Mahogany Smoked Meats — Restaurant in California

This is one of those places that is another 'must-stop' in Bishop if you are visiting or passing through to other parts of the great outdoors. I am only reviewing the 'jerky' as that is all I ever buy when I come here.

I personally have been coming here since I was a kid, as my family drove up the 395 heading to Lake Tahoe or Mammoth Lakes. This place is timeless, and it's been fun watching it evolve over the years. The Sandwich shop is a relatively 'new addition', and although I have never tried it, I have heard great things.

The greatest thing about Mahogany Smoked Meats is the combination of options, high quality taste, and a decent value. When it comes to value, let me make one thing clear...this is likely more money than you are used to spending on jerky, with most jerky coming in around $39 - $45 per pound or roughly $2.44 - $3.12 per ounce. Before sticker shock sets in, run a comparison on other 'store brand' jerky, or even your local farmer's market jerky, and quickly you will see that some of those brands are equal in price, if not more expensive, but definitely lack in flavor, quality, and ingredients.

Jerky is an expensive proposition (just think about how much meat it takes to dehydrate down to a slab), but you will be hard-pressed to find another jerky shop of the same quality.

All the jerky, minus one (the cowboy chunk jerky), has no nitrates, nitrites, MSG, or other preservatives, with all their ingredients listed right there in front of you as you go to sample and check the jerky out. Go ahead! Take a read for yourself! And speaking of samples, the place has always been generous with samples, letting you try as much as you please, so go ahead and try a piece of that Chipotle Bourbon Beef Jerky, or maybe that piece of Teriyaki Elk!

As hinted above, the options here are wide and diverse, ranging from classics like "Slab Beef" ,"Peppered Beef", or "Honey Turkey", to unique like the "Habanero Buffalo", "Peppered Wild Boar", or "Teriyaki Elk". And yes, you can try them all. Whether it's your first time here, or your hundredth time, I recommend trying the flavors that sound appealing to you and treat yourself to a nice piece of your favorite(s). Also, whether you like dry as bone jerky that takes forever to chew, or a more moist 'melt-in-your-mouth' experience, you will surely find a jerky and flavor that fits your preference, and will forever wonder why all jerky isn't like Mahogany's.

So go ahead, make that pit-stop here, and try the jerky. No need to purchase if you feel squeamish about the price. Once you try it though, and find the flavor that you love, you will never look at jerky the same way again....

You haven't lived until you eat their smoked bacon, smoked ham and the smoked cheddar.

My grandma used to stop by prior to the holidays to pick up hams all throughout my childhood. And by stop by I meant from San Diego county. A road trip (fishing in Mammoth) was always planned to include stops in Bishop. Of course I don't remember any of this...

So I rediscovered this shop in the modern day way, the internet. Had my grandpa over for Thanksgiving a few years ago and told him where I got the ham he said that's when him and my grandma used to always stop by when nearby.. Like in the 60's and 70's....

It's easier now.. they ship meat overnight to Calif. We internet order a ham for Thanksgiving an Christmas each.. best in the world. Subscribe to their mailing list. You usually get a notice of sale on items including hams. You order it and tell them what day you want it to arrive by and they do the rest. It's in a cold bag with ice packs.

And while your at it, their thick cut bacon is the best in the world. Actually better than the ham.. we share the ham with family and friends, but not the bacon.. we hoard that for ourselves!

We stayed in Bishop this week on a road trip.. stopped by to order sandwiches before heading up to Mammoth to hike at Devil's Post Pile and Rainbow Falls. Since they open at 7am, we stopped by the deli to order sandwiches (all made with the same smoked meat described above) to put in our pack to take to the falls. Just ask for them made dry and they will put condiments on the side.

They have beef jerky also! Lots of it.

Only thing I was not mega-impressed with was their breakfast sausage. Was kind of blah.

All told.. it's a bit pricy... But well worth it. A few times a year we spend like 40-50$ (forgot how much they charge) to get 5lbs of their smoked bacon shipped to us.. weeks of heavenly breakfasts and BLT's.. and the annual hams.

You...

Staff from Mahogany contacted me regarding my initial review of a 2. After careful consideration, I decided to raise my review to a 4. This is because friends that I spent a week on a camping trip in the area couldn't speak highly enough about Mahogany, both their meats and deli. Also, it's rare for me on posting any type of review (positive or negative) that you hear from the establishment. To Mahogany's credit, they reviewed all I had written, reviewed film, and then called me to assure me what I saw was an aberration, and that they would work with staff on improving customer service. The initial review reads as follows; Thursday afternoon, 1PM, deli is slow. Order a sandwich, told me it would be 15 minutes. Seemed excessive given it was dead, but ok. Asked for WIFI, told no, and at this end of Bishop, it's not the best of cell signals. Sandwich came in about 10 minutes, the cashier staff told me I had to listen for the order, then pick it up at the register when called. Sandwich was passable, at best. Why the 2? Because everyone I spoke to on a week's camping trip in the area swears by Mahogany, mostly on the meat side, but some deli lovers. Maybe it was a bad day, but the woman at the register was flat rude, lazy and a poor company representative. Oh, I did notice her serving another table later, possibly friends or regulars. Suggestions; tune up the staff to understand customers should all be treated the same; get some WIFI; review the quality of the sandwiches-mine was pretty bad. Willing to bet Subway (1 block...