Dinosaur Growls in Manhattanville

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que isn’t growling as it anticipates its move outside Columbia’s Manhattanville expansion zone.

The restaurant—at 646 West 131st St.—is currently located in the site of the University’s 17-acre development project, of which owner John Stage has been an enthusiastic supporter. Though some land in the area is to be seized by the state and transferred to Columbia via eminent domain, Stage’s restaurant will move out this fall to a space on 12th Avenue and 125th Street next to Fairway Market. The venue is just outside of where Columbia will build its campus, and the University will cover the bulk of the Bar-B-Que’s relocation costs.

Though the expansion will mean dramatic change in his neighborhood and a new address for his business, Stage said that, “for the long term, it will be a good thing.”

Stage, a Harley-Davidson rider who got his start in the restaurant business as a “gypsy barbecue guy” at biker events, said he looks forward to a new phase of the area’s evolution.

“When I came here, it was pretty much Fairway and the auto body shops,” Stage recalled. “It was pretty desolate. If you had asked me if this would turn into a restaurant strip six years ago, I never would have thought that.”

When he renovated his current space, Stage retained the building’s original concrete pillars that allude to its former function as a meatpacking facility. “Everything was covered in cork, and we had to scrape off all that cork,” he explained. “A lot of love went into this building. It’s a great building.”

The features that made the Chelsea meatpacking district a draw for upscale restaurants and nightclubs also seem to attract retailers to Manhattanville. Several blocks north on 12th Avenue, deserted industrial loading docks gave way to three restaurants that opened in 2007.

Stage’s initial attraction to the neighborhood was visceral. “I looked all over the isle of Manhattan for locations, and for some odd reason I fell in love with this area,” he said. “I thought it was so unique, so different. The bridge kicks off a certain energy.”

Although he doesn’t advertise, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que does a brisk business, Stage said. On most evenings, diners must add their names to a waitlist to land a table.

“We get neighborhood folks, we get Manhattanites,” Stage said of his clientele. “We get people from Jersey. We get people from Queens ... It’s an incredibly eclectic group of people.”

While he acknowledged that Columbia’s redevelopment will give the area the look of a “futuristic city,” Stage said he aims to retain a sense of character as he renovates his new space. Like his current building, the one he will take over in March to begin construction was a meatpacking facility before it was converted into a tire shop.

“The way I design a restaurant, I take the architectural integrity of a building and design around that,” Stage said. “Obviously it’s a different building so it’s going to have a slightly different feel. But the vibe will be the same, the spirit will be the same.”

Stage met Bar-B-Que’s chef Jeff Coon in Syracuse, N.Y. where Stage operates another Dinosaur branch. “One day I was broke down on the side of the road,” Coon said. “Him and one of the other partners pulled over to hook me up with a throttle cable.”

Coon said the restaurant will continue to feature southern-style menu items such as BBQ beans with pork, macaroni and cheese, simmered greens, and Creole potato salad at its new location. With the exception of the ice cream and rolls, all menu items are homemade.

“You know, I’m not making a foie gras,” said Coon, who previously worked in fine dining but now wears a black Harley-Davidson T-shirt to work. “But we’re putting out some hellacious barbecue.”