Over more than a decade, Sacramento restaurateur Michael Hargis has made a reputation for himself by creating hip, one-off Midtown eateries and bars like LowBrau, Block Butcher Bar, Beast + Bounty, Milk Money and Holy Spirits. Recently he splashed out in an unexpected direction, opening a casually chic barbecuerie called Slow & Low Smokehouse in Elk Grove.

Elk Grove? That location came as much of a surprise to Hargis, a dedicated grid guy, as it did to those who know him. Until a couple of years ago, Hargis had never even stepped foot in the historic downtown neighborhood known as Old Town Elk Grove. But he had become intrigued by Elk Grove’s fast-growing population, which included an influx of people from the Bay Area during the pandemic.

Bay Miry’s D&S Development was putting together a mixed-use project of 30 rental lofts and two adaptive-reuse warehouses next to the railroad tracks in Old Town and tried to interest Hargis in turning one of the warehouses, a tenant-ready space that had recently been remodeled, into an outpost of LowBrau, Hargis’ popular beer hall concept on Midtown’s 20th Street. 

But Hargis, who generally doesn’t like to repeat himself and prefers to design his single-concept restaurants from the ground up, opted instead for the other warehouse, a former winery from the late 1800s that was then just an empty shell. (D&S got its beer hall when Dust Bowl Brewing Company opened Old Town Tap House in the first warehouse.) And instead of beer, he wanted to serve barbecue.

For Hargis and his executive chef, Brock Macdonald, barbecue was a no-brainer. Hargis grew up in Dallas, eating Texas barbecue — particularly smoked brisket —  as often as three times a week. Macdonald is a meat-focused chef who went to work for Hargis in 2014 as the charcuterie and salumi maker at Block and then developed the live-fire concept at Beast + Bounty. Later, in his spare time during the pandemic, Macdonald played around with a barrel smoker and came up with some killer tri-tip. “With his background in meats, barbecue was a natural fit for Brock,” says Hargis.

Whenever they open a new place, the pair divvy up duties, with Hargis handling design, branding and overall vision, and Macdonald overseeing the food. With the exception of Beast + Bounty, a sit-down restaurant with a Michelin Guide recommendation, their projects tend to have several common denominators: interesting design, approachable food, order-at-the-counter service and affordable pricing.

Hargis’ elevated design was intended to complement the elevated style of Macdonald’s food. Despite its reputation as simple, homey American cuisine, says Macdonald, “there’s a real art to barbecue.” Here, former LowBrau chef Jeran Dickerson tends the massive smoker just outside the restaurant, where meats are cooked slow and low over oak for up to 12 hours.  

Slow & Low serves tri-tip, brisket, chicken, turkey, two types of pork ribs (baby back and spare), pulled pork, sausage and, on weekends only, a full bone-in beef short rib. (At $50, it’s the most expensive thing on the menu.) Meats are offered a la carte and arrive on trays; some also come in a sandwich, taco or bowl format.

Macdonald kept a few traditional barbecue side dishes, such as mac ’n’ cheese, coleslaw and braised greens, but also added some modern alternatives, like smoked beef fat fries (a nod to LowBrau’s popular duck fat fries) and rice salad, a simple but satisfying Japanese-Mexican melange of sushi rice, corn, pico de gallo and Kewpie mayo. The ranch beans, chockablock with chunks of pork rib meat, tri-tip and brisket, are anything but vegetarian.

However, plant-based eaters will find a few intriguing options, including cornmeal-fried cauliflower with avocado-cilantro dressing, a toasted farro bowl with bitter greens, roasted sweet potato, avocado and dates, and a mixed green salad with pickled blueberries and shallots, blue cheese, candied pecans and a lemon vinaigrette. Desserts are limited to pies — Key lime, butterscotch-banana and bourbon walnut — that come from the highly regarded Real Pie Company in Sacramento.  

But Slow & Low’s success in Elk Grove got him thinking that maybe Midtown isn’t the be-all and end-all, even for a city guy like himself. He might even take the Slow & Low concept and replicate it in other markets. Not necessarily in Sacramento, which offers plenty of good barbecue, and not in close-by cities like Roseville or Folsom where, he says, they already have great food. “But perhaps a tertiary city like Turlock might be interesting to us,” Hargis muses. “Who knows?”  

Slow & Low Smokehouse: 9700 Railroad St., Elk Grove; (916) 775-7569; slowandlow916.com

Open 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. Saturday–Sunday 

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