The Hitching Post
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox Restaurant
| name = The Hitching Post
| image = The Hitching Post - September 2023 - Sarah Stierch 01.jpg
| image_width =
| image_caption = The Hitching Post in Casmalia, California in 2023.
| established = {{start date and age|1952}}
| current-owner = The Ostini Family
| head-chef =
| food-type = Steakhouse, Barbecue, American
| dress-code =
| rating =
| city =
| state = California
| zip =
| country = United States
| seating-capacity =
| reservations =
| other-locations =
| other-information =
| website = {{URL|hitchingpost1.com}}
{{URL|hitchingpost2.com}}
}}
The Hitching Post and The Hitching Post II are upscale American steakhouse restaurants located in Santa Barbara County, California, in California's Central Coast region. They are best known for their Santa Maria-style barbecue restaurants popular in the area.Christine Delsol, [http://www.sfgate.com/magazine/article/Santa-Maria-Calif-style-barbecue-3251052.php "Santa Maria, Calif.-style barbecue"], San Francisco Chronicle, October 3, 2010.
History
The original Hitching Post was purchased in 1952 by the Ostini family in Casmalia, California, in a building that was previously the Casmalia Hotel before it was converted into a restaurant in the 1940s. Its sister restaurant The Hitching Post II was opened in 1986 in Buellton, California.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}
The restaurant also makes its own brand of wines under the Hartley Ostini brand.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}
In popular culture
The Hitching Post II is known for being featured in the Rex Pickett novel Sideways and the Academy Award winning 2004 Alexander Payne film adaptation of the same name.[https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/06/dining/06POUR.html New York Times][https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-sep-03-fi-sideways3-story.html Los Angeles Times][https://web.archive.org/web/20120926002604/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2005-01-30/travel/0501280521_1_tasting-room-sideways-pinot Orlando Sentinel][https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E4D81F3AF930A15751C0A9639C8B63&pagewanted=2 New York Times][http://www.filminamerica.com/Movies/Sideways/flocking.htm Wall Street Journal][https://web.archive.org/web/20120929222710/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/6845603/ns/today-food/ MSNBC]
Gallery
Hitching Post II - Sarah Stierch 04.jpg|Famous grilled artichokes
Hitching Post II - Sarah Stierch 05.jpg|Mussels