Holy Smokes! Lucky Cheng’s Space Getting BBQ Joint, Beer Garden, Honky Tonk Bar

Pride and Joy FB Pic 1(1)Courtesy Pride and Joy A 5,000-pound smoker is lowered into the space.

From tiki to honky tonk: the space that once housed Waikiki Wally’s, adjacent Lucky Cheng’s, will become a “rock-n’-roll honky tonk bar” when Pride and Joy BBQ opens in late April or May, according to an employee. And that’s not all: the barbecue joint also aims to have a rooftop beer garden.

After Lucky Cheng’s moved to midtown last year, its three-story home on First Avenue was snatched up by Myron Mixon, a highly decorated competition-barbecue champ and star of the show “BBQ Pitmasters.”

Last month, team Mixon crane-lifted a pair of 5,000-pound custom smokers into the barbecue joint’s “show kitchen,” in what will be the main-level dining room.

“They’re created to smoke 400 pounds of meat each,” said Executive Coordinator Gabriela Stanciu of the gigantic boxes.

photo (23)Paul-Benjamin Dousset

On the East Second Street side of the building, where Waikiki Wally and then Marfa and Bento Burger were located, the restaurant will also have a more “casual café/lunch side.” The takeout spot will become a “rock n’ roll honky-tonk bar” at night, with live music on weekends, Ms. Stanciu said.

Summer will bring a beer garden on an upstairs patio. “We also have a mini-smoker, created by Myron Mixon, to do hamburgers and hot dogs up there,” said Ms. Stanciu.

On the second floor, there’ll be a catering and events space, and in the basement… well, that’s TBD. “We’re not sure what we are doing with that space,” said Ms. Stanciu. “It’s possibly a bar, connected with the honky tonk area,” said Ms. Stanciu.

Obviously, the Chinese-brothel décor will go. The new space will feature recycled barn wood and custom light fixtures. And the stairs will be decorated with taxidermy. Yee haw!

Pride and Joy BBQ, 24 First Avenue (between First and Second Streets)