February 11, 2020
The team behind North Park's StreetCar Merchants Of Fried Chicken and Suckerfree Southern Plates & Bar in San Diego's Gaslamp is opening a new concept called SLAB BBQ, a central Texas-style barbecue restaurant and full service bar expected to open later this year.
Founded by Ron Suel and RaVae Smith, Streetcar Merchants Of Fried Chicken launched in North Park in 2014 and opened a La Jolla location in December 2016 that closed in less than a year. In early 2018, Suel and Smith launched Suckerfree Southern Plates & Bar in the Gaslamp Quarter. Last fall, the duo took over the quaint space previously occupied by Wingmii in the Lincoln Park area of San Diego for the future opening of a new fast-casual restaurant called Shotcaller. The StreetCar crew also leased the long dormant downtown space last occupied by RA Sushi late last year for an entirely new, yet-to-be named concept also anticipated to open at some point in 2020.
Suel recently secured a lease on 4,500 square-feet of the space that previously housed Dolce Events Hall in downtown Chula Vista for the opening of a Texas-style barbecue restaurant inspired by Truth BBQ in Houston, TX. Named SLAB BBQ (an acronym for "Slow, Low and Banging'), the fast-casual eatery will house indoor smokers viewable from behind glass windows with a cafeteria-style ordering system where patrons can select pit master cuts of brisket, ribs, sausage, turkey, pulled pork and chicken by the pound, as well as a host of traditional side dishes. There will also be a full kitchen cooking up composed dishes like Texas chili, burgers, sandwiches, steaks, and also fun small plates like Texas Chili Frito pies served in the bag and smoked meat tacos. SLAB will also house a full bar with cocktails, beer, and wine.
This is a developing story: We will update this post as we learn more.
