Smoke Queen Barbecue (Garden Grove, CA)
Smoke Queen BBQ
12941 9th St, Garden Grove, CA 92840
714-583-8251
www.smokequeenbbq.com
Fri 12/12/2025, 12:15p-02:00p
I was recently in Santa Ana to pick up some bottles from Spectrum Wine Auctions, and decided to check out Smoke Queen Barbeque afterwards. Opened in March 2024 after running as a pop-up, the place is the creation of Chef/Owner/Pit Madam Winnie Yee-Lakhani and her brother Kevin Yee. The spot's been garnering quite a bit of attention for incorporating Chinese-y flair into barbeque done in the Texas-ish tradition, so I was curious to see what the fuss was about.
About the Chef: Winnie Seetwee Yee was born in May 1981 to a Chinese family in Malaysia, but immigrated to Southern California at age six. Her parents settled in Orange County, and she thus grew up around the likes of Garden Grove and Anaheim. Following high school, she enrolled at Mt. San Antonio College in 1999, achieving her associate degree in 2001. She then transferred to UCLA, attaining a bachelor's in economics in 2003. Yee didn't make too much use of her degree though, as she subsequently decided to pursue a more entrepreneurial path.
In 2005, she became co-owner at Cachet Boutique, a retail shop at the Hilton Anaheim, and two years later, launched the Disney merch-focused Character Club at the property. 2009 saw the Chef join her brother at YBH Restaurant Inc, a fast food franchise business that operated locations of Baja Fresh Express and Sbarro, again in the same hotel. In 2011, she began working with Cypress College, and opened up outposts of those two chains at the school's food court as well. This was followed by the debut of Pure Escape Beauty Bar in Anaheim at the start of 2017.
When the pandemic struck, Yee's businesses were negatively affected, and she thus decided to hone her BBQ skills and founded Smoke Queen as a delivery-only concept in August 2020, teaming up with her brother and Filipino-Mexican pit master Jared Ruiz. The venture quickly found an audience, and the team was later able to secure a spot at Smorgasburg in September 2021. In October 2022, Yee and her brother took a bit of a detour to open a location of Bruxie inside Collage food hall at South Coast Plaza. This brick-and-mortar location of Smoke Queen then grand-opened on March 9th last year to quite a bit of fanfare, while Yee's cookbook Chinese-American Barbecue: Big-Flavor Asian BBQ from the Smoke Queen is set to drop in April 2026.
Pictured above is the view of the interior from the entrance. The space is only used for ordering, as there's no seating indoors.
Here we see Smoke Queen's menu. I ended up going with the six-meat Family Meal option in order to sample a wider array of the food. Click for larger versions.
A covered patio dining area is located at the back of the structure.
The restaurant resides at the Cottage Industries complex, and as you can see above, there's plenty of seating throughout the rest of the compound (made up of repurposed single-family homes, interestingly enough).
The entire 6 Meats & 6 Sides Family Meal was delivered on one (rather weighty) tray.
Shells & Cheese
My first side dish was a version of mac and cheese made with conchiglie. The pasta shells were on the softer side texturally, which made sense in this application, while the cheesiness factor was amped up compared to most. It was all very familiar-tasting, almost Kraft-y, but not in a bad way.
To drink, we have the 2015 Council Bourbon Barrel Aged Pirate's Breakfast, a bottle conditioned imperial oatmeal stout fermented and aged for six months in Buffalo Trace barrels, then blended with a non-BA version of the beer. This was released in January 2015, and was only available for purchase in-person at the now-defunct brewery. The nose here was pleasant, showing off sweet, candied notes balanced out by a marked smokiness. On the palate, I found the brew generally sweet and malty, recalling a mash-up of cola and root beer at times, with a bit of a tangy, bitter backing, while whiskey and oak peeked through just a tad. Interestingly, there have been reports that this beer was grossly infected right from the get-go, but I didn't find anything too objectionable, so perhaps I just lucked out with my bottle.
Brisket | All natural, USDA prime beef brisket, slow smoked for 10-12 hours with 100% white oak. Includes half lean and half fatty cuts
We'll start with the brisket, which is my go-to when it comes to 'cue. The flavors here were generally to my liking, with a nice overall smokiness and some pretty tasty bark, though I felt the meat could've been juicier, fattier. I think part of the issue was that it looks like I only received flat cuts, and nothing from the brisket point.
