Dallas BBQ

Dallas BBQ is a family-owned restaurant chain centered on the New York metropolitan area. Despite its Texas-themed name, the brand is a New York institution rather than a national Texas barbecue company. Its menu is built around barbecue ribs, chicken, steaks, seafood, sandwiches, salads, vegetables, side dishes, children's meals, alcoholic drinks, and cocktails. The restaurants are known for broad, accessible casual-dining menus rather than a narrowly specialized pit-barbecue format, allowing the chain to serve groups with varied preferences and budgets. The brand's history is connected to several generations of the Wetanson family. Carl and Grace Wetanson began operating Grace's Luncheonette on Manhattan's 42nd Street in 1936. That address later became the site of the Dallas BBQ Times Square flagship. In the 1960s, their son Herbert Wetanson developed Wetson's, a New York hamburger chain that expanded to more than 70 locations during the 1970s. The family subsequently applied its restaurant-operating experience to a new southern-themed concept, opening the first Dallas BBQ on Manhattan's Upper West Side in 1978. Dallas BBQ expanded gradually across New York City rather than through a national franchise model. A Manhattan East Village location operated from the 1980s until its closure around the end of 2022 or start of 2023 after the landlord did not renew its lease. The original Upper West Side restaurant, which had operated for 36 years, closed on December 31, 2014. The family later continued the chain's local expansion, including a restaurant at the Gateway Center Mall in East New York, Brooklyn, reported as opening in February 2024. Locations have also operated in Chelsea, Times Square, the Upper East Side, Washington Heights, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Secaucus, New Jersey. Published location counts vary by year and by whether recently closed or newly opened restaurants are included; the chain had approximately ten restaurants around the New York metropolitan area in 2023 and was described as having eleven remaining locations after the East Village closure and the East New York opening. Ownership has remained within the Wetanson family across three generations. Herbert Wetanson is associated with the chain's current ownership, alongside Greg Wetanson and Stuart Wetanson. The family has also been associated with other New York restaurant businesses, including Tony's DiNapoli and Bistro LeSteak. This continuity gives Dallas BBQ a distinctive position among New York casual-dining brands: it combines a recognizable regional theme with long-term local ownership and a network concentrated in dense urban neighborhoods. The brand has also had a presence in New York popular culture. Its Times Square restaurant appeared in the tenth season of the TruTV program Impractical Jokers, where Sal Vulcano was directed to perform as an awkward waiter. The former East Village restaurant was the subject of the 2014 comedy spoof Dallas BBQ Club, which parodied Dallas Buyers Club and referenced New York political debates over large sugary drinks. Dallas BBQ has been associated in published descriptions with notable customers from music, sports, entertainment, and New York civic life. The chain remains an active regional restaurant brand whose identity is rooted in affordable, expansive American comfort food and the Wetanson family's long history in New York food service.

Dallas BBQ developed from a much older Wetanson family restaurant business in Manhattan. In 1936, Carl and Grace Wetanson established Grace's Luncheonette on 42nd Street. The site later became associated with Dallas BBQ's Times Square restaurant, linking the contemporary chain to one of the family's earliest food-service operations. During the 1960s, the Wetansons expanded into hamburger restaurants through Herbert Wetanson's development of Wetson's. That business became a substantial New York-area chain, operating more than 70 restaurants during the 1970s. In 1978, the family opened the first Dallas BBQ restaurant on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The concept used a southern and Texas barbecue identity to offer ribs, chicken, steaks, and related American comfort foods to New York customers. The brand's approach emphasized a wide menu and approachable casual dining rather than limiting itself to a single barbecue style or premium smokehouse positioning. An East Village branch was operating by the 1980s, further establishing Dallas BBQ as a Manhattan neighborhood restaurant brand. The chain's footprint changed over time. The original Upper West Side restaurant, located on 72nd Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West, closed on December 31, 2014, after 36 years. The East Village branch later closed at the beginning of 2023 when its lease was not renewed. Dallas BBQ subsequently added a location at East New York's Gateway Center Mall in February 2024. Other reported locations have included restaurants in Chelsea, Times Square, the Upper East Side, Washington Heights, Co-op City, Fordham Road, Jamaica, Rego Park, Downtown Brooklyn, Flatbush Junction, East New York, and Secaucus, New Jersey. Ownership has remained with the Wetanson family. Herbert Wetanson, his son Greg, and Stuart Wetanson have been identified as current co-owners, while Liza Wetanson is described as a previous co-owner. The family's restaurant interests also include Tony's DiNapoli and Bistro LeSteak. This multi-generational structure has allowed Dallas BBQ to remain a locally concentrated, privately held operation rather than becoming a publicly traded or nationally franchised company. Dallas BBQ has appeared in entertainment and local popular culture. The Times Square branch was featured in an Impractical Jokers episode, and the former East Village location inspired the title and setting of the 2014 comedy spoof Dallas BBQ Club. The brand has also been mentioned in connection with reported customer altercations at its restaurants in 2015 and 2017. As of the 2020s, Dallas BBQ remains an active New York metropolitan-area chain, with published counts differing according to the date and treatment of openings and closures.

