Painted Burro expanding into Spikes' space?

[teko.livejournal.com]

According to a post on Boston Eater and this legal notice, The Painted Burro is hoping to expand into the space occupied by Spike's Junkyard Dogs. They held a public hearing today (Monday) at 6pm; sadly I didn't see this notice until 6:30.

I love The Painted Burro, but if they displace Spike's from the Davis Square area, I won't be happy at all. Hot dogs, man. Hot dogs.

Comments

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

That would make me an unhappy Bad Seed. I am a huge fan of Spike's veggie dogs, and I'm not even a vegetarian. Plus, they have celery salt! That is a necessity with dogs, and I'm glad they understand that!

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've heard of this sort of thing before; Spike's is already there and well established; are they trying to get Spike's landlord to not renew the lease or is it more complicated? Either way, kind of scummy.

[ron_newman]

Tonight was a licensing board hearing (which I did not attend). But they also need a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals, and that hearing (advertised on the same Somerville News page that you linked to) is Wednesday evening at City Hall.

It's the same ZBA meeting that will hear the cases of Arts at the Armory and Pinkberry. It starts at 6 pm, but the Armory case will be heard first, and that may take a while.

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

So from what I hear, Spikes was already closing. It wasn't so much that Painted Burro is aggressively taking over, as they found out that Spikes was leaving and jumped on it. Just an FYI. This is from talking to bartenders at Burro, not from any official announcement. The hearing already happened for this, and the Notice is in the window at Burro for the required 20 days after the fact. The announcement also has to be published in the newspaper as well a few times before the 20 days are up. Again, I was told the hearing had already happened by staff at the restaurant, but it sounds pretty reasonable.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

I was going to say... One restaurant doesn't usually kick out another, usually they wait for someone to leave and then pounce on the space...

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

Unless you are Sound Bites/Ball Square Cafe.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

WAIT WHAT Spike's was already closing?!? Oh man. I have to stock up on St. Bernards, stat.

[ron_newman]

Is this chain shrinking? I see three closed Spike's locations on Yelp. They closed on Thayer Street in Providence, where I'd think they should have been hugely popular with Brown and RISD students.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

They *started* in Providence!

That would be sad. I wonder what's going on. I'm not happy to lose them from Davis in favor of another high-priced joint.

[ron_newman]

Looks like the Thayer Street Spike's closed in September 2008:

Another one bites the dust: Spike's to close
RIP Thayer Street
Changes in store for Thayer Street. Hey, looks like Spike's was replaced by ... a burrito place.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Now that you mention it, I do recall hearing about it back when and feeling sad. This makes me much sadder, though. Is there a date on the closure?

[alphacygni]

I just ate lunch at Spike's today! If I had known this, I would've eaten much more mournfully. Oh man, this makes me very sad. Although I do realize that part of why I liked it is that it was never crowded... and that rarely bodes well.

[spatch]

Dang. I was so glad when Spike's went in several years ago; it meant I didn't have to go all the way to Allston for an All-American dog.

Sad to see them go.

I am sure the Painted Burro is glad that the space they'll expand into is already free from sound baffling, so it'll be just as loud as ever. (Seriously. The food at PB was pretty good, some of the better queso in the area, but my god it's just SO LOUD)

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

I cannot eat in the Painted Burro. Too loud, just too bloody loud. I have other good choices for burritos and enchiladas that don't risk my eardrums.

[tealegirle.livejournal.com]

Seriously. SO. LOUD. One of the great things about Gargoyle's was that it was relatively low-volume. *sigh*

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

yeah, and the drinks were better too.

[nathanjw]

Part of it was the decor - Gargoyles had lots of floor-to-ceiling drapes separating different parts of the room, and additionally absorbing a lot of sound. The PB decor is interesting-looking, but very acoustically live.

[teko.livejournal.com]

Totally agreed. The last time I went, it was so loud that my table's waitress resorted to writing down questions on her order sheet so we could read them. Conversation was impossible across the table unless we shouted. If it was a dance club, I'd understand that kind of volume. For a restaurant, it's unbearable.

[alpinepie.livejournal.com]

Hello Everyone!

Joe from Posto and The Painted Burro here; Thanks for all your feedback! I actually installed tons of sound panelling as you can see in the attached link to help with the sound and there have been numerous blog posts about the positive effectiveness that have had. You can check them out here;

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=407944625937463&set=a.219192531479341.54316.159308240801104&type=1&theater

Also, I had them painted by local resident artist Raul Gonzalez. They are getting some pretty rave reviews!

[teko.livejournal.com]

That's going to be a huge help. Very much looking forward to my next visit.

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

That's great to hear! (heh)

The only reason I haven't been to the PB more frequently is the noise. Otherwise (as much as I miss Gargoyles) I really like it.

[teko.livejournal.com]

Hi Joe, was going to follow up on this post -- I've been to Painted Burro twice since you posted this, and the improvement in the noise level is dramatic and much appreciated. Even with a full bar and every table taken, I can have conversations and not feel like I'm raising my voice. The sound baffles look great, too!

