T-minus five days until Chicago officially gets a Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. Just southwest of the North and Clybourn shopping corridor, a two-floor rustic den of smoked meats beckons, although the second floor, which will have a second seating area, kitchen, and area for live music, won't open until an undetermined later date.
For now, the first floor is where all the action is. A host stand divides the two rooms, where the main seating area, bar and open kitchen lies to the left. Hearty thick slabs of wood serves as low-slung and high-top tables, and exposed brick walls and concrete beams remain from previous tenants. On the opposite side is a second dining area which owner John Stage describes as a "spillover room," decorated with cartoonish art on palettes depicting such things as a pig smoking a cigar, as well as a fireplace unearthed by construction workers. The entire first floor seats 160, while a large beer garden, which may or may not open next week, lies beyond the southwest wall.
Stage calls his first location outside New York, New Jersey or Connecticut "totally different than any other Dinosaur." Take a photo tour of it above; it opens April 21.
