Frowny Face
Stamford, Connecticut and Newark, New Jersey will get a Dinosaur BBQ before Buffalo gets one. Brooklyn, too. The Syracuse-based BBQ joint already has branches in Manhattan, Rochester, and Troy. Dinosaur has been sniffing around Buffalo for quite some time, so yesterday’s “news” really wasn’t.
It’s like the saddest Page Six ever.
So, we just have to wait for a Connecticut suburb and a New Jersey city to get their outlets of an upstate NY success story, first. And then a bit longer.
I love Dinosaur BBQ, and used to frequent the Rochester location when I lived there. See my 2008 article ( http://archives.buffalorising.com/story/dinosaur_stalks_buffalo ) for my other thoughts & connections to the Rochester Big D.
But after so many false alarms about them scouting for Buffalo locations, the Pavlovian effect has worn off — I no longer get to drooling every time I hear them or the local media ring the Dinosaur Is Coming to Buffalo bell.
So I have to balance the prospect of an awesomely happy tummy when they arrive, with the indigestion of so many false alarms. At this point I give them two & a half frowns.
:–( :–( :-
What exactly do they look for in a location that Buffalo apparently can’t provide at this time? Maybe they’ll be the as-yet-unidentified restaurant in that new Marriott Hotel downtown. (Of course, this being Buffalo, that’ll probably be a TGI Friday’s or some such.)
Thank Allah, who the hell needs another chain restaurant.
I’m with Mike. We have lots of great little resturants/bar & grills/pubs owned by our own folks, each has it’s own flavor. TGIF, Chillies, Moe’s etc blah blah blah same-o-same-o. Just like eating Navy chow, except you got to pay for it. Who needs it?
I bring up Dinosaur because of our municipal penchant for judging our self-worth based on how attractive we are to outside retail interests. When they don’t come, it reinforces the view that we are New York’s armpit, populated mostly by welfare cases.
Two words: Fat Bob’s
Fat Bob’s sucks.
Kentucky Greg’s and Suzy Qs are the shit.
If DBBQ opens up somewhere near Canalside, will the “things to do” cries stop from the Manifesto crowd?
There are already several activities here but I wonder if the presence of a new restaurant will, at least partially, appease those calling for the obstructionists to keep people from pushing the button that makes a mall-like destination magically sprout from the ground.
@Homebrewer: apart from the Naval museum, what is there to do at Canal Side right now?
Come on Alan, lighten up & face the music. Buffalo is a dusty-rusty hamlet on Lake Erie’s shores. The city is in decline. Slip-slidin’ away. Indifference, graft, dirty politics, crooked unions, you name it & we got it. The demographics have changed so much in the past 40 years. I left Buffalo for the Navy in 1970 & when I came back in 1996 I was shocked by the change. But like the lyrics in that old Beau Brummels song DIRTY WATER: “I despize you because you’re filthy, but I love you ’cause you’re home”. Buffalonians are there own breed, and I love them & I love Buffalo. I lived all over the world, and here I am. I’m own a North Buffalo home, six houses away from the house my mother has lived in since 1949. Now that’s Buffalo, or just stubborn Italian.
The DBBQ in Syracuse — the original, I believe — has been living off its reputation for some time and, much like the Anchor Bar, has become the spot out-of-towners go to (or get taken to) because somebody told them how awesome it is. The food is OK, but it appears to be trying too hard to maintain its biker bar cred. Last time I was there (six weeks ago) it was disgustingly dirty with lousy service. I’d give it, at best, 1 and 1/2 booths. Did see the escape goat enjoying some mac and cheese in the back, so that’s a plus.
Best BBQ ever is Risky’s. Too bad it’s in Galvaston TX. Also a joint for a good chicken dinner is Mosbreth’s BBQ, Portsmouth VA. (Pretty rough neighborhood though, got to watch your wallet.) The Fat Rabbit in Beaufort SC is good too.
Alan, in addition to the museum, do you mean aside from the sailing, canoeing, dining, biking, live music, lounging, hockey, lacrosse, college hoops, working, yoga, lawn darts, etc that takes place there throughout the year on and within close proximity to Canalside?
I’m not bringing up “things to do” (which seems to refer to the more specific and singular “thing” of mall shopping) to be rude but the “municipal penchant for judging our self-worth based on how attractive we are to outside retail interests” expressed here for Canalside is eerily similar to the basis for making an odd prediction that DBBQ won’t locate here anytime soon.
Btw, what makes you so sure they won’t open up a restaurant in WNY before the other places mentioned? They operate in two markets very similar to ours and have indicated publicly that they are considering opening up in Buffalo. Can you share any info that would indicate they will open in Stamford and Newark before here?
@Homebrewer, I wrote “right now”. As in, “mid-February.” Everything that you mention is seasonal, and with the exception of “college hoops”, “hockey”, and “working”, none of them are available now, and even when they are, they’re not all-day things where you can just pop by on a whim.
Dinosaur BBQ all but said today that Buffalo isn’t on its immediate expansion map, but further out. After Stamford fricking Connecticut, of all places. Stamford, Newark, and Brooklyn are all under development now.
I’ll note that the downtown Newark location looks not dissimilar to Buffalo.
I google mapped and checked out that Newark location for DBBQ. It reminded me of Beruit when I was there in the late 1970’s. On the same block is: L&J Pizza & Subs, La Nouveau Hair & Nails & Ebony Fashions. I would not got to that location in Newark without a squad of Marines to watch my back.
sorry, dinosaur, but sticky lips is where its at.
Yeah Alan, Stamford CT does suck. I was stationed in Groton CT. That place REALLY sucks. When I got transfered to a “boomer” (fleet balistic submarine) out of Charleston SC, I was the happiest 1st Class Hospital Corpsman on the east coast. Charleston SC, now there is a good eating town, with plenty to do and see, no snow either, although Tarzan could not hack the summers down there. Hot hot muggy
Frankly, I’ll keep eating at Suzy-Q’s and Kentucky Greg’s and continue not giving a crap if Dinosaur ever comes to Buffalo. Both of those places produce better food.