With beer and booze to compliment their baby backs and brisket, the ball is now officially rolling for Dinosaur Bar-B-Que to set up shop in Baltimore. When reports circulated back in August that the New York-based barbecue boss was coming to Charm City, the deal wasn’t actually done—not until late September, at least, when the Baltimore City Liquor Board approved their liquor license. (As if we weren’t salivating enough already.)
“Oh, it’s definitely a go,” says John Stage, founder and owner of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, the Syracuse pit joint that started as a motorcycle-gathering food truck in 1983, now with eight locations in New York State and the New York City metropolitan area. “It’s always in the weeds until you have a liquor license, but now that we do, we can move forward with the project.”
That project means moving into the upcoming Union Marketplace at 1401 Fleet Street, just across the street from (and to the east of) H&S Bakery, in what used to be an automotive recycling warehouse. Located in Fells Point—already a hotbed of food, nightlife, and young people—the 15,000-square-foot, two-story development is slated to be a mecca of retailers, restaurants, and even possibly a nightclub, with a tentative opening of March 2015.
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que will be located on the corner of the building, with an entrance on S. Eden Street. The 8,295-square-foot, first floor restaurant will seat approximately 251 people, with 19 bar seats and a possible outdoor seating area. Stage and his team are currently in the design phase but plan to break ground around February 2015, followed by a late summer opening in July.
“The building is so unique and interesting, and that’s the fun part,” Stage says. “We don’t know what we’re going to do with it just yet but once we get in there, we’ll definitely do some special things with the space. The creative juices are flowing.”
Some of those special things include sourcing locally. “We’re definitely going to start with the beers,” Stage says. “A big component is going to be representing the local brew scene, and we’re going to do that heavily. The first thing we plan to do when we arrive is hit the bars, which we’ve done a few times in Fells Point. Right now we’re in the design phase—that will be the drinking phase.”
The opening of the Baltimore venue, which will coincide with a 2015 Chicago opening as well, will be their first location south of the Mason-Dixon line, moving the barbecue behemoth closer to the cuisine’s southern roots.
“I’ve been coming down to Baltimore for a few years now,” says Stage, “and from the moment we first went down there, I just fell in love with it. It’s such a cool little city. It’s got this vibe—Baltimore feels really good.”