BUSHWICK — A shuttered motorcycle club turned barbecue joint will be fully revived next month, serving Texas-style barbecue and hosting live shows.
The Shop Brooklyn, at 234 Starr St. in Bushwick, originally launched in an old parking garage on Metropolitan Avenue between Driggs Avenue and Roebling Street in 2008.
Owner and motorcycle buff Daniel Lyle, 40, who used to work as an investment banker, started out by letting other motorcycle fans park their bikes in the garage to make the rent.
People began hanging out in the garage. He eventually got a liquor license for the space and started cooking barbecue too. Soon, he realized he loved the food more than he loved the corporate world.
After closing down the Williamsburg version of The Shop in early 2012, Lyle found the Bushwick space and spent the last two years building it out. In April, The Shop Brooklyn will reopen as a restaurant with a bar and stage for live music.
"It is a barbecue joint with a serious motorcycle obsession," Lyle said.
The Shop Brooklyn will serve Texas-style barbecue with a little bit of a Cajun kick in its spices, Lyle said. He'll have premium takes on classic dishes, like a "hawg sandwich," a take on a pulled pork sandwich with pork belly, pork butt and crispy skin.
The spot will also serve sides like kaleslaw — a coleslaw made with kale — and fresh roasted vegetables.
And while Lyle may have a corporate background, he's no stranger to pork, having grown up in the Midwest where he spent his summers working on his uncle's pig farm.
"I know how to do everything from cleaning up after hogs to plowing cattle to plowing soybean fields," he said. "That informs a good bit of what I do."
With that in mind, Lyle plans to have regular specials that will be particularly "special," he said.
The Shop plans to host monthly "Black Hawg Down" events, where he will cook a Heritage black hog that has been "super pampered" with room to run around and fed grass, acorns and grain from beer.
The pigs can cost about $700, compared to the $130 he might pay for a regular hog, he said.
"That's going to be next level," he said.
A stage in the back of the restaurant will host shows many nights of the week, and a retail shop up front that currently houses motorcycles will sell snacks and other wares from The Shop.
The Shop will be open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Wednesdays, 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursday through Saturdays, and 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Sundays.
Brunch service will eventually be added, with bloody marys that contain a single barbecue rib.
Until The Shop officially opens, locals can go try the food on Saturdays, when the spot is open starting 3 p.m. for sample menu items.
