BBQ News

Dallas BBQ scene shifts with restaurant closure and a new concept

Big doins in the BBQ world.

Back Home BBQ

There's change going down in Dallas BBQ, with one barbecue restaurant changing its identity, and another closing its in-house dining and switching over to catering.

Back Home Barbecue
The barbecue restaurant and drive-through at 5014 Ross Ave. has closed its operation as a dine-in spot. According to a release, the location has been taken over by its sibling Big Box Catering, and will be used for catering, delivery, and pick-up.

This does not mean the brisket goes away. Patrons can continue to order through a variety of methods, such as BigBoxCatering.com or Big Box BBQ on UberEats.

The Ross Avenue location, which took over a quirky Chinese restaurant, was originally intended to be a commissary kitchen. But the company couldn't resist the idea of trying Texas barbecue, and Back Home was born. Barbecue has now become Big Box Catering's biggest seller.

Big Box Catering is owned by Century Oak Foods, which also owns Company Café, the restaurant on Lower Greenville; and Liteful Foods, a gluten-free bakery that sells via online retail and wholesale.

RHBQ
The barbecue restaurant which has been at the northeast corner of Walnut Hill Lane and US-75 in one form or another for more than a decade, closed on January 1 — but it will re-open as HQ Prime Beer Garden in January 4.

This is not the first name change for the restaurant. It started out as Red, Hot and Blue, a location of the national chain doing Memphis-style barbecue. But in 2017, the restaurant changed its persona to RHBQ, undertaking a $2.5 million renovation that included the installation of a large patio, with seating for 165 and a 12-by-8 foot video screen used for sports-watching, movie nights, and the like; and a beer garden that hosts live music.

HQ continues a program to upgrade the restaurant by owner Craig Collins.

"When we changed it to RHBQ, it was our goal to create an elevated experience with live music," Collins says. "We love the space. And we've hosted all sorts of fun events there from national BBQ cooking classes to sports watching for Alabama alumni. It just turned into something different from the Red Hot and Blue brand."

Doing their own brand seemed like the best way to differentiate what they were doing, he says.

"With HQ Prime, we're billing it as a prime gathering space, prime sports-watching, 27 craft beers on tap, prime meaning best," he says.

They'll have prime rib including a French dip sandwich, and redfish out of the Gulf. Collins brought in chef Christopher Prieto, a renowned national BBQ champion, to consult on their BBQ program including upgrading to prime beef for their brisket, and developing of a new rub. Aaron Willis is their new director of operations.

"But the prices really haven't changed," Collins says. "The brisket went up a dollar. We just needed a higher-end concept here. With all that's happening at this corner with The Hill development, the market demands a more upscale gathering place for sports and live music."

Collins also owns Nazca Kitchen, which is coming up on its sixth anniversary — prior to the 2017 arrival of TreeHouse, the eco-friendly home store, which closed in December after a year.

The Red Hot and Blue chain still has a Dallas presence: There are two corporate-owned locations in Plano and Irving/Las Colinas. There are also three locations in Tarrant County — in Fort Worth, North Richland Hills, and Flower Mound — owned by a franchisee.

barbecue closings openings

Burger News

Family-owned Patty Lou's Smashburgers will open in old downtown Plano

Photo by Sara Aurora Cimminiello on Unsplash

Smashburger

A new restaurant starring a buzzy burger is coming to old downtown Plano: Called Patty Lou's Smashburgers, it will feature the namesake smashburger, and will open at 1004 E. 14th St. #105, in a historic location that was most recently home to a Starbucks.

Patty Lou's is a new concept from Urban Family Concepts, the hospitality company whose other restaurants include Urban Seafood Co., Urban Rio Cantina & Grill, and Italian restaurant Urban Crust, all located in the downtown Plano area.

Patty Lou's is their burger entry, a quick-service spot serving smashburgers, the flattened version of a burger with crisp edges that's been a hot trend for the past year.

According to Urban Family Concepts partner and spokesperson Dana Blaugrund, the restaurant will open in late spring.

Patty Lou's is also a sweet homage to a family member — named for Patty Lou Peters, of "Patty Lou and her Texas Sweethearts" fame, an all-female country & Western / Western swing group founded in the '40s, when female groups were a rarity.

Patty Lou was the mother of Bonnie Shea, who co-founded Urban Family Concepts with her husband Nathan Shea. Infusing the personal touch into everything they do is part of the company DNA, says Urban partner Michael Lee.

"Urban is generally driven by what we like," Lee says. "Urban Rio, our Mexican concept, came about because Bonnie loved that cuisine, and Urban Seafood Company, Nate loves seafood. Burgers are a favorite of their son-in-laws."

Their version of the smashburger will feature American cheese and onions that melt into the meat, Lee says. They'll be served on potato buns, and there'll be some toppings — but they won't go too crazy.

"It'll have onions, lettuce, and pickle, but we're going to stay minimal, with additional toppings on the side," he says. "Going overboard with ingredients can get complicated. Our goal is, very simple burgers that taste very good, at a value price, so that everyone can enjoy coming back and getting a burger."

The menu will also feature smashed chicken burgers, hand-cut French fries skin on, lightly battered onion rings, and milkshakes. They'll also serve alcohol, including bottled beers, wine by the glass, and a signature frozen cocktail. Eventually, they'll add specials like a burger of the month.

The location was originally home to the Ice House, built in 1917, an institution that provided ice products to Plano residents and businesses, says Urban partner Payton Hickey.

"You could pull up and get a block of ice from workers with tongs," Hickey says. "During remodeling, we could still see the raised floor where the freezer was, where they kept the ice."

They operated a licensed location of Starbucks in that space until 2024, when Starbucks opened a store nearby with a drive-thru in the former longtime Jack in the Box at 15th Street and US-75.

Decor at Patty Lou's will embrace a diner feel with counter seating, while incorporating elements from Patty Lou Peter's life, Blaugrund says. (It's a nice coincidence that her name syncs up with "hamburger patty.")

"We'll have her original guitar and some memorabilia in the restaurant — a cool mixture of country music and burger restaurant," Blaugrund says.

burgers openings