Mapo Chili
A mapo tofu-inspired chili managed to be my favorite of the sides thanks to its mouthwatering heat and vegetal, peppery zing. This would be great over some rice.
Pork Rib | Spare pork ribs smoked with 100% white oak then smothered with our House BBQ sauce
Pork ribs came out tender and moist, tearing cleanly and gratifyingly off the bone, and were nicely imbued with both sweetness and smoke.
Rice
And speaking of rice, the jasmine example today had the texture and "stick" I was looking for, along with a very noticeable pandan-esque warmth.
Pulled Pork | All natural pork shoulder butt slow smoked for 12 hours over 100% white oak till fork tender and seasoned with our signature rub and dressed with our House BBQ Sauce
The pulled pork delivered, offering a mix of supple, fatty pieces and drier, more charred sections. The level of smokiness was also agreeable, as was that sweet-n-sour sauce, which, fortunately, didn't veer overly sugary.
A small portion of pickled red onions was provided free of charge, and demonstrated a potent acidity that helped temper the heft of all the meat I was having.
Sausage Green Curry | House-made, filled with pork and beef, and Thai Green Curry spices, including basil, cilantro, mint, coriander, chili, coconut cream and milk powder
I'm generally a sucker for sausage, and really enjoyed the cold-smoked, Thai-spiced, rustically-textured version we have here. The sheer pungency, prickly herbaceousness, and touch of funk going on just really spoke to me.
Next to imbibe was the 2025 Horus Under Attack, an imperial stout with chocolate, Geisha coffee, hazelnuts, marshmallows, and vanilla beans, aged four years in cherry brandy barrels. The beer was actually created to honor the 20th birthday of Under Attack, the 2005 debut album of hardcore punk band Final Fight. Aromas here showed off a massive amount of sweet hazelnut, along with complementary nuances of coconut and cherry. Taking a sip, I found oak, astringent coffee, and tangy cherries up front, leading to silky layers of dark fruit, hazelnuts, and cacao. Very tasty, though I have to grumble that there was far too much sediment in the bottle, which made finishing off the dregs difficult.
Sesame Slaw
I'm typically a fan of coleslaw, but this disappointed. I liked the bitter crunch of the veggies, as well as the dish's overarching mintiness, but the slaw was completely underdressed, and thus lacked anything to tie the dish together. I wasn't getting any of the advertised sesame, either. It's almost like they completely forgot the salad dressing.
Siu Yuk | 48+ hour aged pork belly seasoned with our Chinese 8 spice rub and roasted to crispy skin perfection
Smoke Queen's rendition of the sīuméi staple that is sīu yuhk was another standout. I loved its crispy, shattery, salty skin, which I found super satisfying, while the meat itself ate tender, fatty, juicy, and unabashedly porcine. It was a delicious juxtaposition to be sure.
Mashed Potato
The mashed potatoes actually reminded me of the version served at KFC, which I consumed fairly often growing up. It was all rather nostalgic, down to the texture of the taters and the taste of that gravy.
Char Siu | All natural pork belly rubbed with our signature Chinese 8-spice blend, smoked over 100% white oak and glazed with our savory, sweet Char Siu BBQ sauce
Last up was the chāsīu, which I also enjoyed. Texturally, there was a pleasing back-and-forth between lean and fat, while the plethora of porky flavors were well-matched by the meat's pervasive sweet-spiciness. Overall, this recalled your classic taste profile, but with an extra bit of smoke that made things all the better.
Ube Cheesecake | Ube and coconut no-bake cheesecake with a graham cracker crust
Time for dessert. I don't often turn down ube, and today was no exception. The sweet-nuttiness of the purple yam was nicely conveyed, set against the cake's more lactic qualities, all while that gritty graham cracker base served as a unifying force.
A couple gripes notwithstanding, I was generally content with my Smoke Queen experience. I think the foundations of the barbecue itself were pretty solid, and Yee's incorporation of Southeast Asian touches into the repertoire of American BBQ made sense, adding a certain level of distinctness but never getting in the way. It all makes for a unique style of 'que that I'm glad to see represented, and I wouldn't be surprised if I eventually find myself back here (I've heard I need to try the tallow fries...).
