The Continuing Transformation of T-Bonz

T-Bonz restaurant on Montgomery Road in Ellicott City is pretty well hidden from plain view. It is tucked below and behind a strip shopping center. The building formerly housed a rib joint called Johnny Stars that featured mouth watering fall off the bone ribs. Those ribs drew quite a following to the off the beaten path location.

Johnny Stars closed eventually and T-Bonz opened in its place. Over time the interior has been completely transformed into a nice neighbor pub with wood floors a new bar. They still serve ribs but alas they are not of the same caliber as the old Johnny Stars.

There are plenty of other choices on the menu though and since I’ve long since abdicated any role of local food critic to How Chow, I’ll just say that the food in general is pretty good, the limited wine selection is above average and it’s selection of draft beers put’s the place right up there in the hierarchy of Howard County pubs.

But that’s not why I decided to write a post about them.

Last night, as Mama Wordbones and I ventured out during a break in the torrential rainfall this weekend, we dropped into T-Bonzs to cure our cabin fever. That’s when we learned of that the restaurant is adding a second bar to their unusual building. This summer, the owners plan to open a bar downstairs from the restaurant in what appears to be the buildings loading dock. On the surface it might seem an unlikely place for a bar but it could be a fun spot if they can pull it off. While it won’t have outside seating initially, on nice days they plan to roll up the overhead door to let the bar patrons enjoy the weather.

I like places that have character and T-Bonzs has loads of it.