GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Slows Bar BQ, the Detroit restaurant known for its tender, slow-cooked barbecue and two-hour waiting lines, will fill one of the spaces set aside for a restaurant at the Downtown Market next spring.

“It seems like a really great place, very bright and welcoming. I’m excited to be involved there,” said Brian Perrone, executive chef and one of the owners in an interview with MLive and The Grand Rapids Press prior to the formal announcement on Tuesday, Oct. 21.

Slows Bar BQ has become an icon for Detroit's resurgence as a hip city. Featured in The New York Times and Bon Appétit magazine, the Corktown restaurant has been hailed as much for its role in rebuilding Detroit's urban core as its devotion to barbecue.

The Grand Rapids Slows Bar BQ will prepare its meats and side dishes on site in a restaurant that will feature a walk-up counter for ordering and informal communal seating, Perrone said. The restaurant also will feature a “Slows To Go” takeout area and a catering business.

While best known for its pulled pork, Slows also is proud of its ribs, beef brisket and side orders of macaroni and cheese.

“Ideally, it will have the same feel,” said Perrone. He said they will focus on training the local staff to prepare barbecue in the Slows method.

“What we want to do is find someone is who is based in the Grand Rapids area who we can hire as a chef and have that person come to Detroit and work with us until we get the restaurant up,” he said.

The Grand Rapids restaurant will occupy the southeast corner of the Downtown Market building that was originally set aside for a brewery or distillery. Although the restaurant will feature craft beers, they will not brew anything onsite.

The restaurant will have its own entrance to the street and access to the rest of the Indoor Market via a roll-up door. That will allow the restaurant to keep its own hours separate from the market, said Mimi Fritz, the market’s president and CEO.

The Slows announcement fills one of the largest spots set aside for a restaurant in the 14-month-old Downtown Market that was built at the south end of downtown for $30 million.

Fritz said they are continuing to look for a suitable tenant for the restaurant space on the northeast corner of the indoor Market Hall. That space, which has become an impromptu food court for market visitors, will not become a permanent food court, Fritz said.

“We’re really waiting for the right restaurant to come along,” Fritz said. “It’s very important that we put the right business in.”

“We’re continuing to talk to folks, but it takes time to find the perfect fit,” Fritz said.

Finding and signing Slows to the market took three months to complete, she said. Slows had been looking at expanding into Grand Rapids for about 2½ years, she said.

Most of the current vendors in the Market Hall are reporting continued sales growth, Fritz said. Many of them reported their best months occurred during July.

Jim Harger covers business for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.