12941 9th St, Garden Grove, CA 92840
714-583-8251
www.smokequeenbbq.com
Fri 12/12/2025, 12:15p-02:00p
I was recently in Santa Ana to pick up some bottles from Spectrum Wine Auctions, and decided to check out Smoke Queen Barbeque afterwards. Opened in March 2024 after running as a pop-up, the place is the creation of Chef/Owner/Pit Madam Winnie Yee-Lakhani and her brother Kevin Yee. The spot's been garnering quite a bit of attention for incorporating Chinese-y flair into barbeque done in the Texas-ish tradition, so I was curious to see what the fuss was about.
About the Chef: Winnie Seetwee Yee was born in May 1981 to a Chinese family in Malaysia, but immigrated to Southern California at age six. Her parents settled in Orange County, and she thus grew up around the likes of Garden Grove and Anaheim. Following high school, she enrolled at Mt. San Antonio College in 1999, achieving her associate degree in 2001. She then transferred to UCLA, attaining a bachelor's in economics in 2003. Yee didn't make too much use of her degree though, as she subsequently decided to pursue a more entrepreneurial path.
In 2005, she became co-owner at Cachet Boutique, a retail shop at the Hilton Anaheim, and two years later, launched the Disney merch-focused Character Club at the property. 2009 saw the Chef join her brother at YBH Restaurant Inc, a fast food franchise business that operated locations of Baja Fresh Express and Sbarro, again in the same hotel. In 2011, she began working with Cypress College, and opened up outposts of those two chains at the school's food court as well. This was followed by the debut of Pure Escape Beauty Bar in Anaheim at the start of 2017.
When the pandemic struck, Yee's businesses were negatively affected, and she thus decided to hone her BBQ skills and founded Smoke Queen as a delivery-only concept in August 2020, teaming up with her brother and Filipino-Mexican pit master Jared Ruiz. The venture quickly found an audience, and the team was later able to secure a spot at Smorgasburg in September 2021. In October 2022, Yee and her brother took a bit of a detour to open a location of Bruxie inside Collage food hall at South Coast Plaza. This brick-and-mortar location of Smoke Queen then grand-opened on March 9th last year to quite a bit of fanfare, while Yee's cookbook Chinese-American Barbecue: Big-Flavor Asian BBQ from the Smoke Queen is set to drop in April 2026.
Pictured above is the view of the interior from the entrance. The space is only used for ordering, as there's no seating indoors.
Here we see Smoke Queen's menu. I ended up going with the six-meat Family Meal option in order to sample a wider array of the food. Click for larger versions.
A covered patio dining area is located at the back of the structure.
The restaurant resides at the Cottage Industries complex, and as you can see above, there's plenty of seating throughout the rest of the compound (made up of repurposed single-family homes, interestingly enough).
The entire 6 Meats & 6 Sides Family Meal was delivered on one (rather weighty) tray.
Shells & Cheese
My first side dish was a version of mac and cheese made with conchiglie. The pasta shells were on the softer side texturally, which made sense in this application, while the cheesiness factor was amped up compared to most. It was all very familiar-tasting, almost Kraft-y, but not in a bad way.
To drink, we have the 2015 Council Bourbon Barrel Aged Pirate's Breakfast, a bottle conditioned imperial oatmeal stout fermented and aged for six months in Buffalo Trace barrels, then blended with a non-BA version of the beer. This was released in January 2015, and was only available for purchase in-person at the now-defunct brewery. The nose here was pleasant, showing off sweet, candied notes balanced out by a marked smokiness. On the palate, I found the brew generally sweet and malty, recalling a mash-up of cola and root beer at times, with a bit of a tangy, bitter backing, while whiskey and oak peeked through just a tad. Interestingly, there have been reports that this beer was grossly infected right from the get-go, but I didn't find anything too objectionable, so perhaps I just lucked out with my bottle.
Brisket | All natural, USDA prime beef brisket, slow smoked for 10-12 hours with 100% white oak. Includes half lean and half fatty cuts
We'll start with the brisket, which is my go-to when it comes to 'cue. The flavors here were generally to my liking, with a nice overall smokiness and some pretty tasty bark, though I felt the meat could've been juicier, fattier. I think part of the issue was that it looks like I only received flat cuts, and nothing from the brisket point.
