Syracuse-area singles will have a place to go this Valentine’s Day to eat, drink and be messy.

That’s the idea behind Dinosaur Bar-B-Que’s Wednesday event, geared toward those not in relationships and complete with drink specials and valentines, said Jason Ryan, marketing director at the restaurant.

“It’s just something kind of fun and different for Valentine’s Day instead of that typical date thing,” Ryan said.

Dinosaur, located downtown on West Willow Street, hosted a Valentine’s Day event last year, but Ryan said this time around it’ll be bigger and better. The specials will be offered the entire day on the 14th during the restaurant’s hours, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Only slightly more than half of adults in the United States plan on celebrating Valentine’s Day this year, according to the National Retail Federation. Three in 10 of those who aren’t celebrating still plan on having some type of plans, in a “treat-yo-self” or “Galentine’s Day” manner for those familiar with “Parks and Recreation.”

This includes purchasing anti-Valentine’s Day gifts or getting together with family and friends, which is what Dino is playing off of. The most popular age group intending to do so are 18 to 24-year-olds, per the study.

Heather Lewis, a bartender who’s worked at Dino for eight years, said they have never hosted a themed event to this scale before.

“We’re really excited about the (event) this year,” Lewis said. “It’s something for people who might be single or might not like Valentine’s to come and laugh and have fun and still be able to eat and not be surrounded by couples. It’s not uppity or awkward for them to go out. They can still come hang and enjoy the night.”

There will be five drink specials: Bucket of Love, a beer bucket; Right Swipe, a vodka soda; U + Ur Hand, a whiskey sour; Lyft Home Alone, a vodka cranberry; and Donkey Punch, a Dinosaur original drink.

The Lyft Home Alone drink is a partnership with Lyft, Ryan said. When a customer purchases the pink drink, they receive a promotional discount code which results in $20 of free ride credit for new users.

The Donkey Punch — a drink with three rums and fruit juice, topped off with Bacardi 151 — is a crowd favorite, Lewis said. It’s served in a mason jar to go with the barbecue theme, and the pink color coincides with Valentine’s Day.

Ryan said the restaurant is also giving out “Dino-branded” valentines to anyone who purchases a drink, with messages like “‘Rawr’ means ‘I love you’ in Dino” or “We have the best rack around.”

In years past, there has been a Syracuse University men’s basketball game on Valentine’s Day, so the crowd is usually large at Dinosaur, Lewis said. This year, Syracuse faces North Carolina State in the Carrier Dome on Valentine’s Day at 9 p.m., so they expect a crowd for that.

“People crave our food, so going to Dinosaur on Valentine’s Day either by yourself or with a bunch of friends is a comfortable atmosphere,” Lewis said. “So you can maybe meet your special someone that day, or just hang out with a bunch of your girlfriends or guys and watch the game and mingle.”

Local band Miss E will perform at the restaurant at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The band, which fluctuates between a solo artist, duo and trio, will perform original music and covers of songs by artists including The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and Prince, said lead singer Missy Ragonese.

“I normally play songs about peace, love and the human condition. That’s kind of the way I roll, so that’s what we will be doing,” she said. “Some of the songs will be love songs … I like to keep it even keel, we don’t like for anybody to feel left out. We like for all kinds of people to come out and have a good time.”

On Wednesday, she’ll play guitar alongside percussionist Kevin Dean, who’ll play the cajon. Like Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Ragonese isn’t taking Valentine’s Day too seriously.

“I just look at it as love yourself as you love other people, every day if you can. If you can’t, then, you know, just smile and say nothing,” Ragonese said with a laugh.

Published on February 13, 2018 at 7:28 pm

Contact Taylor: tnwatson@syr.edu