Authentic barbeque lovers in Skokie won’t have to wait much longer to smell the mouth-watering aroma of the slow-cooked meats.
Dewey’s BBQ Market is bringing its Texas-based spare rib barbeque and other smoked meat family recipes to Oakton Street, in the heart of downtown Skokie, this fall.
With the help of a $75,000 Retail Enhancement Program Grant from the village, which trustees unanimously signed off on at their May 18 Board meeting, Dewey’s BBQ Market will open its first-ever Illinois storefront in the 5013-5019 Oakton Street space in October.
“This is just one more very positive thing that has come from the Village of Skokie out of many, many positive things,” Dewey’s BBQ Market owner Robert Fitzpatrick said to the Board on May 18.
“Since (Trustee) Dr. Keith Robinson asked me to consider coming to Skokie and locate my business here, I actually came to Skokie just to tell people I wasn’t interested,” Fitzpatrick said to a room full of laughs. “And that was about two years ago.”
Dewey’s will primarily operate out of the 5017 Oakton Street retail space, taking the place of former men’s clothing store, Rich’s Britches, which has remained vacant for “years,” according to Skokie’s Economic Vitality Coordinator Carol White.
The store maintained its business license through 2024, however, according to village officials.
Rehabilitation of the 5013-5019 Oakton Street retail stretch is estimated to cost more than $800,000, according to Village Manager John Lockerby, not including the undisclosed price for which Fitzpatrick purchased the site.
According to the restaurant’s website, Fitzpatrick closed on a bank loan to finance the purchase in May.
The 5017 lot will serve as the main formal sit-down Dewey’s restaurant and 5019, which will connect to 5017 following summer renovations, will serve as the take-out counter for the BBQ joint.
The vacant 5013 lot plans to be rehabbed to a white-box condition for a new tenant, and Eagle Hair Care, currently located in the 5015 retail space, will remain.
Born and raised in Texas, Fitzpatrick told Pioneer Press he’s aiming to revive the legacy of his family’s Spare Rib BAR-B-Q Pit restaurant, a staple in his home community for more than half a century.
“[My dad] ran his BAR-B-Q Pit in Greenville, Texas for over 50 years, from 1951 all the way to 2004, and those flavors are locked in my memory,” Fitzpatrick said.
“His BBQ Sauce, every brisket, every rack of ribs we serve will follow his tradition, prepared the same way he taught me. We’ll have 60’s – 80’s soul, including Motown and classic rock playing softly in the background, so guests step back in time a little, slow down, eat well and feel good.”
Fitzpatrick added he believes Dewey’s will serve the “best BBQ anyone in the Chicago area has ever tasted.”
“And I mean that sincerely, not as a slogan,” Fitzpatrick said. “If I didn’t believe that, I would not even bother with this venture.”
Fitzpatrick said he first got the idea to open a storefront outside of Texas when he purchased a home in Lake Villa, Illinois, after relocating to serve as deputy comptroller & budget officer for Navy Region Midwest at Great Lakes Naval Station.
“I’d been quietly scouting locations for several years,” Fitzpatrick said, and had “my eye on a great spot in Niles, but my fraternity brother, who sits on Skokie’s Board of Trustees (Keith Robinson) suggested, ‘Just take a look.’ I did, and a series of really positive events followed.”
Dewey’s plans to prepare its BBQ on a custom-designed hickory wood-burning slow smoker, to tenderize its meat in the tradition of “old Northeast Texas,” according to the restaurant.
“Oakton Street will be completely reimagined into a BBQ destination, the kind of place my mom, dad and siblings would have been proud to walk into,” Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick told the Pioneer Press that construction started on the site May 18, following the approval of the village’s grant.
According to the restaurant’s website, demolition of the building interior will begin in June with a grand opening scheduled for October.
“This community just ranks high in all the communities I’ve lived and worked in… its diversity, its inclusivity, its pro-business attitude…I’m excited to bring Dewey’s BBQ Market to Skokie and continue my family’s legacy and not let it die,” Fitzpatrick told trustees at the Board meeting.
The $75,000 grant fund will be transferred on a “rebate basis” following completion of all work, proof of payment to contractors and actual operation of the new business, Village Manager Lockerby said at the May 18 meeting.
The grant will help finance the costs associated with both interior and exterior rehabilitation of the property, including flooring, dry wall and framing, paint, full electrical, plumbing, HVAC and new security systems.
Skokie’s Retail Enhancement Program is designed to incentivize business owners in the village’s primary commercial corridors to revamp their current space or open a new one with the help of rebated financial assistance.
Because Dewey’s plans to operate out of multiple commercial tenant spaces, it is eligible for a grant exceeding the village’s standard maximum award of $50,000, according to village officials.
The program does not include the West Dempster, Downtown Science and Technology or Oakton-Niles TIF districts, according to the village website.
“Thank you for investing in our community; we truly are grateful,” Skokie Mayor Ann Tennes told Fitzpatrick at the May 18 Board meeting.
“I’m hungry just hearing about it.”
