Check out Susie Q gift ideas. Among others, the Red Gadget Box (upper right) offers an open-and-shut case for the backyard gourmet or the chef on the go. The handsome red metal gadget box is a handy gift, ideal for toting your favorite kitchen tools. Original Santa Maria Valley Style Seasoning, Reserve Pinquito Beans, Salsa, Rib Glaze and California Red Oak Grilling Chips are included to carry home Santa Maria Valley flavor.

Gratify the gourmets and grillers in your life with a bountiful wicker hamper (lower right) filled with everything that is Susie Q's. It includes one of each of their delicious products, plus a bottle of their Far Western Tavern 2005 Dusi Vineyard Zinfandel.

If you’re in the Santa Maria area, be sure to stop at the Far Western Tavern. Susan Minetti Righetti is proud that for five decades her family has been serving “legendary cuisine that’s rooted in local tradition and adapted to contemporary tastes. Our Far Western Tavern specializes in dishes that reflect the region’s Swiss-Italian ranch heritage.”

Far Western Tavern
899 Guadalupe Street
Guadalupe, CA 93434
805-343-2211

On susieqbrand.com, you can buy Pinquito beans, Santa Maria Style Seasoning mixtures for barbeque and beans, plus the recipes to use them.
 
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  Susie Q's Artisan Foods


In the early days of the great California ranchos, the rancheros gathered to help each other brand their calves each spring. The host would prepare a Spanish-style barbecue as a thank-you for his vaqueros, family and friends. Under the oaks of the serene Santa Maria Valley, they enjoyed a traditional feast that included beef barbecued over a red oak fire, served with Pinquito beans, salsa and homemade desserts.

“Local ranching families continued this custom,” Susan Righetti explains. “Now we typically skewer the beef, but we still grill it over hot red oak coals. The unique seasoning used on the beef, accompanied by the Pinquito beans, became known as ‘Santa Maria Barbecue’.”

No one is quite sure how the Pinquito beans first came to the Santa Maria Valley. “Some old-timers tell the story of a bag of beans given as a gift by a Mexican vaquero to one of the early Swiss-Italian settlers. Other people claim that a lady brought several plants with her when she migrated to the area from Europe,” Susan relates. “However they arrived, the beans found a home here on the Central Coast. They like our fertile soil and mild climate. In fact, the Santa Maria area is the only place where Pinquito beans are grown commercially.”

For generations the Righetti family has been a part of the Santa Maria Valley, where they have farmed the rich soil of the valley and raised cattle on the rolling hills. The Minetti family has done the same and also operates the renowned Far Western Tavern in Guadalupe, California, founded in 1958. “The tavern is still in our family,” says Susan Minetti Righetti, “and it’s still a popular gathering place for local folks as well as visitors.”

Under the Susie Q's label, Susan began marketing her family's popular restaurant recipes in 1981. First the spice mixture for her mother's delicious Pinquito bean recipe was developed, and later Susan came up with a spicier version of that recipe which compliments all dry bean varieties.

Garlic-laden Santa Maria Style Seasoning was a natural addition to the product lineup in 1987. And then beef jerky, seasoned with the Santa Maria Style mixture.

“Many generations have enjoyed the taste and style of the Santa Maria Valley at our ranch and restaurant,” Susan says proudly. “We invite folks to bring the history and tradition of California's Central Coast to their family and friends with Susie Q's Santa Maria Style spices and beans.”

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