[ron_newman]

Is it loud because of background music? I don't think they ever have live bands.

[teko.livejournal.com]

There's definitely no room in the current space for live bands. The combination of an open room between bar & restaurant, hardwood floors and ceiling, and loud background music makes for a very echoey and noisy space. The last time I went, the music was turned down quite a bit, which helped, and the new cloth sound baffles on the walls will cut down on the noise quite a bit, I think.

[siderea]

Although I do realize that part of why I liked it is that it was never crowded... and that rarely bodes well.

Yeah, that. And that it's cheap. Cheap but make it up in volume is a viable business plan. Few customers but they pay a premium is also a viable business plan. Cheap and low volume... not so much.

[teko.livejournal.com]

I love me some Spike's, but it's a qualified sort of love, because they always... ALWAYS screw up the order somehow. No matter how many times they repeat it, inevitably someone will be missing a key topping, have something bizarre added to their dog/burger, or get something entirely different than what they ordered.

Honestly, I feel like that's why they're always near-empty... well, that, and the Britney Spears and One Direction on the loud radio. I shouldn't have to consider it a rare success when they actually put russian dressing, swiss, and kraut on my Reuben Dog.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I liked Spikes, though I have been trying to stick to meat of more known origin... Guess it's time to get lunch there before they close,though. Where will I get really good curly fries in Davis?
[Oh, right, I will get straight fries with curry ketchup at Amsterdam Falafel Shop, and they will still be really good. Curry ketchup!]

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was gonna say, now it's A'dam for good fries. Also, while Spike's fries are curly, I don't tend to call them "curly fries" because they are (in my experience) unique in being the only curly-cut fries I've ever seen that aren't coated in crap. I *hatehatehate* coated fries.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I like Spike's fries the way Ramona likes to pull Susan's sproingy curls. It's the shape. :)

You're right, not being coated in something is part of what makes them good.

But since my discovery of Amsterdam's curry ketchup, which necessitated some fries to eat them with, I do have a good source of fries in Davis even if Spikes is closing...

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I stopped into Spike's yesterday and was told that the whole thing is waiting on the permitting, but they expect to close by late November. The guy I spoke to (who seemed to be with the org, not just a store worker) seemed surprised that people knew about it. He said some things that suggested that the Painted Burro were in fact buying Spike's out so that they could expand, contrary to what we'd all assumed. I didn't push for more details because he didn't seem to want to share much.

DD said Ron stopped by today and the guy behind the counter hadn't heard anything and was not happy to be told.

[ron_newman]

Dawn Pereira from the City of Somerville e-mailed me that the Zoning Board of Appeals approved Painted Burro's expansion at last night's meeting. (I did not stay for the rest of that meeting after they approved the Armory's permit.)

[georgy.livejournal.com]

Bleh. I found the Painted Burro to be one of the most bland and underwhelming Mexican food experiences I've ever had. If I want good Mexican food, I go to El Potro in Union Square. (Apply the same formula to M3 and Redbones... why do all the new restaurants in Davis suck?)

[teko.livejournal.com]

To each their own; I've had terrific, spicy, intensely-flavored food at PB, and always enjoy good ol' Redbones (which I would be hard pressed to think of as a 'new restaurant'). Not a big fan of M3, though.

[georgy.livejournal.com]

Haha, I didn't mean that Redbones was new, but rather that if I want good BBQ, I'd go there.

Maybe I'll give Painted Burro another shot some day, but that first experience was so underwhelming...

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

I've been finding myself avoiding Redbones. Much of what they have I can get locally elsewhere, only better and for less money. I've never had a chili that was so much like soup until I ordered it at Redbones.

How does El Potro compare to Cantina la Mexicana? The latter is my Mexican choice in Union.

[purgatori84.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it's not just me then. I was a little bit sad when I got my tacos and realized that they don't make their own tortillas, and the food was ok but nothing special.

[msbuneavista.livejournal.com]

apparently The James Beard Foundation thought enough of the food at The Painted Burro to invite them to NYC to cook at his house.
www.jamesbeard.org/events/d%C3%ADa-de-la-raza-101212

[alpinepie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the shout out!

[amy-s1.livejournal.com]

Here is some more info - looks like it will be a separate bar called the Burro Bar. Does anyone else thing Davis could use an "older crowd" bar? I find myself going to Toad or Union Square lately for a drink.

http://boston.grubstreet.com/2012/10/burro-bar-painted-burro.html

[teko.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of picking up tortas for lunch.

[rozhinka.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! My partner and I often step out for a weeknight beer, since weekends in Davis are now meatmarket/frat party territory. We would not mind going to a place where we are not double the age of everyone else. And far more important to us, a place where we don't have to shout to converse. (Although I enjoy loud music on occasion, I have never understood the point of deafening volume in places meant for socializing and eating. Yes, Painted Burro, I'm looking at you! and will visit again now that soundproofing has been improved and there is more Raul artwork to enjoy.)