Mo's Smokehouse returns in former eatery's space

After leaving its old location of 30 years, Mo’s Smokehouse BBQ reopened April 2 at 1005 Monterey St. to large crowds.

Quaglino Properties, the company that owned the restaurant’s old building at 970 Higuera St., closed down the facility in order to undergo retrofitting construction to make it earthquake compliant due to a City Council mandate.

Now, just around the corner in what used to be Hudson’s Grill, the new Mo’s location boasts a bigger seating area and added new items to the menu in addition to their classic barbecue favorites of tri-tip and shredded pork sandwiches.

“So far the move has been great. The opening week has been busier than ever and all of our loyal customers have been coming out to see the new place,” said Nichole Fisher, an animal science graduate and Mo’s floor manager.

Along with a revamped interior came several changes to the menu as well. The restaurant now carries five additional salads, including a tri-tip salad and a BLT wedge salad for $7.95 each. Mo’s also added chipotle lime tacos, cooked shrimp in the swamped shrimp dish, a sweet potato fries side dish and several dessert items.

“This new building is more open and inviting,” Mo’s employee Brandon Kowalski said. “We have big screen TVs, a cleaner environment and new computer systems to process the food orders.”

Mo’s old location on Higuera Street will be under retrofitting construction three to 12 months from when it first began in March. After the retrofitting, rent at that location will go up significantly from the $3 per square foot, which Mo’s paid previously. Mo’s plans to stay permanently at the corner of Monterey and Osos streets.

In 1997, the San Luis Obispo City Council declared that 126 buildings had to undergo retrofitting construction by July 1, 2010, due to the buildings’ age and their lack of reinforcement. Although Quaglino Properties opted to perform the construction early, 69 buildings in the downtown area still need to be retrofitted before the deadline.

The building’s retrofitting also sent McCarthy’s Irish Pub, which was located in the same building, in search of a new home. McCarthy’s is in the process of relocating from their location at 1019 Court St. to another downtown facility.

Mo’s is a small franchise with other locations up and down the state including Pismo Beach, Chico and Huntington Beach. The new location still offers catering services, and their individual barbecue sauces can be purchased at www.mosbbq.com.

“I have been eating at Mo’s since high school,” said business junior Misty Kingma, who visited the restaurant for lunch on Saturday afternoon. “I’m really impressed with the new place; they moved the restaurant really quickly. Although there are a lot of new items on the menu, I think that the customers are going to keep coming back for the classics, their old menu items are great.”