Newark downtown will soon brim with hot chicken, brisket, tacos and a retro diner

Blue Hens arriving in Newark for the start of the year at the University of Delaware have some new options around campus if they get bored of the dining hall fare.

The incoming class of more than 4,200 and the existing student body will have a chance to be some of the first customers at new spots, which range from Albanian hot chicken to Shanghai soup dumplings to new gastropubs or barbecue in some of the most prominent Main Street locations – not to mention bowling alleys with laser tag and what may be the first indoor pickleball in the state.

Here are the newest businesses in downtown Newark, and the margarita-fueled taco bars soon to open.

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Albanian Hot Chicken at Bab's Hot Chicken

174 E. Main St., 302-380-2150, babshotchicken.com. Opened Aug. 28.

Three Albanian brothers who escaped the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo on their grandfather's tractor have opened a Newark restaurant devoted to their grandfather's fried chicken recipe.

Bab's Hot Chicken — "Baba" means grandfather in Albanian — is the newest restaurant concept from brothers Leo, Pep, and Jim Osmanollaj, who've become restaurateurs many times over since emigrating to America in 2000. In the greater Philly area, they have founded burger joints Haveaburger and m2o, as well as Albanian restaurant Toska, and now Bab's Hot Chicken.

The first location of Bab's was in Audobon, Pennsylvania. Now they've expanded to Newark, taking over the 174 Main Street space of Freddy's Wings and Wraps — just down the street from a location of their m2o burger chain. Bab's is devoted to the fried chicken recipes of the brothers' grandfather, a chicken farmer known for his hot chicken.

"Baba raised us on his hot chicken," Leo Osmanollaj wrote in the restaurant's official founding story. "It was more than just a meal. It was a connection to our heritage."

The brothers opened their Newark location on Aug. 28, the second day of classes at UD, with a DJ named Frank Spinatra.

Party supplies at Main Street Liquors

48 E. Main St., 302-444-5115, mainstreetliquorsde.com.

A new liquor store just opened on Main Street, taking over for long-time liquor store and growler filling station The Delaware Growler, which closed in July after they sold "46,000 growlers... 2,322 half kegs and well over 4 million samples….yes, we counted."

Open under new owners since Aug. 15, Main Street Liquors still sells wine and liquor alongside a selection of craft and local beer. But following beer trends all over the country, they're no longer doing growler fills.

Brisket, burgers and breakfast at 322 BBQ and Hill Donut Co.

115 E Main St., 322bbq.com, Projected opening September.

The former space of the Stone Balloon, a restaurant that endured in one form or another for 50 years, will soon be home to barbecue, burgers, beers, doughnuts and pancakes – yes, all of them.

322 BBQ and its co-located business, Hill Donut Co., have been a perhaps unlikely runaway regional success: A barbecue shop, deli, butcher shop, doughnut bakery and pancake house that's now going on its fourth location in New Jersey and Delaware. The restaurants were founded by David Wiederholt, a Culinary Institute of America graduate with years of experience in steakhouses and innovative kitchens in greater Philly.

The high-end meats at the butcher shop begat the barbecue. And barbecue's early-a.m. bone fides led to doughnuts and pancakes. And so here we are.

The Newark location near UD will forsake the deli and butcher shop, said Brandywine manager Kevin Johnson. But expect the same wild array of rotating craft burgers, brisket barbecue, banana brulee donuts and buttermilk pancakes.

Shanghai soup dumplings at Ugly Dumpling

140 E. Main St., uglydumpling.us. Projected opening in Fall 2024.

Ugly Dumpling is a Shanghai-inspired soup dumpling chain from the restaurateurs behind Viet-Cajun seafood boil spot Hook & Reel, as well as Korean-inflected BBQ and hot pot chain KPOT. The restuarant, which opened its first location in New Jersey, is devoted to Shanghai style food including a wide variety of soup-filled dumplings called xiao long bao.Now, those pork-filled or mala-spiced soup dumplings are coming to Main Street. Signs for the upcoming Newark location have been up since March in a space previously home to Panera. This spring, corporate spokespeople told Delaware Online/The News Journal they hoped to be open by the end of 2024, and signage is already up on the building.

The restaurant appears to be shooting for an October 1 opening, though a special use permit is still pending from the City of Newark.

More: A Shanghai-style dim sum and soup dumpling spot coming to Delaware. What to know

Margaritas and tacos at Casa Kahlo Mexican Grill and Bar

230 E Main St, Suite 203. "Coming soon."

A new Mexican bar and grill is coming soon to Newark Shopping Center, just steps away from the main drag of Newark. This bar comes from an owner of Salina's Restaurant, a short-lived Mexican restaurant with now-closed locations in Bear and in Prices Corner at the former Charcoal Pit.

