Lincoln Yard and Little Yard restaurants now open in Birmingham

Two Birmingham eateries under one roof — a concept proposed over a half-dozen years ago — are open for business.

Lincoln Yard and Little Yard, touted as "siblings" on East Lincoln near Eton Street in the Birmingham Rail District, opened on Monday..

From the Union Joints restaurant group co-owned by Curt Catallo and Ann Stevenson, the Birmingham eateries mark a dozen metro Detroit restaurants under the group's umbrella.

For this project, the husband-and-wife duo partnered with Roger Penske Jr., transforming the former Birmingham school bus repair garage into a neighborhood eatery. Penske Jr. is also a partner in the group's Union Rec in Ann Arbor.

Lincoln Yard is "built around cleaner, greener comfort food and rotisserie meats with far-reaching sauces," Catallo said.And, as with the couple's other restaurants, Stevenson oversaw the project design. Union Joints is known for repurposing and renovating buildings that once served a different restaurant purpose.With this space, Stevenson said the challenge was working with a cinder block building without much “architectural appeal."

"But there's something about just that basic esthetic that it could become anything," she said. "I think the challenge for me was, how do we make this garage sexy."

Stevenson forged ahead, making the space comfy, including the sofa lounge area with additional furniture with a relaxed vibe that also features roll-up garage doors.

The vibe

Nods to the former bus repair garage include walls covered with pegboard and beer taps with school buses as handles. High ceilings with exposed ventilation make the place a little loud, but not unbearable.

The property the restaurant sits on is spacious with plenty of parking. It's also walkable from nearby neighborhoods and convenient to the ice arena across the street, a consideration in the interior design.

“I wanted Little Yard to feel like a playfully crafted Scandinavian cottage … heavily influenced by the rinks and courts across the street,” said Stevenson in a news release. “The Lincoln Yard space combines a bit of the industrial garage grit with some loungy comfort.”

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Lincoln Yard's dining room has a variety of seating with tables, banquette-style seating, and oversize booths. The overall space features a half-dozen roll-up garage-style doors on two sides of the building for open-air dining. Both Lincoln Yard and Little Yard will have outdoor seating.

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The menu

Union Joints district chef Zach Kuhagen and Steve Carlton, its chef de cuisine, lead the kitchen.Stevenson said the menu, feels like their “most personal” yet and features items they look for or crave when dining out.

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Highlights are its wood-fired pizza oven with counter seating in front, a French rotisserie oven and a smoker.

"It's the trifecta of wood-fired flavor," Catallo said.

Shareable snacks include wood-fired bread with three dips and seared halloumi along with salads (many shareable), soups (two), entrees and wood-fired pizzas make up the menu. Also offered are several gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian options. Across the menu are a variety of flavors including Middle Eastern and Moroccan spice blends, Calabrian chilies, and North African harissa.

Main dishes of rotisserie chicken, a vegan cauliflower dish, smoked beef short rib, and smoked pork tenderloin items are paired with a choice of sauce and vegetable or starch sides.

Entrees include Union Joints' beloved mac and cheese (there's a gluten-free option), fish, and steaks. Its Otto burger has melty raclette cheese, thick-cut bacon, smoked tomato aioli, and red onion jam. A vegan and gluten-free option is its large stuffed sweet potato with a blend of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean flavors topped with watercress and coconut yogurt.

A half-dozen pizza options — from cheese and pepperoni to specialty pizzas — are offered. The Calabrian Project topped with a blend of cheese, red onion, sopressata, and Calabrian chilies is served with a final drizzle of warm honey.

Billed as a neighborhood spot for morning coffee, Little Yard, its takeaway offering, opens at 7 a.m. daily with a range of coffee drinks and breakfast items. At 11 a.m., the menu changes to lunch and dinner build-your-own options including bowls, rotisserie chicken, pita, and salads.Catallo and Stevenson started Union Joints in 1995, opening the Clarkston Union in a former Baptist church. It's the spot where the group's famed mac and cheese was born. Other restaurants are Vinsetta Garage in Berkley, Union Assembly in downtown Detroit, the Union Woodshop in Clarkston, and Fenton Fire Hall. About 1,200 people, Catallo said, are employed across all properties.Lincoln Yard, 2159 E. Lincoln in Birmingham, is open 11 a.m.- 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Little Yard is open 7-7 p.m. daily.

Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Birmingham's newest restaurant features two eateries under one roof