1. 2024East New York expansion

   A new Dallas BBQ restaurant opens at the Gateway Center Mall in East New York, Brooklyn.

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2. 2023East Village restaurant closes

   The East Village branch closes after the landlord does not renew its lease.

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3. 2014Upper West Side restaurant closes

   The first Dallas BBQ location closes on December 31 after 36 years of operation.

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4. 1978First Dallas BBQ restaurant opens

   The Wetanson family opens the first Dallas BBQ on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

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5. 1936Grace's Luncheonette is established

   Carl and Grace Wetanson begin the family restaurant business on 42nd Street in Manhattan, at the address later associated with the Dallas BBQ Times Square location.

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An accessible, family-oriented New York casual-dining chain offering a broad Texas-style barbecue and American comfort-food menu in urban neighborhood locations.

• Texas-style barbecue ribsBarbecue1978

  Ribs are one of the chain's defining offerings and anchor its Texas-style barbecue identity. They are served as part of a broad casual-dining menu alongside chicken, steaks, seafood, sides, and other American comfort foods.

• Barbecue chickenBarbecue1978

  Barbecue chicken is a core Dallas BBQ menu category, extending the restaurant's southern-themed positioning beyond ribs. It is offered within the chain's broad menu of meat-centered entrées and combination-style casual meals.

• SteaksEntrées1978

  Steaks form part of the chain's larger American casual-dining offering. Their inclusion gives Dallas BBQ a wider menu identity than a specialist barbecue restaurant and helps accommodate customers seeking non-barbecue meat entrées.

• Beyond BurgerPlant-based offering

  The menu includes a Beyond Burger plant-based option, providing a meat-free alternative within a restaurant concept otherwise strongly associated with ribs, chicken, steaks, and other meat dishes.

• Sides, salads, vegetables, seafood, sandwiches, and children's mealsFull-menu categories1978

  Dallas BBQ supplements its signature barbecue foods with seafood, salads, vegetables, sandwiches, side dishes, and children's meals. Alcoholic beverages and cocktails are also served, reinforcing the brand's role as a full-service casual restaurant rather than a takeaway-only barbecue outlet.

• 2014Dallas BBQ Club spoof

  New York City

  The former East Village location was the subject of a comedy spoof titled Dallas BBQ Club, a parody of the film Dallas Buyers Club. Its premise involved a fictional club selling mock Dallas BBQ meals in the context of New York debates over proposed restrictions on large sugary drinks.

  Outcome. The work functioned as a cultural parody and publicity association rather than a Dallas BBQ advertising campaign.

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• 2024Expand into East New YorkStrategy

  The family-owned chain continued its neighborhood-focused New York expansion after earlier site closures.

  What changed. A restaurant opened at the Gateway Center Mall in East New York, Brooklyn.

  Aftermath. The opening increased the chain's reported New York-area location count.

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• 2023Exit the East Village siteOther

  The landlord did not renew the lease for the East Village restaurant.

  What changed. The branch closed around New Year's Day 2023.

  Aftermath. Dallas BBQ retained other restaurants in Manhattan and the wider metropolitan area.

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• 2014Close the original Upper West Side locationOther

  The first Dallas BBQ restaurant had operated on Manhattan's Upper West Side for 36 years.

  What changed. The location closed on December 31, 2014.

  Aftermath. The brand continued operating elsewhere in the New York metropolitan area.

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• 2017Diner attacks another dinerControversy

  A separate reported incident involved one customer attacking another at a Dallas BBQ restaurant.

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• 2015Assault at the 23rd Street restaurantControversy

  A couple was assaulted at the Dallas BBQ restaurant on 23rd Street. The available reference identifies the incident but does not establish a broader corporate scandal or regulatory finding.

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• 2024Dallas BBQ opens a location in East New York

  The chain expanded its New York City footprint with a restaurant at the Gateway Center Mall in East New York, Brooklyn.

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• 2023Dallas BBQ East Village location closes after lease is not renewed

  The chain's East Village restaurant closed around New Year's Day after the landlord declined to renew its lease. The closure followed the earlier loss of the Upper West Side location in 2014.

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• Dallas BBQ appears on Impractical Jokers

  The Times Square restaurant was used as a setting for an episode of the tenth season of the TruTV reality comedy program Impractical Jokers.

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1. Dallas BBQ