Barbecue Will Return to Snider Plaza With the Opening of Douglas Bar and Grill

A new source for barbecue is headed to Snider Plaza in Dallas. Douglas Bar and Grill is expected to open in February from pitmaster Doug Pickering, who hopes it will fill the brisket-shaped hole left by Peggy Sue BBQ, the decades-old institution that closed in 2020.

“That area needs barbecue,” explains Pickering, and he should know: he grew up in the neighborhood and his first job was even in Snider Plaza as an elementary schooler, sorting baseball cards.

This will be the first sole restaurant project for Pickering, who served as the founding pit master for Ferris Wheelers Backyard & BBQ. Before that, he worked with hospitality vet Tim McEneny on special events at Hotel Lumen and ran his own catering company.

Erika Turk

At the same time, Pickering imagines that the 95-seat Douglas Bar and Grill at 6818 Snider Plaza will go beyond a typical barbecue joint. “There’s no sawdust on the floor, no picnic tables,” he says of the 2500-square-feet, shotgun-style restaurant, which will feature an exposed brick wall, banquette seating, and a full bar with 12 to 15 seats.

Expect to stop in for full-service lunch and dinner at Douglas Bar and Grill, which will serve barbecue staples for the lunch crowd. Then at dinner, steaks (like wagyu steak frites) and seafood (as in honey-glazed salmon) will join the menu, as well as interesting cuts of meat for the smoker. “We don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves,” he says. The idea is to appeal to everyone from families to couples for date night to folks at the bar eating fried Saltines with pimento cheese.

“We tried to keep it as Texas possible,” Pickering says, who might serve everything from cold-smoked guacamole to specials like brined, battered, and fried local Texas quail.

Erika Turk

This a passion project for Pickering, who named the restaurant after three generations of Douglases, a name that goes from his father to Pickering to his toddler son. Douglas Bar and Grill isn’t the only arrival for the family — his wife is due to give birth to the couple’s second child any day now.

“I joke I should write a book about how to take care of a two-and-a-half-year-old, a puppy, and a baby girl and open a restaurant during a pandemic — or should you do any of it as all? You’re never bored,” Pickering says. “Boredom is a luxury.”

Erika Turk

• Douglas Bar and Grill [Instagram]
• Beloved Peggy Sue BBQ restaurant in Dallas’ Snider Plaza bites the dust [CultureMap Dallas]
• The 15 Essential Dallas-Fort Worth Barbecue Joints