Black Hog BBQ closed until next year for renovations

Clara Niel, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
Updated ·2 min read

Aug. 11—Black Hog BBQ in downtown Frederick is scheduled to be closed until the spring of 2024 while it undergoes extensive renovations.

The restaurant closed in early July to start the renovations, Black Hog's owner, Mike Tauraso, said.

Tauruso will be doubling the square footage of the restaurant, extending the building more than 1,900 square feet back into the parking lot, and enlarging the kitchen, Frederick City Planning Commission documents show.

He will also add a rooftop patio, which is expected to hold up to 49 people, the documents said.

He will also be adding a 300-square-foot smokehouse, where Tauraso will smoke whole pigs.

Tauraso's plan is to get black hogs, the restaurant namesake, to raise and breed them at his home.

Black Hog BBQ first opened at 118 S. Market St. in 2007. The building first shows up on maps in 1922, and became a radiator store in the 1930s, according to Frederick City's Historic Preservation Commission.

When Tauraso first saw the building, he was inspired to open a barbecue restaurant.

"I didn't think of barbecue until I saw this building. Like, this building is barbecue," he said.

A classically trained French chef, Tauraso is familiar with the food and restaurant business. He decided to learn the art of barbecuing because it was a challenge, he said.

All of the food he learned to prepare was always for individual orders.

But barbecuing requires cooking ahead of time, and there can't be any leftovers. When the barbecue runs out, it runs out, he said.

But after more than a decade, the downtown building was starting to feel small and look rundown, Tauraso said. It needed a makeover, which would also spruce up the south side of Market Street.

"I wanted to breathe some new life into this side of town," Tauraso said.

With the expansion of the restaurant, Tauraso will also expand his staff.

Before the renovations, he had about 14 staff members, some of whom are working at other Black Hog BBQ locations during renovations. When the downtown spot reopens, he plans to double that number.

The other four Black Hog locations — in Urbana; Middletown; Ashburn, Virginia; and Market Square Frederick — will be open while the downtown location is closed, he said.