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Top 10: Fresh-Air Dining Decks, Patios and Sidewalk Tables in Birmingham

From simple to sophisticated, outdoor meals add café cachet to city streets.

 

We surely savor roofless restaurant service more than folks in Miami, Phoenix or L.A., where shirtsleeve days span most months.

That's why eating outside in Birmingham can be a bit like a vacation or picnic. Sunshine, breezes and birdsongs season the meal with ingredients that enhance the experience.        

A noted urban planner, Andrés Duany of Miami, recommended in 1996 that outdoor dining be allowed here to increase pedestrian activity and street appeal. His "walkable city" master design vision is titled "Downtown Birmingham 2016 Plan." More than a decade later, city commissioners amended the zoning code in 2007 to permit café-style sidewalk seating. (A related ordinance OK'd bistros at the same time.)

The move is extremely popular. Umbrella-shaded tables are full most weekday lunch hours and early evenings this time of year.  

Here are 10 places where I imagine food seems tastier than indoors.

1. Big Rock: The big daddy of open-air Birmingham meals has had breeze-cooled tables since opening in 1997 because its patio is on the restaurant's front lawn, rather than a public sidewalk or street. Originally, chefs prepared some entrees on a nearby portable grill.  

2. South: One of our city's newest al fresco dining terraces is at 11-month-old South Bar, which uses its own space for a covered deck overlooking South Old Woodward Avenue — a way to escape TVs and music inside.

3. Tallulah: The wine bar and bistro on Bates, open since November 2009, is using its 45-seat deck for a second year. Broad umbrellas and bright geraniums decorate the in-street platform, which can be reserved for group parties.   

4. Dick O'Dow's: The pub's popular platform rises between the pedestrian stream and traffic flow on busy West Maple Road. Though passing vehicles are nearly within reach, tables typically fill on pleasant days.  

5. 220: Tables tucked alongside the 1931 brick landmark on Merrill offer a quieter retreat in the center of town because they're not in the midst of a bustling right-of-way.   

6. Streetside Seafood: The name went up when this intimate spot opened in 1995 and became literally apt when streetside dining got a green light in 2007. Now it's part of a three-restaurant "café row" that makes Pierce almost resemble Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica or Lincoln Road in Miami Beach on a sun-splashed midday or cocktail hour. Yes, I have a vivid imagination — and so should you!       

7. Elie's: With an adjacent deck in the parking lane, Streetside's neighbor doubles the festive atmosphere of "New Urbanism" street activity that Andrés Duany envisioned back in 1996 with his walkable city plan. Up the block, a wide seating area alongside Toast adds to Pierce's appeal.        

8. Phoenicia: A short stroll south from the business district's heart is the curbside platform of a Middle Eastern institution that came to South Old Woodward in the early 1980s. The outdoor dining ordinance lets owner Sameer Eid serve meals the way many restaurants do in his native region of Marjayoun, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon.   

9. Salvatore Scallopini: Up at the other end of Old Woodward, this 29-year-old ristorante has wraparound seating that overlooks the boulevard-style thoroughfare and Booth Park.   

10. Luxe: Wrapping up the Top 10 is Birmingham's newest outside food choice, opened last September by the family that owns Salvatore Scallopini a few doors away.

Other full-service outside destinations are Forté (including Sunday brunch), Café Via (rear courtyard) and La Feast (two small tables). At The Corner Bar, guests sit on Merrill to enjoy drinks, light fare and people-watching.

Budget meals can be consumed in sunshine at Panera, Qdoba, Brooklyn Pizza, Sweet Earth, Beyond Juice, Papa Joe's and Phat Sammich. Even the venerable Hunter House has two picnic tables a few feet from Woodward's curb.

And an upcoming attraction, Churchill's Bistro and Cigar Bar approved last week, will feature sidewalk service on South Old Woodward.

Have you dined outside here this month? Which settings do you like or want to visit? Tell us in the comments.

Carolyn J. Butcher

2:58 pm on Friday, May 20, 2011

Love 220 Merrill, for the food and people watching. Can't beat the ambiance!! Carolyn

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Clinton Baller

10:08 am on Sunday, May 22, 2011

I'm pretty sure Sushi Cafe Birmingham on Hamilton also has a deck. At least they did last year. It didn't seem to get much traffic, though. Seems like you need either coffee or booze to make a deck or cafe popular. Maybe the owners can be persuaded to apply for a bistro license so they can sell Japanese saki and beer.

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Alan Stamm

11:12 am on Sunday, May 22, 2011

Also overlooked Forest Grill, where sidewalk tables catch late-afternoon sun. No soup for me!

Tony May

2:28 pm on Sunday, May 22, 2011

Seating at Commonwealth may not be technically outdoors but it sure feels alfresco with the two large doors rolled up and the smell of spring and lattes wafting inside. I had an excellent frittata with seasonal asparagus and mushrooms their for breakfast this morning before venturing on to the farmer's market.

Our favorite outdoor locale is probably Cafe Via with its intimate courtyard setting and fireplace. Who knew a parking structure could be integrated so stylishly! I believe our brilliant bistro ordinance goes beyond allowing outdoor seating and actually mandates it wherever possible. It was Clinton Baller's vision and persistence that we have to thank for bistros in Birmingham as much or more than Duany's.

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Alan Stamm

4:57 pm on Sunday, May 22, 2011

Correct, Tony. Wile the outdoor dining ordinance lets conventional restaurants apply for permits, the separate bistro measure requires sidewalk or deck service in season.

I join you -- under a café table umbrella -- in toasting our hometown visionary along with the hot-shot consultant.

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In This article

  • Big Rock Chop House

    Big Rock Chop House

    245 S Eton St, Birmingham, MI
  • South Bar

    South Bar

    210 S Old Woodward Ave, Birmingham, MI
  • Tallulah Wine Bar and Bistro

    Tallulah Wine Bar and Bistro

    155 S Bates St, Birmingham, MI
  • Dick O'Dow's

    Dick O'Dow's

    160 W Maple Rd, Birmingham, MI
  • 220

    220

    220 E Merrill St, Birmingham, MI
  • Streetside Seafood

    Streetside Seafood

    273 Pierce St, Birmingham, MI
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