The Hitching Post 2 is celebrating 40 years in the Santa Ynez Valley with special anniversary dinners and the release of a limited-edition pinot noir honoring the restaurant’s decades-long role in Central Coast barbecue and wine culture.
The Buellton restaurant, founded in 1986 by restaurateur and winemaker Frank Ostini, announced a two-month anniversary promotion featuring prix fixe meals and a commemorative 2020 pinot called “Cuarenta,” Spanish for “forty.”
Known for its live oak-fired Santa Maria-style barbecue, Hitching Post 2 traces its roots to the original Hitching Post restaurant in Casmalia, opened in 1952 by Frank and Natalie Ostini. The family became widely associated with traditional Central Coast barbecue, a regional style dating back to the Spanish Ranchero era that centers on grilling meats over native red oak…