Dinosaur Bar-B-Que will close its Union Street restaurant in Brooklyn this spring, ending a 15-year run in Gowanus as the lease expires and the building is demolished to make way for new apartments. The company said there is no official final service date yet, and it will post that date on social media when it knows it.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of our beloved Brooklyn store later this spring,” the restaurant said, adding that Brooklyn had been “more than just a restaurant” and was a place for friends, families, first dates, celebrations and “plenty of unforgettable nights in Gowanus.” It also said, “But what really made this place special wasn’t just the building. It was the people.”
The Brooklyn closure is part of a broader retreat for the chain, which once operated 10 locations but now has five left: Harlem and four upstate restaurants in Syracuse, Rochester, Troy and Buffalo. All of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que’s out-of-state locations, including those in Connecticut, New Jersey, Chicago and Baltimore, have already closed. Gift cards will still be honored at the Brooklyn site through its final day of service and at the remaining locations after that.
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que started in the early 1980s as a traveling concession stand serving bikers before founder John Stage and his motorcycle friend Mike Rotella opened the first permanent location in Syracuse in 1988. The Brooklyn restaurant helped carry that legacy into New York City, but the company’s latest move shows how much smaller the brand has become as it loses another longtime home. “Come see us and help us send this place off the right way,” the company said. “And this isn’t goodbye forever. You can still find us in Harlem and Upstate. Brooklyn, thank you for 15 unforgettable years.”