The Hitchin Post was also featured in the movie as the location where Virginia Madsen (Maya) worked as a waitress. I read some reviews first and overall, people seemed to give it high marks. I will say that reservations at this place, especially on a Friday or Saturday night, are an absolute must. We had reservations, which you can make on Open Table, for 7:45 pm. We showed up about 10 minutes early and we had to wait. It was so crowded in the bar that the thought of trying to get a drink from it was nothing more than a pipedream. So, we sat in the outer lobby area for about 10-15 minutes until our table was ready. We overheard the hostess turning people away that walked in without reservations and telling them it was a 3-hour wait for a table. I don't think she was lying either as it was packed.
The Hitchin Post decor is pretty sad. Kind of reminds me of my grandmother's house. Old, tired and a little bit gummy and funky. It sports carpet that needs to be replaced, brassy light fixtures from the 1970's and doiley-looking drapes that you can tell were probably white 10 years ago but now have a soft brown patina that only come from smoke, dust and the expelled lung air of California hippie people. Dirty hippie people.
However, all of the above matters not. Why? Because this places turns out some kick-ass food. I really went in with low expectations as I assumed they were probably living off their movie connection to pull in gullible tourists like me. I was wrong. Their specialty is steaks grilled on a wood fired Santa Maria style grill. A Santa Maria grill is native to the area and has a wheel on it that allows the griller to raise or lower the grilling platform to be closer or further away from the flame. Man, on man, this place makes a damn good steak.
We started with their grilled garlic appetizer. It was great, despite its seeming simplicity. It's just a huge clove of garlic that has been cooked until its insides have become sweet and carmelized and is served with a side of toast points that you can spread it onto. We then had house salads, which were surprisingly good thanks to the housemade dressings. We weren't expecting much from the salads but they were impressive. Finally, our show stopper steaks arrived. Steve had the filet mignon and I went with a meatier cut of sirloin. The most amazing thing about the steak was the wood smoke flavor and smell. It literally smelled like a camp fire and in a good way. The meat was incredibly juicy and had an incredible woodsy, smoky flavor that I don't think I have ever had with a steak (maybe I have gotten some of that with BBQ, but not with a straight-up steak). We both had their house made french fries with the steak and they were some damn fine fries - perfect for dipping in meat juice, which is far superior to ketchup. Perfect smoky goodness.
Below I'm including a photo of the massive Santa Maria Grill they use.
If you can get there - go. I have only one disclaimer and I know this is definitely TMI but I don't care. Later that evening, I woke up in the middle of the night needing to pee (not unusual). The weird thing was my urine actually smelled like woodsmoke. I shit you not. I had smokey pee. Well, smokey-smelling pee. I couldn't have sent smoke signals from it or anything. It must have been from the steak and/or the garlic appetizer. It was kind of cool but freaky at the same time.
