Why the founder of Chili’s Grill & Bar thinks he can make it big in Texas barbecue
The founder of one of the nation’s most popular restaurant chains is convinced he can make it big in barbecue.
Larry Lavine gives the brisket business another try next week, opening Loop 9 BBQ nearly 48 years after he opened a little burgers-and-margaritas grill in Dallas named Chili’s.
Loop 9 BBQ, 2951 Texas 161 South in Grand Prairie’s new EpicCentral shops, is a premium barbecue restaurant with some clever touches such as burnt-end queso and housemade desserts.
Ten years deep into a barbecue phase of his career, Lavine promises Loop 9 will rise to the level of Dallas craft barbecue favorites such as Pecan Lodge or Terry Black’s.
With prime brisket and — his term — artisanal pork, “we try to be top level,” he said on a recent Eats Beat podcast.
But what will set him apart from craft barbecue restaurants is the longer hours — lunch and dinner daily — and the eventual addition of homemade pies and cheesecakes.
For now, Loop 9 is serving Key lime pie and banana pudding. But there’s a dessert case for future expansion.
The restaurant is set to open March 6 in EpicCentral near the new Chicken N Pickle, on the Bush tollway off Arkansas Lane near the Arlington-Grand Prairie city limit.
On March 13, 1975, Lavine took over a former post office-turned-liquor store at 7567 Greenville Ave. in Dallas and opened the first Chili’s Grill & Bar.
He had grown up in Dallas going to legendary Goff’s and Burger House in University Park.
With friends’ help, he wanted “a great hamburger and french fries and a margarita.”
Now owned by Dallas-based Brinker International, Chili’s has more than 1,200 locations worldwide, 15 in Tarrant County alone.
Chili’s grew out of the 1970s Terlingua chili cookoffs at a time when chili was more talked-about in Texas than barbecue.
“People talk about where they got a good hamburger and chili,” he said. “They don’t talk about a meatball sandwich.”
He’s still proud of Chili’s burgers and said they’re “back to pretty good quality.”
“If you ask them, they’ll make you a chili cheeseburger,” he said. “I’ve probably had a few hundred of those.”
Ten years ago, he set out to create a casual-dining barbecue restaurant.
The result: Ten 50 BBQ in Richardson, which sparkled at sides and desserts but didn’t compare to DFW’s best. Plans for a Grapevine location at 1333 William D. Tate Ave. remain pending.
Loop 9 BBQ seems to have a better location in EpicCentral, with hot chicken already drawing pickleball crowds and more Dallas restaurants on the way: Vidorra, the Finch, Serious Pizza and Poach’d.
“There’ll never be too many barbecue restaurants, and there’ll never be too many Tex-Mex restaurants, so we feel like if we do a good job, there’s a chance to break into the market,” Lavine said.
Loop 9 will open at 11 a.m. daily beginning March 6; 469-789-5182, loop9bbq.com.
This story was originally published March 2, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
