UPDATE: OC Smokehouse went out of business within a few months. Stay tuned to see what opens there next! 12/2011

When one door closes, another one opens. Such is the case of Luckie's Smokehouse on Davis Street in Oak Cliff. The new OC Smokehouse & Bar will be opening for business there tomorrow.

As predicted by the Dallas Observer's City of Ate food blog two weeks ago, Luckie's closed due to disputes between co-owners Nhat Ngo and Charles "Lucky" Johnson. Speculation was running rampant as to who would move into the building in the upcoming and trendy north Oak Cliff neighborhood.

When Posse cofounder Gary Jacobson and I had lunch today at Pecan Lodge, we teased co-owner and pitmaster Justin Fourton that we heard they were moving in there. He smiled and said that would be interesting; it's a great location for a restaurant. But Pecan Lodge isn't going anywhere.

My Dallas Morning News colleague Roy Appleton, who covers Oak Cliff, confirmed with former co-owner Nhat Ngo that the joint opens again on Friday with a new name, after some improvements to the building and the menu. The building owners have added more air conditioning, enlarged the deck and improved the parking lot. Ngo will be the manager of the new restaurant.

They will be using the same Southern Pride smoker for their barbecue, but are adding several other menu items when they reopen. Ngo promises better food this time around, which would be great. We were not impressed with the BBQ offerings on our two trips there. Neither were The BBQ Snob, D Magazine or The Dallas Morning News food critics.

Good luck to Mr. Ngo and his new backers. Dallas can always use one more great BBQ joint........

Photos by Chris Wilkins