Coffee and chile-rubbed tri-tip roast carved across the grain, served with chimichurri or smoked salsa. The Central Valley's defining beef cut and Sacramento's barbecue centerpiece.
Where to eat it: 2 restaurants across 1 city.
The tri-tip is a Central California Spanish-ranching cut from the bottom sirloin, popularized in Santa Maria Valley in the 1950s when butchers started roasting the previously discarded triangle of beef over red oak. The cut travelled north through Central Valley ranches into Sacramento by the 1970s, and by the 1990s tri-tip had become the standard backyard barbecue centerpiece across Sacramento County. Sacramento's barbecue rooms generally serve it with chimichurri on the Argentinian model, a nod to the city's strong cattle-ranching heritage and the Tank House style of cooking. The Tower Bridge Dinner has featured tri-tip on its menu in multiple years, and it sits permanently on the Tank House BBQ menu as the house steak.
Tip from the editors. The tri-tip grain changes direction at the wide end of the cut. Slice into the cut to find the grain, then turn the knife to keep cutting across the grain throughout.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Tank House on J Street, midtown Sacramento, is the smoked-meat counter backing the 1881 water tank house, brisket and craft beer on tap rows.
Signature: Smoked brisket, Dirty tots
Order: Smoked brisket, the ribs, dirty mac and the dirty tots
Tip: Patio under the historic tank house. Full menu to 22:00 then late-night menu to midnight. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives stop.
Hawks Provisions on Alhambra Boulevard, East Sacramento, opened 2015 as the sister room to Hawks Granite Bay. Michelin Recommended modern American with patio.
Signature: Burger, Wood-fired vegetables
Order: The dry-aged burger, the Wagyu tartare, wood-fired seasonal vegetables
Tip: Bar takes walk-ins; the patio books up summer weekends. Sister to the Granite Bay flagship.
More cities are in research. Want santa maria-style tri-tip covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.