Blackwood BBQ coming to Woodfield Mall outlot

Blackwood BBQ, a fast casual restaurant chain with three locations in Chicago, will open its first suburban site in an outlot of Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg this summer.

Village trustees last week approved a special-use permit for the restaurant to open in a nearly 3,000-square-foot unit at the west end of the middle building in the Woodfield Gatherings development, 1711 E. Golf Road.

"It's going to be a cool, experiential site," Blackwood BBQ Managing Partner David Sloan said. "We're going to take you to a different time and place."

The new restaurant will be adjacent to the existing Naf Naf Grill, a chain Sloan said he had been a co-founder of before selling it and acquiring Blackwood BBQ.

In his presentation to Schaumburg's zoning board last month, Sloan said the restaurant will be attractively designed and boast a menu featuring brisket, pork, chicken, fancy lemonades, southern-style milkshakes and pies. It also will serve alcoholic beverages including beer, wine and mixed drinks.

The new location will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week and is expected to employ between 20 and 30 people.

Blackwood BBQ will have an outdoor patio wrapping around the west side of its building that will be landscaped with trees, shrubs and flowering perennials.

Schaumburg officials approved the Woodfield Gatherings development in the northwest corner of the Woodfield Mall parking lot in 2016.

In addition to Naf Naf Grill, existing restaurants among the three buildings include Kura Sushi, B.Good, Chuy's Tex-Mex and MOD Pizza. The development also has two vacant retail units and the former site of honeygrow restaurant.

The entire three-building development shares 299 designated parking spaces distinct from those reserved for Woodfield Mall.