BLACKBEAR BBQ has become an institution since it opened stores at Blacktown and Wetherill Park, and now, local fans of the crew's Amercian-style barbecue won't have to travel as far, with a new BlackBear BBQ Vineyard store opening its doors in Riverstone.
Founder Haydn Graham said the new store, which held its grand opening on the weekend, was a new 'sit down' concept for the BlackBear team, and would hopefully become a "destination store" in the west.
"It's going to be a ground-breaking store for us. We're having a 200-seat restaurant, serving the American low'n'slow-style meat cuts we're known for, but with South American-style steaks, all cooked over the fire," he told the Gazette.
"So it'll be a little bit different to our other two stores. We're really branching out into a steak restaurant theme."
Mr Graham said the BlackBear team had taken a trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil, earlier this year, which had "opened up our eyes to a style of barbecue cooking not done here, dry aged steaks - an offering not affordable to the 'average Joe' in Australia".
"It's not going to be hard to be the best steak house in Sydney," Mr Graham said.
"It'll be a destination steak house out west; the city get too much good stuff so we need something like this out here."
The new store will open "stage by stage", beginning with dinner on Saturday and Sunday nights and extending their hours down the track.
Next year, the team plans to open a butcher shop on site selling dry-age meats and gourmet sausages that customers can take home to cook on their own BBQs.
They plan also to host a monthly organic markets in the carpark.
The shop is located in the old Dynamic Pumps building on Windsor Road, where the pie shop used to be.
"It's close enough to where we live, and far enough away from other other shops," said Mr Graham.
"The charm of the old building really works well with our image; we can't be in a polished-up restaurant as such.
"It will be a whole lot of hard work to get it to a stage where it's fully open, but it'll be exciting to have that offering on Windsor Road, in between Rouse Hill and McGraths Hill."
BlackBear BBQ began with a passion for barbecue, offering meats hot from the smoker at food festivals around Sydney.
In August 2017, BlackBear BBQ opened the doors at their Blacktown store delivering brisket, ribs and sides.
Meat is cooked in the traditional low'n'slow method over ironbark for up to 15 hours.
BlackBear is so popular, that punters line-up for a taste of its wares at its other two locations.
Mr Graham said he thought Hawkesbury was the perfect location for the new store, with plenty of BBQ-loving residents in the area.
BlackBear BBQ held its first Hawkesbury-based Showdown in the Showground barbecue festival at Hawkesbury Showground earlier this month, with punters coming from all over NSW to taste smoked bites from a range of vendors including BlackBear BBQ.
The new BlackBear BBQ Vineyard store is at 1378 Windsor Road, Riverstone. Go to blackbearbbq.com.au for more.
