Sanders BBQ Prime: Hyde Park’s Elevated Barbecue Comeback Under the Promontory
Sanders BBQ Prime is the sit-down chapter James Sanders has been building toward — 130 seats of elevated barbecue in Hyde Park’s old Promontory restaurant space at 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. W., with an open kitchen, a huge bar, and plates that stretch from smoked classics into steaks, lamb chops, prawns, and a 20-ounce pork steak cold-smoked for hours before it hits the grill in front of you. Block Club Chicago’s late-September walkthrough found the room still under construction with a year-end 2026 debut target, and if you have been chasing the Beverly counter that made the New York Times’ 50 Best list, this is the bigger, plated night the South Side has been waiting for.
What makes Sanders BBQ Prime different from Sanders BBQ Supply Co.?
Everything about the format — and almost nothing about the soul. Sanders BBQ Supply Co. on West 99th Street is the counter-service Beverly shop that opened in 2024, earned a James Beard semi-finalist nod, and landed on the New York Times’ Restaurant List of the 50 best places in America right now. Lines spilled out the door. People drove hours. Sanders BBQ Prime is not a carbon copy of that shop. It is the “signature restaurant” Sanders described to Crain’s and that Eater Chicago flagged when the Hyde Park plan first surfaced: plated dinners instead of trays, a full bar instead of a grab-and-go rhythm, and a room sized for celebrations, date nights, and neighborhood gatherings under the old Promontory.
Think of Beverly as the proof of concept — prime-grade beef, hardwood chosen per meat, community courtyard energy — and Hyde Park as the room where that cooking finally gets white-tablecloth pacing without losing the smoke. Same chef. Same partner. Different night.
Where is Sanders BBQ Prime opening in Hyde Park?
5311 S. Lake Park Avenue West, in the former Promontory restaurant space just off 53rd Street. The Promontory was a beloved bi-level music venue with a dining room below; Block Club notes the venue closed after its New Year’s Eve 2025 party, and Sanders is taking over that restaurant footprint for a much larger operation than Beverly. Construction photos from late September still show raw build — drywall, scaffolding, the bones of a 130-seat dining room — so if you are planning a fall birthday in that address, wait for the official open cue rather than assuming the door is live.
Hyde Park has been hungry for a destination barbecue-and-steak night that feels like an occasion. Putting Sanders BBQ Prime under the Promontory nameplate is not nostalgia for a music venue; it is a bet that the neighborhood will adopt a gathering space the way Beverly adopted the Supply Co. shop — family-first, then citywide.
What will you eat at Sanders BBQ Prime?
Elevated barbecue, plated. Favorites from the Beverly menu travel over, then the kitchen expands into steakhouse territory: steaks, lamb chops, prawns, and that 20-ounce pork steak Sanders has been talking up — cold-smoked for four hours, then finished on the grill where diners can watch. Block Club’s Nick Kindelsperger reported that a lot of the meat will be cooked sous vide and finished on the grill, which is how you get precise doneness and a live-fire finish without turning every table into a waiting game.
Eater and Infatuation both flagged complimentary beef tallow–smoked popcorn as a signature welcome — the kind of small, fragrant detail that tells you the house cares about the first bite as much as the main. Expect refined appetizers and desserts alongside the smoked cores. This is not a “ribs only, paper towel roll” night; it is barbecue that wants a steak knife, a cocktail pairing, and enough time to taste the hardwood choices Sanders has been obsessive about since Beverly — different woods for different meats, prime-grade beef because it simply tastes better.
If you already know the Supply Co. brisket and ribs, bring that memory and leave room for the plated newcomers. If you have never been to Beverly, Hyde Park may be your first Sanders plate — just know the national halo (Times list, Beard semi) was earned at the counter shop first.
Who is behind Sanders BBQ Prime — James Sanders and Ogbonna Bowden?
James Sanders is the chef-owner whose path runs National Guard to SIU Carbondale to culinary school at the Illinois Institute of Art, then Harold’s Chicken franchises, Fuze Catering (including events at the Art Institute), and finally the Beverly barbecue that surprised industry veterans. He has said both parents worked brutal hours and his dad’s line — never depend on anyone to cook for you — is why he started cooking for himself. That origin story still reads in the food: generous, precise, community-minded.
