Walking past 301 Franklin St. today, you may just sniff a faint scent of barbecue in the air.

According to the Buffalo News’ food editor Andrew Galarneau, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que plans to open at the Franklin Street destination in the summer of 2013. Close in proximity to the Buffalo Chophouse, Bambino Bar and the Buckin’ Buffalo, Dinosaur offers more of a “biker bar” allure with much cheaper eats.

View the full menu for Dinosaur Bar-B-Que here. I’m a sucker for the “Big-Ass Pork Plate” or “Drunken Spicy Shrimp.”

To seat the 180 diners that Galarneau mentions in his blog post, the building will need expansion. Here’s what it looks like according to a Google Maps search for 301 Franklin (Bambino is situated immediately to the right of this photo):

Rumors have swirled for years about a Dinosaur venture to Buffalo, but the restaurant chain—which began in Syracuse in 1988—has been slow and calculated in its expansion. Finally, in February, it was confirmed that Dinosaur Bar-B-Que had its sights set on Buffalo.

Vending at this year’s Taste of Buffalo added more momentum to the hype machine, though the announcement of the exact Buffalo location was said to be four-to-six weeks away.

The yearning for Dinosaur to find a place on the waterfront was voiced repeatedly in Buffalo’s Twitter scene, but the fact that the barbecue joint has chosen Buffalo at all is a reason to celebrate.

There are certainly unheralded but worthy barbecue spots in the Greater Buffalo area, namely Suzy-Q’s, Kentucky Greg’s and now Smoke on the Water, but there’s a cult following for Dinosaur Bar-B-Que that’s set to descend on the Queen City. Visiting the Rochester franchise last winter before a Buffalo Bandits game, day-of reservations were an absolute must for a group of five, but the product was well worth the hassle of calling and planning ahead.

(Featured photo courtesy of Flickr / Bryen.)