February 18, 2010

Its Official: Frisco Grille is Moving!

This is literally breaking news, first reported here:

Columbia's excellent southwest cuisine restaurant and beer bar Frisco Grille is moving! They had made plans to expand in their current center off Stanford Boulevard but have changed gears and have now begun signing paperwork to move just a bit further down Dobbin Road.

They will be next to Batteries Plus, near Columbia Scuba. Simply take Dobbin Road south, they will be located between McGaw and Oakland Mills Roads. If nothing else, it will be much easier to explain to people how to find them as their current location is in a bit of an oddball spot. The move will shift them from their current 2300 square foot location into a space of approximately 4700 square feet.

The payoff? They now have plans to provide 50 taps, with room for up to 100 if they so choose. The bar should be much more spacious and have greater length, meaning there will likely be two full time bartenders behind the counter, as well as roundtops and whatnot. I don't have official word on this but I know they've spoken of also adding an in-house brew facility to offer some of their own beers (owner Adam Carton is a huge hop-head and has mentioned about five different variations on the pale ale and IPA so thats the likely direction).

The move will not be immediate, obviously, and they will remain open at the current location but they hope to open at the new location sometime in late spring or early summer.

Stay tuned for further details and I'll pass along any questions to the ownership.

13 comments:

Brad said...

Nice!!

jeff said...

i was worried when i read the headline- its about 2 mins from my work now, i was afraid they were moving further away. but no thats great news. - can't wait for more taps. I'm hoping they bring in lots of imports- they have an awesome domestic selection now.

Sarah said...

Great news!!!

Rebecca said...

I talked to Adam last night and he said they were planning on brewing their own beer...but that it might take as long as 9 months to get it up and running.

michelle said...

they should have moved into the old rocky run building :)

jim said...

I drive by that new building going home and the thing that kind of worries me about it is parking, the place is going to be packed!

Brandon Miller - Milhouse44 said...

Unless they can get some of the ABC Rental Lot for parking it could go from plenty of parking with no where to sit to plenty of places to sit and no where to park.
I'm sure they have a plan. There is more parking off Herrmann Drive.

Caederus said...

Here's a question. Will it change to more of a bar, or stay as a restaurant with bar?

When I get to Frisco now it's with the family, and I just don't see taking a 4 year old into a bar, but taking the family to a restaurant is fine.

BeerGuy said...

Rebecca,

Cool, yeh that was the most unclear part of the transition I've heard from them re: brewing. Obviously there's a lot of regulatory hurdles to clear and they were more focused on more taps, sq ft etc.

Michelle,

lol

Jim, Brandon,

Yeh they've mentioned most of the lot would be theirs and were unconcerned about parking especially because they wouldn't have to share the space with a million tenants.

Caederus,

Definitely restaurant with bar, the bar is obviously expanding but so will the dining area and Adam's very much a foodie as well. Look for some menu changes. Frisco so far has been able to balance being a beer bar and a casual sit down dining/family joint with ease and I anticipate the same at the new location. Not everyone wants to sit at the bar and the dining area is clearly just as popular as the bar most evenings.

Brandon Miller - Milhouse44 said...

With my crack research on Bing Maps. It looks to have about 51 (non HCP) parking spaces in the immediate parking lot. 2 folks per car, 102 folks can comfortably park and/or dine.

BeerGuy said...

Brandon,

Wow, sounds about right, I forget the exact figure but Adam told me they would have something like 50+ parking spaces but that was months ago, memory's foggier now.

jmooy said...

I can't wait. Glad to see some more selection closer to work & home. Nothing but good can come of this.

Stephanie Hughes said...

I am excited. I always get the fish tacos to go with my BEER of choice! YEAH!