitress, which happened to be a photography student from Taft High School. And that, Miss Jeri, became Miss Jeri Ignelzi, my wife. So, we’ve been happily married now since 1984, so 40 years, 45 years or so, something like that.
Then Bernie and Lenny wanted to retire in 1991, so my wife and I bought the place. We’ve been blessed. We have three wonderful daughters that have all worked here. Two of them still do. I’m blessed to have a family restaurant that’s been around for 53 years now and just part of the community, so it’s a lot of fun.
What’s the key to success for being involved and being here in this community for more than 50 plus years, Mike?
A couple of things. First, hard work, dedication, just keeping at it. The second is keeping our barbecue sauce exactly the same that Bernie and Lenny used to make back in 1970 when they first started. That’s the key. It’s consistency. It’s been consistently the same over all these years and people have grown to expect that and love our barbecue sauce.
What am I going be trying today?
Today you’re going be trying some of our delicious pork baby back ribs, real baby back ribs. Not the big ones, not the tough ones. And then some beautiful Angus beef ribs, that you don’t get beef ribs too often out there anymore, so.
I can’t wait. Let’s go in the kitchen, see how you do it.
All right.
Guys, look at these ribs. If you are looking for a place to get really good ribs here in the San Fernando Valley, you have to be coming to Rib Ranch Barbecue. All right, so you got the baby back ribs and I’m going to be trying these oversized beef ribs and look, just putting my finger down. Absolutely delicious. I love their barbecue sauce here. It’s one of the staples here at Rib Ranch Barbecue. I’m going to pick up one of these bad boys and dive right in.
What I really like about these beef ribs here at Rib Ranch Barbecue is the first thing you bite into is the caramelization of the rib. So you have the rib and the barbecue sauce and then you bite down and the meat just falls off the bone. There’s a ton of meat on the bone itself and just a ton of flavor. This is what you want if you’re going to be ordering ribs.
If you’re looking for some really solid barbecue, whether it be ribs, tri -tip, chicken, any of these sides, you have to come out to Rib Ranch Barbecue. They’ve been around for over 50 years, so they’re family-owned. This is the type of places that we really like to feature on this show.
Rib Ranch BBQ, they’re located in Woodland Hills, south of Ventura Boulevard on Topanga Boulevard. Make sure you come and check them out, if you haven’t been here before. If you liked this episode, you already know what to do. Make sure you like, comment, share, so we can continue to support these guys, as they are really a pillar in the community. We look forward to seeing you next time on Eat Live Love San Fernando Valley!
?4923 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RibRanchBBQ/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ribranchbbq/
Website: http://bbqribranch.com/