Ogbonna Bowden, Sanders’s business partner, met him in a dentist chair — Bowden was the dentist, then a catering client, then the co-owner who said yes to a barbecue project even though he does not eat pork. For Sanders BBQ Prime, Bowden is shaping the cocktail program with a mixologist: classics with twists, a Bloody Mary spin, mocktails, plus wine, whiskey, and beer so every plate has a drink that belongs next to it. He has described cocktail nights with friends like a Chopped challenge — timed, ingredient-driven, playful — and that energy is exactly what a huge Hyde Park bar needs.
Together they want the room to feel like Beverly’s family focus scaled up: a gathering space Hyde Park can claim as its own.
What will the Sanders BBQ Prime room and bar feel like?
Picture an open kitchen where the grill is theater, not a back-of-house secret. A huge bar anchoring the drink program Bowden is building. One hundred thirty seats — big enough for a group celebration, intimate enough that plated service still feels personal. Block Club’s construction visit in late September captured Sanders and Bowden on site amid the build; the rendering they shared points to a polished, contemporary dining room rather than a picnic-table smokehouse. You will watch meat finish on the fire. You will order a cocktail designed to meet the plate. You will not be standing in a Beverly line with a tray — you will be seated for a longer night.
Until the doors open, Instagram @sandersbbqsupplyco is the closest public window onto the cooking language: smoked meats, kitchen energy, and the Beverly community vibe that Prime is meant to expand, not replace. Captions and stills from the Supply Co. feed are honest about what Sanders’s kitchen already does; they are not yet a tour of the finished Hyde Park dining room, because that room is still being built.
When does Sanders BBQ Prime open, and how do you get in?
Block Club’s September 29, 2026 update is the clearest public clock: still under construction, aiming for a year-end 2026 debut. Earlier Eater coverage (September 2025) had floated a roughly six-month window after the first announcement; the late-2026 construction report is the one to trust right now. There is no Resy, OpenTable, or Tock page yet — when the restaurant goes live, expect walk-in and direct booking through channels the team announces (watch the Instagram and any future site). Skip any third-party booking guesswork until the house publishes its own link.
For ChiVibe readers planning a Hyde Park night around this opening: treat it as a soft-open watch, not a confirmed October seating. Put the address on your radar, follow @sandersbbqsupplyco, and be ready when the first service dates drop. Celebration and date-night energy will move fast once the city realizes the Times-list pitmaster finally has a sit-down room with steaks and cocktails.
Why is Sanders BBQ Prime the Hyde Park opening worth circling?
Because Chicago already knows what Sanders can do with smoke — and Hyde Park is about to see what happens when that craft meets a 130-seat open kitchen, a real bar, and plates built for a long evening. The Promontory’s restaurant chapter closed; Sanders BBQ Prime is the next story in that address, written by a Beverly chef who turned a relative-unknown counter into a national destination in under two years. Elevated barbecue is an easy phrase to print. Watching a cold-smoked pork steak finish on the grill while Bowden’s cocktails land at the table is the version you actually want to eat.
Stay close to the build. When the year-end target firms into opening weeks, this is the South Side sit-down that will fill calendars — not because of desk hype, but because the Supply Co. lines already proved the food is worth the trip.
FAQ
Is Sanders BBQ Prime open yet?
Not yet. As of late September 2026, Block Club reported the Hyde Park location still under construction with a year-end 2026 debut target.
Where is Sanders BBQ Prime located?
5311 S. Lake Park Avenue West in Hyde Park, in the former Promontory restaurant space near 53rd Street.
How is Sanders BBQ Prime different from Sanders BBQ Supply Co. in Beverly?
Prime is a full sit-down restaurant with plated dinners, steaks and seafood, an open kitchen, and a large bar; Supply Co. is the acclaimed Beverly counter-service shop that earned the New York Times 50 Best and James Beard attention.
Who owns Sanders BBQ Prime?
Chef-owner James Sanders and partner Ogbonna Bowden, the same team behind Sanders BBQ Supply Co.; Bowden leads the cocktail vision for the Hyde Park bar.
Can you reserve Sanders BBQ Prime online right now?
No public Resy, OpenTable, or Tock listing is live yet. Watch @sandersbbqsupplyco for opening dates and booking details; walk-in and direct booking are the expected paths when service begins.
What should you order at Sanders BBQ Prime?
Plan around elevated barbecue and steakhouse plates — steaks, lamb chops, prawns, the 20-ounce cold-smoked pork steak, Beverly favorites that transfer over, and the beef tallow–smoked popcorn the press has already flagged as a signature welcome.
