Fat Pete’s Barbecue hopes to open on Route 1 by end of winter break

Jeff Holibaugh, an owner of Cleveland Park Bar & Grill in Washington, D.C., dreamed for years of opening a barbecue restaurant in Cleveland Park.

A spot opened up in the D.C. neighborhood in July 2014, but he needed a name — so he turned to his partner Pete Balish, who is slightly overweight. 

Holibaugh, the majority owner of Fat Pete’s Barbecue, is now bringing a Zamboni-sized, all-wood smoker, similar to the one in his Washington location, to College Park to fill what he sees as a void in the city’s food scene.

“We are confident that we are going to be bringing something unique to College Park that really isn’t there,” he said. “There are a lot of good sandwich and pizza stores, but I am sure there are students that would like something a little different.” 

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The restaurant will be next to Revo Nail Salon on Route 1, where the Capital One bank previously stood, and will serve various types of barbecue, with an emphasis on brisket. It will offer six sauces, all made in-house daily.

“It would most definitely be a good spot for students,” said freshman criminology and criminal justice major Nikolas Menne. “It is better to get more good, gourmet food than have chains. There is a stuff like Potbelly’s down there, but an actual barbecue place would be good.”

There is no set date for the restaurant’s opening, but Holibaugh said he hopes to be operating when students return from winter break.

Holibaugh, a 1988 university alumnus, said his connection to the city and the surrounding area — as well as employees at his two Washington spots — helped persuade him to make Fat Pete’s second location in College Park. 

“I have a lot of University of Maryland students and graduates who work for me here in D.C., and they are constantly telling me that we would kill it in College Park,” he said. 

Eric Olson, executive director of the College Park City-University Partnership, said getting a highly recognizable restaurant from Washington to come to the city shows the progress College Park is making.

“The region is taking notice that College Park is on the move and that we are a great place for investment,” he said.

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The last barbecue restaurant to come to town, The Maryland Smokehouse, shut down within a year of opening, but Holibaugh said his restaurant will focus on its product, not past failures.

“We try not to worry about what other people do,” he said. “The way we do things is in our control. What I really think it is, when it comes to barbecue, at the end of the day, it is all about the food. And we have proven that we know what we are doing with the food.”

Tim Carman, a food writer with The Washington Post, ranked Fat Pete’s in the top tier of barbecue in the Washington region, along with DCity Smokehouse.

The College Park location will be one one-third the size of the Washington restaurant, seating 40 guests in the dining room, with emphasis on carryout and catering locally, Holibaugh said.

“That whole area in College Park is getting better and growing,” Holibaugh said. “We hope to serve the whole market, not just the campus.”

Fat Pete’s is the latest sign of redevelopment on the block. It will join Nando’s Peri-Peri, which opened earlier this month, and there is a proposition to put an art house where The Barking Dog once stood.

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“The combination of Nando’s, Fat Pete’s and the art house all locating on this key downtown block is transformative,” Olson said. “Together they create great energy and a vibe that downtown is a destination for all community members — families, students, faculty and staff, visitors and more.”