Little Louie's BBQ Selling Off Restaurant Gear Saturday

The restaurant will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon on April 13, and the list of equipment available is extensive.

Amid the goodbyes at Little Louie's BBQ is another hard reality of its closing: a vast sell-off of the kitchen equipment, furniture and decorative amenities that comprised the guts of the restaurant. The property will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, and there's a laundry list of items that may appeal to restaurateurs both professional and amateur.  Former Collingswood resident Abe Karetny, a consultant who is helping the owners of the business broker the sale, described the emotions that come with such an event. "Blood sweat and tears on both ends," Karetny said. "It takes a lot of work, organization; obviously a lot of money." Particularly difficult for the owners, he said, is parting company with equipment that in…

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Little Louie's BBQ Closes in Collingswood

Collingswood's only barbecue eatery quietly closes its doors on Haddon Avenue after 16 months.

Little Louie's BBQ snuffed its smokers and closed its Haddon Avenue restaurant in Collingswood. The restaurant has a simple sign on it front door stating "We Are Closed." A representative declined to comment further or provide additional details, other than confirming the closure. The restaurant's website and Facebook pages were still operational as of Wednesday afternoon and did not mention the closure. The Facebook page was last updated on Feb. 3 announcing Super Bowl specials. Little Louie's opened to fanfare in November 2011. At the time, its pitmaster Gerald Dougherty said the barbecue scene and South Jersey were new to him, but that Collingswood was ideal for the venture. "... The whole concept of Little Louie's, is meant to be a …

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Chef's Choice

Smoking Good, Chef's Choice: Little Louie's BBQ

Barbecue comes to Collingswood.

Philadelphia chef and pit master Gerald Dougherty brings his signature style to Little Louie's BBQ on Haddon Avenue in Collingswood. Dougherty put in time at the Bellevue and Rittenhouse hotels in Philadelphia before coming across the bridge. He's betting on a winning combination of smoke, sauce and dry rub for a winning hand in South Jersey.

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From Finicky Eater to Gourmand

Lunch at Little Louie's BBQ

Our food columnist stops for lunch at one of the more unique dining experiences around.

I used to wonder why anybody in their right mind would order pizza from the likes of Domino's, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, etc.  It’s all the same, and to me, it doesn’t even really taste like pizza. I remember a Papa Johns commercial where they advertised their sauce as “can fresh.” What does that even mean?  If their idea of fresh is something that’s been sitting in a pressurized aluminum can for a few months, then what’s the less-fresh alternative? So why would anybody voluntarily eat chain pizza around here when you can’t walk in any direction for more than ten minutes without passing a better option? The obvious answer, of course, is that those chain pizza restaurants don’t really thrive on our business. They’re around, sure. This is …

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Little Louie's Hosts Official Ribbon-Cutting

Borough commissioners gathered at Little Louie's BBQ restaurant Tuesday afternoon to help Collingswood's newest business kick-off its grand opening celebration.

Mayor James Maley and Commissioner Joan Leonard joined staff of Little Louie's BBQ restaurant Tuesday afternoon to officially cut the ribbon on Collingswood's newest business. At 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, the group gathered outside of Little Louie's BBQ—located at 505 Haddon Ave.—and helped part-owner, pitmaster and head chef Gerald Dougherty kick-off the grand opening. "Oh, it was awesome," Dougherty said of the turnout at Tuesday's ribbon-cutting. "We also did a series of runs (last week, in which guests were invited to sample restaurant fare), and the turnout on those was very, very good." But Dougherty said the ribbon-cutting served as a start to success. "I think, by this weekend, we'll be (operating) full-throttle," he said. Dougherty, a …

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Borough Gets Barbecued Nov. 1

With Little Louie's BBQ restaurant set to open Nov. 1, owner Gerald Dougherty explains why his business brings something new to Collingswood.

In 26 days, western barbecue will become a borough standard. Little Louie's BBQ, a freestanding restaurant located at 505 Haddon Ave., will officially open on Tuesday, Nov. 1, bringing an otherwise untapped dining market to Collingswood. Part-owner, pitmaster and head chef Gerald Dougherty said his restaurant will add old-fashioned flair to Haddon Avenue. "In the old barbecue style, they always barbecued in open pits with wood, so the terminology became 'pitmaster,'" said Dougherty of his title, adding that diners will be able to watch him cook over a contained smoker. "We're catering to that old-fashioned barbecue scene: We'll have a 70-inch television screen that constantly plays old, black-and-white cowboy films from the 1940s and 1950s…

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