The Bear Pit Bar B Que Restaurant

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Taste the History
The Bear Pit has been around the San Fernando Valley for a long time. Many of our regulars have been eating here since they were little cubs. The founder of the Bear Pit developed the unique barbecue sauce and slow cooking methods that we still use today.
We like to keep it authentic, with sawdust on the floor and quality Missouri Style wood smoked meat smothered in our delicious secret recipe BBQ sauce. If you haven't had the pleasure of eating our BBQ Sandwich on garlic cheese toast, drop by the Bear Pit and find out why our homemade BBQ sauce, cole slaw, and garlic toast have kept mouths watering for so long.
50 Years and Counting
Our history began in the late 1940s, when original owner Ben Baier started a small barbecue shack in Newhall, California. In a small building on the side of a church in the dusty town north of Los Angeles, Baier used his cooking knowledge from his years in Kansas City, Missouri to develop his unique barbecue sauce and slow cooking methods.
“This is undoubtedly the best BBQ this side of the San Fernando Valley.”
After several years the popularity of his food spread, so he decided to move to the northern San Fernando Valley town of Dennis Park (later Mission Hills) and start a small take-out restaurant. He partnered with Don Carrow (of Carrows Restaurant fame) and had country singer Tennessee Ernie Ford as an early endorser of his food.
He built the small building at 10825 Sepulveda Boulevard, which had been part of the Ackerman family farm since the 1930s. He build a brick oven, called a pit, and used local nut woods to slow smoke beef, pork, spareribs and chicken. His unusual vinegar-based coleslaw and sweet barbecue bean recipe became the backbone of his menu. Continue reading...