Dallas BBQ

History

The Wetanson family's restaurant business began in 1936 when Carl and Grace Wetanson opened Grace's Luncheonette on 42nd Street in Manhattan, at the same address that later became the Dallas BBQ flagship in Times Square. In the 1960s, their son Herbert developed Wetson's, a hamburger chain that grew to over 70 restaurants in New York City during the 1970s. The family opened the first Dallas BBQ on the Upper West Side in 1978. The chain is owned by three generations: Herbert, Greg, and Stuart Wetanson.

A location in the East Village operated from the 1980s until it closed on New Year's Day 2023 because the landlord did not renew the lease. The original Upper West Side location on 72nd Street closed on December 31, 2014, after 36 years. The chain has operated twelve restaurants since 1978; as of 2024, eleven remained after the East Village closure and the opening of a new location in East New York, Brooklyn in February 2024. Incidents at the 23rd Street restaurant included an assault on a couple in 2015 and a diner attacking another diner in 2017.

The East Village location was parodied in a 2014 comedy spoof titled "Dallas BBQ Club," directed by Ben Rimalower, which mocked the 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club and the push by New York City mayors Bill de Blasio and Michael Bloomberg to ban large sugary drinks. Notable clientele have included Jim Jones, Cam'ron, Nia Kay, Melvin Ingram, Azealia Banks, and New York City mayor Eric Adams.