Casa Kahlo seems like a festive and maybe cheeky affair, advertised on its Facebook page with a series of illustrations of the famed Mexican artist holding margaritas or wine glasses, or having a flower-filled brunch and living her best life. On social media, owners promise a "better place, better food and the best service like always."

Owners didn't respond to questions about opening dates, but the sign says "soon."

Bowling and arcade games at Lefty's Alley and Eats

281 Grove Lane, The Grove shopping center, iloveleftys.com. Construction begins fall 2024.

For the first time in more than a decade, Newark looks to be getting a bowling alley. It'll also be an axe throwing venue, a host to live music, an arcade, a pub with brisket-loaded nachos, and space for birthday parties. That's right: Lefty's Alley and Eats is coming to Newark.

Specifically, Lewes-founded Lefty's will file into a 41,000-square-foot space formerly home to a Kmart. Plans call for 16 lanes of "luxury 10-pin bowling," 4 lanes of Duckpin bowling, axe throwing, TopGolf simulators, Krazy Darts, a pub with a full liquor license and an indoor/outdoor patio, and a small stage for live music. Probably other stuff too. It's all kind of a lot.

Interior construction is anticipated to begin in the fall of this year, the Lefty's owners told Newark's City Council.

Indoor pickleball at The Picklr

301 Grove Lane (at The Grove), thepicklr.com. Projected opening first half of 2025.

The Picklr, a Utah-based indoor pickleball franchise with more than 30 locations and at least 300 planned or under contract, received Newark City Council's green light in July to open a pickleball franchise in half of a former Kmart at The Grove.

The Picklr's Delaware franchisees, brothers and serial entrepreneurs Jeff and James Maguire, a dozen indoor courts, including three "championship-size" courts that can accommodate tournament play.

"We're going to be looking to work with UD and Newark high schools and middle schools in the area," James Maguire told Delaware Online in early August. "We're gonna be looking to work with some of those individuals to really explode the sport in the area."

More: 3 big projects are racing to create Delaware's first indoor pickleball

Fusion Mexican at Del Pez at The Grove

501 Grove Ln, delpezmexicanpub.com

Since 2016 on Wilmington's riverfront, chef Javier Acuna's Del Pez has been a raucous and tequila-fueled mix of Baja, Tex-Mex and fusion fare that can range from octopus-ceviche guacamole to cola-braised short rib chimichangas to Peruvian style sushi rolls with aji amarillo chiles.

Since then Acuna's Hakuna Hospitality Group has expanded into a restaurant empire, but it's been years since Del Pez has been seen in Newark, after a previous downtown location closed a few years back. Soon that'll change. A new Newark Del Pez, at the Grove shopping center, has been long promised and long delayed.

First it was meant to arrive in 2023. Then in summer of this year. The most recent word is that it will come "soon."

Acuna's hospitality group also owns Mi Ranchito Mexican Market in Newark.

'50s diner fare at Nifty Fifty's

1365 Marrows Road. "Coming soon."

A Philly-based retro diner chain appears to be filing into a defunct KFC restaurant at 1365 Marrows Road, next to a Wawa and at the edge of The Grove mixed-use shopping center.

Nifty's is a Pennsylvania-based chain of retro 50s-themed diners straight out of "Pulp Fiction" and "Ghost World," a milkshake odyssey into the past advertising "fresh cut homemade french fries," burgers that are "fresh-ground" and "hand-pattied," and "hand-dipped drug-store style milkshakes."

The chain had long ago cheerily announced they'd be coming to Newark to serve UD students, but had for just as long been cagey about the exact location. Rumors had placed them at the former KFC location, but confirmations were hard to come by.

Finally, in May, Nifty's plunked the address of their projected "COMING SOON" Newark location on an online menu: 1365 Marrows Road. So here we are.

The rumor mill: Gastropub fare at The Greenhouse

102 E Main St., Projected opening fall 2024.

Details are still TBD on a planned gastropub at the former Hamilton's on Main on Newark's Main Street, also previously home to legendary student Irish bar Catherine Rooney's.

But it would appear that plans are underway, according to gardening influencer Durrell Eastland, whose Instagram account, @theblackplantman, commands a whopping 300,000 followers. We weren't able to hear additional details from Eastland by press time, but he announced on Facebook that he and a pair of partners plan a gastropub called The Greenhouse at the site, projected to open as soon as fall 2024.

Matthew Korfhage is business and development reporter in the Delaware region covering all things related to land and money: openings and closings, construction, and the many corporations that call the First State home. Send tips and insults to [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: New UD student hangs in 2024 include margarita bar, BBQ and bowling