BBQ Restaurants in Napa Get a Bold New Addition with Stateline Road Smokehouse

Chef Darryl Bell is shaking up the roster of BBQ restaurants in Napa with the opening of his first brick-and-mortar spot, Stateline Road Smokehouse. The Kansas City-inspired barbecue concept opened in early August, making it the first and only Black-owned restaurant in Napa, California since the 1800s.

“The goal is to make it the first of many,” says Bell, the founder and visionary behind the restaurant. Through Stateline Road Smokehouse, the classically trained chef is making his mark in the Rail-Arts district of Napa, celebrating the culinary contributions of Kansas City and paving the way for future Black-owned restaurants to flourish in the area.

It Started with Lentils

Bell takes us back to the beginning of his culinary journey. “I was about 8 when I first started cooking,” he reflects. “That feeling of making people happy, and it’s something that you created, was the piece that sort of drew me in.”

The Kansas City native recounts the story of the first dish he mastered that made him want to become a chef. “Lentils were kind of a big staple in the family,” he explains. “I was in a family of 6, so at certain points we didn’t have the most money, so we would cook things that would stretch for a long time and that were inexpensive.”

Bell remembers a summer spent sitting by a big pot of lentils thinking up different ways to elevate the dish while his siblings would play outside. “I was just experimenting, I was 8. I’d get like Lipton tea bags and put that in there and see different ways I could make the water more flavorful,” he recalls laughing.

He found himself mesmerized by the creative process, weaving layers of flavor through the dish with whatever he could find. When he finally got those flavors just right and earned that hum of approval from his family when they tasted the lentils, that’s how he knew cooking was for him.

“That feeling of making people happy, and it’s something that you created, was the piece that sort of drew me in.”

Stateline Road Sauce into A Stateline Road Smokehouse

Encouraged by his love of cooking, Bell’s next steps would lead him to attend Wylie Hospitality and Culinary Academy, the top culinary school in Kansas City, and then to France, where he would spend six months studying pastry.

After graduating from school, he kickstarted his culinary career working in Napa under Thomas Keller, the renowned fine dining chef and restaurateur. “That was like a straight boot camp,” he jokes. “The first three months were probably the hardest culinary thing I’ve ever done.”

During his time working for Keller, Bell climbed the ladder to executive sous chef and created his signature BBQ sauce recipe. Continuing to work in fine dining throughout his career, Bell started his own barbecue sauce company in 2022 before finally deciding to open his restaurant this year.

“I had the BBQ sauce company that I created when working with Chef Keller, and that during the pandemic, was gaining a lot of traction, so it became something where it started to make sense. ‘Like, okay, I can switch and start evolving this sauce into an actual restaurant—my Stateline Road sauce into a Stateline Road Smokehouse. So, that’s what happened.”

Joining the Ranks of BBQ Restaurants in Napa

Inspired by Chef Bell’s Kansas City roots and extensive culinary career, Stateline Road Smokehouse’s chef-driven menu offers some classic barbecue fare with elevated flavor and creative sides that may surprise you.

Starting off the menu are the famed burnt ends, a Kansas City classic invented by K.C. chef Arthur Bryant. The specialty dish is a flavorful double-smoked brisket that is diced instead of shredded and takes nearly 16 hours to prepare from start to finish.

“You got to take that brisket, smoke it for about 14 maybe 15 hours, and then afterward, you’ve got to slightly cool it so you can dice it without it shredding all up. Then, after you dice it, you toss it with more sauce, and then you re-smoke,” Bell explains.

Other entrees include must-haves like baby back ribs, hickory-smoked brisket, and pulled pork, all served with Chef Bell’s signature 816 BBQ sauce. Vegetarian options include the cherry wood smoked mushroom salad and a loaded grain bowl with a burnt orange vinaigrette, something new for BBQ restaurants in Napa.

The sides are where things get interesting. You will find staples like mac and cheese, coleslaw, and curly fries on the menu, but Bell has opted to forgo some conventional barbecue sides you’d expect to see. “The sides are where I have a lot of fun and am able to get creative,” he shares.

“My goal is to make it so that everything you taste is so tasty that you forget about some cornbread you had in some place that tasted okay, or you forget about some baked beans,” the chef jokes.

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Paving a Way Forward

With the restaurant now open and bringing an authentic Kansas touch to the roster of BBQ restaurants in Napa, Bell reflects on the triumph of being the first Black-owned restaurant in Napa after so long and his initial thoughts on discovering the news.

“Choosing Napa for being the food and wine mecca of the world, it’s just like, how is it even possible that this food and wine mecca of the world doesn’t have or hasn’t had a Black-owned restaurant since the 1800s?”

After the initial shock, Bell dedicated himself to leading the way forward and becoming the representation Napa’s food scene has long needed. He reflects on the weight that comes with this monumental achievement and his desire to inspire others.

“Now you have a responsibility to make sure you kind of heed the way you do this and do this the right way so that everyone that comes after, you can set them up for success and send them up the right way,” he voices.

“So, that’s kind of the thing—truly just to represent Black aspiring chefs, Black professionals, and show that it’s not out of reach; you can do it.”

You can visit the website to learn more about Stateline Road Smokehouse and view the full menu. For more information on Chef Darryl Bell and his amazing culinary journey, you can follow him on Instagram for updates and restaurant highlights.

This story originally appeared in Cuisine Noir Magazine