Something “cooking” inside 1,000-degree oven at historic restaurant in Santa Ynez

SANTA YNEZ VALLEY, Calif. - There’s something “cooking” in Santa Ynez.

And you won’t find it at most restaurants.

It’s sizzling at the Victor restaurant in Santa Ynez. 

“It’s called Josper Grill … we use mesquit … and we cook pretty much anything in there. All the proteins. Steaks, salmon, chicken," said executive chef Beto Huizar of The Victor.

But it's not just what the new oven can cook.

It’s how hot it can get while cooking.

“We can get it up to a thousand degrees," said Huizar.

Owners of the newly renovated restaurant believe this 1,000-degree oven is one of just three in use on the west coast.

But due to the age of the building that houses the historic restaurant, the revolutionary oven wasn’t easy to install.

The Victor is 100 years old.

“It’s a little bit like The Landsby … we had to bring that down to the studs and then we closed for four months and then had to build it back up," said general manager Barry Prescott of The Landsby.

Managers at The Victor say because the Josper oven is state of the art, this building had to be almost entirely reconstructed.

“This restaurant is pretty much the same. It’s been idle for four years and to bring it up to code … to get it how we wanted it … basically we just built it from scratch," said Prescott.

“We wanted to do something that was new here in the valley … in order for us to provide a brand-new restaurant, we just had to start over … and in order for us to start over we took everything down to the studs… and then we built this brand-new restaurant," said general manager Kris McLaughlin of Santa Ynez Inn.

Managers believe The Victor is the only restaurant on the Central Coast with this type of oven.
An oven so powerful, they named it.

“We call it the beast ha ha ha! It is really a beautiful, beautiful piece of machinery," said Prescott.

And since they believe it’s the hottest indoor barbecue available in the world, The Victor cooking crew projects more restaurants will follow in their footsteps.

“Yeah, we don’t know of a Josper in California. We did research on it . We know it got to Oregon. It’s out in Oregon. I’m sure there will be more after … haha … once this gets out," said Prescott.

In the meantime, if you’re in a hurry for a tomahawk steak, have your knives ready.

This “beast” can dish it out in 5 minutes.

“It cuts down cooking methods by half. You know it does help a lot," said Huizar.