New sushi restaurant planned for Hamilton Row

By Grace Lovins

The final site plan and design of a new high end sushi restaurant at 211 Hamilton Row received the green light from the Birmingham Planning Board during its Wednesday, August 27, meeting.

Named No. 28, the new establishment will be operated by the owners of neighboring restaurant Terra Kitchen & Cocktails.

A new venture for Randy Foumia, owner of Terra Kitchen & Cocktails, and The Palladium of Birmingham LLC, the restaurant will serve high end sushi made from fresh fish delivered daily along with craft cocktails. Foumia explained that the space will create an intimate setting, open Wednesday through Sunday until 2 a.m. Mondays and Tuesdays will be reserved for private rentals.

No. 28 will occupy the currently vacant first floor space of the five story Emagine Palladium, said city planner Leak Blizinski. No changes will be made to the building footprint, but there will be renovations to the interior and the addition of an outdoor dining patio on the sidewalk.

A rather unique concept to the city, No. 28 is proposing to share a kitchen with Terra. Planning director Nick Dupuis compared the arrangement to the current setup of Sidecar Slider Bar, Slice Pizza Kitchen and Shift Kitchen & Cocktails on Willits Street and N. Bates. The restaurant is also pursuing a Class C liquor license from the state liquor commission separate from Terra under The Palladium of Birmingham LLC.

Planning board members, while saying they were looking forward to seeing activity in the location, expressed reservations about the outdoor dining patio and proposed hours of operation.

Several board members brought up the former Blue Martini bar that used to occupy the space many years ago, noting the troublesome history the establishment had in the city. Foumia explained that the establishment will be a restaurant first and plans to operate the business like Terra where they turn down patrons if seating is full. He also explained that if there is no market for late-night service, they would revisit the hours of operation.

Plans for the proposed outdoor dining area outlined a 200 square feet. space with 12 seats on the sidewalk, which could potentially necessitate moving a city trash can and bike rack. Board chair Scott Clein explained his issue with the proposal was the impact to pedestrian movement on Hamilton. He recommended removing two two-seaters in the front to push the outdoor dining area and make room for pedestrian movement, bringing the outdoor dining seat count to eight seats.

In the end, planning board members voted 7-0 to recommend approval of the special land use permit with conditions that table service is required for outdoor dining, No. 28 will operate as primarily a restaurant and not a bar, and a curtain proposed on the front window is removed from the plans.

The board also voted 7-0 to approve the final site plan and design with the condition that the outdoor dining patio is adjusted based on the board’s comments.

Alternate board member Duncan Currie voted in place of board member Stuart Jeffares who was absent.