Ten 50 BBQ is under construction in Richardson, just north of Dallas. You may have seen the sign along the Hwy. 75 service road north of Arapaho (at 1050 N. Central Expressway) and adjacent to the Arapaho DART station. Construction is underway for the major renovations to the existing building on site, and Ten 50 will open sometime this summer. Larry Lavine, who founded Chili’s back in 1975, is the man behind Ten 50.
It’s been almost forty years since Larry Lavine opened the first Chili’s in Dallas. Back then it was just a burger joint that served chili and margaritas. The baby back ribs would come much later after Lavine had sold off his share of the company. He continued to develop restaurants in the Dallas area, and a couple years ago he emailed me. I’d never met the man, but when he suggested we meet at Mac’s BBQ in Dallas, I knew he had good taste. We talked barbecue in general, but nothing specific. I didn’t know then that Mac’s owner Billy McDonald helped develop the original french fry recipe for Chili’s when Lavine and his team couldn’t get it right.
Lavine’s newest venture will now put him in competition with McDonald, but it’s sure to be a whole lot bigger than Mac’s. When the project was first applying for a permit, they provided a rendering of the early design concept (see above). A proposed menu was also provided in that application:
“The menu includes BBQ ribs, brisket, chicken, smoked turkey and sausage plus flash fried fries, fresh vegetable platters, homemade pickles and complimentary fresh baked cornbread…[Also] side dishes that range from German potato salad with house smoked bacon, twice baked potato casserole or fresh vegetables to 6 hour South Texas pinto beans.”
In an email, Lavine told me “the concept is based on offering scratch cooking,” and that it will feature “authentic, wood fired Central Texas BBQ.”
