Downtown Birmingham may be seeing two new restaurants in early 2012, one a tapas-style eatery, the other a European bistro with specialties from a stone oven.
The Social Kitchen & Bar will be located at 223-225 Maple Road and serve small-portion, shareable tapas in an indoor dining room, a small bar and rooftop cafe.
Market, the European bistro, will be located at 474 N. Old Woodward and Ravine and offer a casual and relaxed atmosphere with outdoor seating, says Jana Ecker, Birmingham's planning director.
Variety "is what we're after," Ecker says.
The restaurants were two of six that went through a pre-screening before the city commission weeks ago to determine which two in the group should receive coveted bistro licenses that allow food establishments to serve food and alcohol outdoors and with limited seating. While they won the blessing of the commission in the prescreening, a new process aimed at equalizing the awarding of the licenses and decreasing the time from proposal to opening day, both proposals will go before council Jan. 9, ideally for the last time.
If all goes as expected, Ecker says, construction and renovation can begin and opening day could come in early 2012.
Social Kitchen would fill in vacancies along Maple, one a former sushi restaurant, the other a retail store. Market will move in to the spot formerly occupied by Root & Sprout, and before that, Arkitektura.
Both restaurants have under 65 seats.
Source: Jana Ecker, planning director, city of Birmingham
Writer: Kim North Shine
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