Jan

13

Surprise! Chain BBQ fails in Downtown KC

January 13, 2009 | 12 Comments

Lots of folks thought the Cordish company was crazy to put the Famous Dave’s chain of BBQ restaurants in the Power & Light District, the very heart of BBQ’s capital city. And it looks like those people were right. Today word comes that Famous Dave’s will be moving to the suburbs and be replaced by a pizza chain called Old Chicago.

Since Danny Edwards was evicted to clear the market for Famous Dave’s, Downtown will be left with absolutely zero BBQ. While we know Cordish’s rents in the P&L are too high for locals, this is still a great opportunity for the likes of Oklahoma Joe’s, Gates, or LC’s to open an outpost just outside the district.

Dollars & Sense: P&L BBQ ponders concept chain

Categories: Arts/Entertainment, Downtown


Comments

12 Comments so far

  1. jferg on January 13, 2009 3:55 pm

    Sounds like change for the better to me – I was disappointed when the Old Chicagos near Oak Park Mall and in Columbia closed (and yeah, I know there’s still one near 119th and Metcalf, but I’m never there). Plus that means there will be 2 restaurants in the P&L area with 100+-beer selections. And there’s no such thing as too much beer selection.

  2. Mark on January 13, 2009 4:06 pm

    Minneapolis barbecue becomes Chicago Pizza. All we need is a New York deli and our downtown will be complete!

  3. Kyle Rohde on January 13, 2009 4:09 pm

    No downtown BBQ? How about the nicest BBQ joint in the city – Jack Stack at the Freight House.

  4. Tony Mishler on January 13, 2009 8:25 pm

    Old Chicago is super corporate, and not very good. It’s like apple bees with more beers on tap. Losing decent BBQ and replacing it with grizzlebee’s is not a good thing. I predict more failure to come.

  5. Ed on January 13, 2009 10:45 pm

    I wasn’t too impressed with the Old Chicago here in Columbia.

  6. Tim on January 14, 2009 9:28 am

    Kyle is right, Jack Stack is the best, and close enough to P&L. Gates is waaay overrated.

  7. aj on January 14, 2009 12:56 pm

    If you want white linen service with your BBQ Jackstack is for you. Gates on Main still puts out a good product with friendly service, the same cannot be said for some of their other locations. My vote for best BBQ downtown would have to be AB’s.

    It does give me some satisfaction to not have to be reminded of the shaft Edwards was given every time I walk by that pathetic excuse for a BBQ joint. Replacing it with Old Chicago, a glorified Crapplebee’s, is probably a good fit if we want to make up for that $4 million shortfall on the bonds.

  8. DLC on January 14, 2009 3:57 pm

    Fortunately a short jaunt in any direction will get you to very good BBQ. But it’s an absolute joke that we can’t showcase it to out of towners and conference goers in downtown proper. I get steaming mad every time I think about what happened with Danny Edwards.

  9. Shake-Up in the Power & Light District: Old Chicago Is In, Famous Dave’s Is Out | arieljvan.com on January 14, 2009 4:34 pm

    [...] BlogKC notes that Famous Dave’s is fleeing for the suburbs, leaving the Power & Light District without a bar-b-q joint. That’s not a huge tragedy in my book, since I could never quite bring myself to hit Famous Dave’s with options like Jack Stack and Gates mere minutes away. [...]

  10. ballz on January 15, 2009 8:11 am

    to hell with local bbq being in the p&l. the place is disneyland so why not give the d-bags some of their local errrrr suburban comfort food. boy i miss soakies.

  11. Tim on January 15, 2009 2:34 pm

    Don’t forget, Danny Edwards was a lunch-only place, so it was really just there for downtown workers anyway. And while it was OK, it was nothing to write home about. Nostalgia does strange things to the memory and the mind.

  12. Abirch on January 16, 2009 12:08 am

    Bring back Gus’s Gold Mine and I’ll come running back!

    And I agree Danny Edwards was waaaaaaay overrated, but at least it was local.

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