Mapo Chili
A mapo tofu-inspired chili managed to be my favorite of the sides thanks to its mouthwatering heat and vegetal, peppery zing. This would be great over some rice.
Pork Rib | Spare pork ribs smoked with 100% white oak then smothered with our House BBQ sauce
Pork ribs came out tender and moist, tearing cleanly and gratifyingly off the bone, and were nicely imbued with both sweetness and smoke.
Rice
And speaking of rice, the jasmine example today had the texture and "stick" I was looking for, along with a very noticeable pandan-esque warmth.
Pulled Pork | All natural pork shoulder butt slow smoked for 12 hours over 100% white oak till fork tender and seasoned with our signature rub and dressed with our House BBQ Sauce
The pulled pork delivered, offering a mix of supple, fatty pieces and drier, more charred sections. The level of smokiness was also agreeable, as was that sweet-n-sour sauce, which, fortunately, didn't veer overly sugary.
A small portion of pickled red onions was provided free of charge, and demonstrated a potent acidity that helped temper the heft of all the meat I was having.
Sausage Green Curry | House-made, filled with pork and beef, and Thai Green Curry spices, including basil, cilantro, mint, coriander, chili, coconut cream and milk powder
I'm generally a sucker for sausage, and really enjoyed the cold-smoked, Thai-spiced, rustically-textured version we have here. The sheer pungency, prickly herbaceousness, and touch of funk going on just really spoke to me.
Next to imbibe was the 2025 Horus Under Attack, an imperial stout with chocolate, Geisha coffee, hazelnuts, marshmallows, and vanilla beans, aged four years in cherry brandy barrels. The beer was actually created to honor the 20th birthday of Under Attack, the 2005 debut album of hardcore punk band Final Fight. Aromas here showed off a massive amount of sweet hazelnut, along with complementary nuances of coconut and cherry. Taking a sip, I found oak, astringent coffee, and tangy cherries up front, leading to silky layers of dark fruit, hazelnuts, and cacao. Very tasty, though I have to grumble that there was far too much sediment in the bottle, which made finishing off the dregs difficult.
Sesame Slaw
I'm typically a fan of coleslaw, but this disappointed. I liked the bitter crunch of the veggies, as well as the dish's overarching mintiness, but the slaw was completely underdressed, and thus lacked anything to tie the dish together. I wasn't getting any of the advertised sesame, either. It's almost like they completely forgot the salad dressing.
Siu Yuk | 48+ hour aged pork belly seasoned with our Chinese 8 spice rub and roasted to crispy skin perfection
Smoke Queen's rendition of the sīuméi staple that is sīu yuhk was another standout. I loved its crispy, shattery, salty skin, which I found super satisfying, while the meat itself ate tender, fatty, juicy, and unabashedly porcine. It was a delicious juxtaposition to be sure.
Mashed Potato
The mashed potatoes actually reminded me of the version served at KFC, which I consumed fairly often growing up. It was all rather nostalgic, down to the texture of the taters and the taste of that gravy.
Char Siu | All natural pork belly rubbed with our signature Chinese 8-spice blend, smoked over 100% white oak and glazed with our savory, sweet Char Siu BBQ sauce
Last up was the chāsīu, which I also enjoyed. Texturally, there was a pleasing back-and-forth between lean and fat, while the plethora of porky flavors were well-matched by the meat's pervasive sweet-spiciness. Overall, this recalled your classic taste profile, but with an extra bit of smoke that made things all the better.
Ube Cheesecake | Ube and coconut no-bake cheesecake with a graham cracker crust
Time for dessert. I don't often turn down ube, and today was no exception. The sweet-nuttiness of the purple yam was nicely conveyed, set against the cake's more lactic qualities, all while that gritty graham cracker base served as a unifying force.
A couple gripes notwithstanding, I was generally content with my Smoke Queen experience. I think the foundations of the barbecue itself were pretty solid, and Yee's incorporation of Southeast Asian touches into the repertoire of American BBQ made sense, adding a certain level of distinctness but never getting in the way. It all makes for a unique style of 'que that I'm glad to see represented, and I wouldn't be surprised if I eventually find myself back here (I've heard I need to try the tallow fries...).
posted by kevinEats at
12:15 PM
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