Photos/Big Rock Italian Chophouse
Inside The Rock, the cigar club at the newly opened Big Rock Italian Chophouse in Birmingham, Michigan.
Fine dining and cigar smoking have become too rare a combination. Now, a trio of businessmen have opened a grand restaurant complete with a cigar lounge in Birmingham, Michigan, that brings back a luxury of the past.
Tom Celani, Cameron Mitchell and Dario Bergamo are the minds and money behind Big Rock Italian Chophouse, a 280-seat restaurant that boasts a private cigar lounge as well as cigar-friendly outdoor seating. The facility is located on what used to be the Grand Trunk Western Railroad Depot, and it opened on July 15 after going through a $12.5 million transformation and restoration.
The founding trio of Big Rock Italian Chophouse: Dario Bergamo, Tom Celani and Cameron Mitchell.
The Rock Cigar Lounge is a private club with 200 cigar lockers, a dedicated members’ entrance, a luxury cigar bar and outdoor smoking terrace, plus upscale spirits and food, and a walk-in humidor with a solid cigar list. It can be accessed by non-members who purchase a day pass for $100.
“We’ve been working on this project a long time, more than one year,” says Mitchell. “Nothing went untouched. Everything is brand new.” He’s the founder and chief executive officer of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, a company that dates back more than 30 years. The group has nearly 50 restaurants in its collection, including the high-end Ocean Prime, with more scheduled to open. Roughly half are located in or near Columbus, Ohio, where the company is headquartered.
What started as an idea for a stand-alone cigar bar eventually became a restaurant-cigar bar combo, with a fine-dining experience that impresses in its own right.
The entrance to Big Rock is dramatic. The Tudor-style building is draped in ivy, giving it a stately, almost collegiate feel. Inside is a dining room with a regal look, complete with red-and-white wallpaper, red chairs and comfortable, dim lighting, reminding one perhaps of the immensely wealthy and powerful Lannister family from “Game of Thrones.” Bars teem with top-shelf spirits, waiters wear crisp whites and black ties.
The menu at Big Rock is a combination of steakhouse and Italian cuisine. Appetizers include premium shellfish (Alaskan king crab legs, Bluefin tuna crudo, oysters) and Italian antipasti (veal meatballs, baked clams, whipped ricotta). The meat selection is serious, including the expected array of traditional steakhouse cuts, such as New York strips, filets and ribeyes, along with a Duroc pork chop. The Butchers Edition section of the menu brings some more exotic types of meats, such as Wagyu, and an intriguing Piedmontese-style filet. If you wish to stick to Italian-style food, there’s a wide array of pastas and also familiar Italian entrees. Pastas range from $26 to $38 a plate, steaks start at $58 and go as high as $115 for a Wagyu strip or a 28-ounce chop of prime rib.
Dario Bergamo (left) inspecting the retail humidor at The Rock.
The spirits selection is strong, priced at singles and doubles. The upcharge for a double is small: Hakashu 12, a rare, peated Japanese whisky, is $20 for a single and only $23.50 for a double; Johnnie Walker Blue is $40 for a single, $43.50 for a double. We strongly suggest going with the bigger pour.
Celani is an entrepreneur with several business ventures including his own winery, so it’s not surprising that the restaurant has a large wine cellar with many bottles from Celani Family Vineyards.
Bergamo and Celani found the space that became Big Rock when they were looking for a spot to do a stand-alone cigar bar. What they found looked great, but it was too large for their original plan. “Tom and I found the space, it was too big to do a stand-alone cigar bar,” says Bergamo.
Cigar club members enjoy perks that go beyond the impressive cigar and spirits selections, including an app that enables staff to personalize their smoking experience.
While the restaurant opens at 4 p.m. daily to the public, cigar club members can access the cigar space at noon, giving them a four-hour head start. “This is their club to use, seven days a week,” says Celani. Through use of an app, he says the staff will be able to learn the habits of the clientele, knowing where they prefer to sit, how they like their cigar cut and other details. The humidor includes cigars from Fuente, Padrón, Rocky Patel, Oliva, Davidoff, My Father and Espinosa.
“I’ve known these guys for years, it just seemed like a natural,” says Mitchell. “We want this to be an iconic location for the next 30 years.”
Big Rock Italian Chophouse
245 S. Eton St.
Birmingham, MI 48009
Monday–Thursday: 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Sunday: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
https://bigrockitalianchophouse.com/
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Dining and Cooking