How safe are your favorite restaurants?
Explore how restaurant inspections in Michigan work and how you can stay informed about the cleanliness and safety of your favorite dining spots.
Big Rock Italian Chophouse in Birmingham pairs steakhouse fare with Italian cuisines and features an upscale cigar club with concierge services.Ambitious $13 million Big Rock Italian Chophouse opens July 15 offering steakhouse and classic Italian fare in a upscale setting.
Two years in the making, a $13-million, multiconcept, luxury restaurant is debuting in Birmingham’s historic rail district in a former Grand Trunk Railway station.
Big Rock Italian Chophouse, a highly anticipated new restaurant that blends steakhouse fare with classic Italian cuisine, is set to open on Tuesday, July 15.
At 245 South Eton St. in Birmingham, the property and building are historic, long known as the Big Rock Chophouse restaurant in the former Grand Trunk Western Railroad Birmingham Depot.
First announced in the summer of 2023, this completely remodeled, expansive restaurant marries a premium steakhouse with upscale Italian cuisine and an additional upscale cigar bar concept.
It’s a venture from Cameron Mitchell and his well-known Cameron Mitchell Restaurants (CMR) group, along with local investors, including Tom Celani and Dario Bergamo.
A fully revamped and renovated historic Grand Trunk Railway Station property, the restaurant spans 11,000 square feet, which includes the Annex, a newly built second-floor luxury lounge space, and The Rock Cigar Club.
“Original brickwork and historic design elements have been preserved to blend modern elegance with classic charm,” according to a news release.
Originally projected to cost $10 million, the Birmingham restaurant is one of Mitchell’s most ambitious, with more than $13 million spent on the project.
“The most expensive restaurant we ever built was in Las Vegas a couple of years ago, and it was about $19 million,” Mitchell recently told the Free Press.
In Las Vegas, that $19 million restaurant is an Ocean Prime location that Mitchell said spans more than 17,000 square feet.
Mitchell said he’s followed the Big Rock brand for some time.
Big Rock Chophouse had been around for nearly four decades. Owned by Norm and Bonnie Le Page, Big Rock Chophouse closed at the end of 2021.
“I’ve always loved the building and the iconic nature of the building,” Mitchell said.
Tom Celani, whose Celani Family Vineyards in Napa Valley produces wines, will have a wine featured on the menu as well as in The Rock Cigar Club.
It’s been four years since the property was a restaurant, and local investor partner Tom Celani believes people in the neighborhood are missing the restaurant as a neighborhood place.
“It’s also the reason why we kept the name,” Celani said. “Because people, my family, I’m sure Dario’s family and others had such a great experience with Norm and Bonnie (the previous owners). It’s such an iconic building, being in a neighborhood, the ivy (on the building) and the history.”
A sprawling space, the restaurant underwent a full renovation and remodel.
While Mitchell said they’ve kept the “bones” of the building, from HVAC to plumbing to “every bit of wiring” inside was completely redone.
“The biggest change people will notice is that there was a main bar that went down the middle … where the original terminal hall was … and we took that out, that is now our main dining room, and it’ll be stunning,” Mitchell said.
On the restaurant side, Big Rock Italian Chophouse spans nearly 8,000 square feet, accommodating 360 guests. There are multiple bars and private dining rooms for corporate or special occasion gatherings and seasonal outdoor seating.
The restaurant’s leadership team has deep roots with CMR as well as local roots.
Steve Hermiz, who hails from Roseville, is the restaurant’s general manager, overseeing the operations and leading The Rock Cigar Bar. His CMR stints cover two decades, including opening Ocean Prime locations in New York City and Las Vegas.
Chris Mayer is the executive chef who started his career at Ocean Prime in Troy. Mayer leads the kitchen with more than two decades of experience.
Sue Smich leads sales and is the concierge manager. She will manage private events, guest relations and concierge service for The Rock Cigar Club.
On the menu
Big Rock Italian Chophouse’s menu is expansive and a blend of Italian cuisine and steakhouse fare. Offered are various pasta dishes, prime steaks and chops, and seafood options.
“It’s the marriage of our fine dining steakhouse in Columbus called Butcher and Rose and our fine dining Italian restaurant in Columbus called Cento,” Mitchell said.
Pasta dishes range from chicken carbonara to pennette alla vodka to a rigatoni Bolognese. There are Italian classics of chicken Parmesan and Chicken Saltimbocca. Its menu of steaks and chops, USDA prime, features familiar cuts, including filet mignon, New York Strip and Delmonico ribeye. There’s also Duroc pork chops, veal and lamb chops. Beef, according to its menu, is first seasoned and then broiled at 1,200 degrees. The menu’s “Butcher’s Edition” offers higher-end cuts of Piedmontese beef and wagyu selections sourced from Australia and the U.S.
There are antipasti offerings from Arancini to braised veal meatballs. Salads and soups feature classics of wedge and Caesar, Italian wedding soup and others.
Seafood items are Dutch Harbor Alaskan King Crab legs, seafood and a Branzino entrée.
Cigars: a 2nd concept
A distinct highlight of the restaurant is its second-floor Rock Cigar Club, covering 2,357 square feet of overall space. The club feature is its cigar lockers with a yearly subscription of $5,000, though daily passes will be available for purchase.
What will separate the cigar bar from others, Dario Bergamo said, will be an upscale experience with a level of service, including personal concierge services, cigar lockers and an app for members.
“There may be a picture of you on (the app) … what type of cigar do you like and how do you like it cut?” Dario Bergamo said. “What do you like to drink?”
Other amenities include making reservations at Big Rock Italian Chophouse and other CMR properties nationwide, including Ocean Prime in Troy, and invites to events such as wine tasting dinners and chef tastings.
Bringing the cigar bar concept to Big Rock stems from Celani’s and Bergamo’s Cars & Cigars event with a charitable arm. Founded in 2014, Cars & Cigars Smoke Detroit is a fundraising event that brings together cars, cigars, Celani Family Vineyards wines and a live auction, according to celanifamilyfoundation.com. Event proceeds support the Celani Family Foundation and the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation, which benefits children in the Dominican Republic and local organizations such as Detroit Gleaners Community Food Bank and Capuchin Soup Kitchen.
Restaurant group’s mission
Founded in 1993 by restaurateur Mitchell, the Columbus, Ohio-based CMR group operates more than 50 restaurants under 20 different concepts in several states, with the majority in Ohio.
With building more than half a dozen restaurants in metro Detroit over the years and having a best friend who lives here (the two families, he said, visit often), the Ohio restaurateur considers the metro Detroit market a second home.
In metro Detroit, Big Rock Italian Chophouse is the 10th restaurant Mitchell has been behind.
In the early aughts, a Mitchell’s Fish Market and Cameron’s Steakhouse were side-by-side on Willits Street in Birmingham. CMR sold both concepts (there were others in metro Detroit and other states) in 2008 to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse chain, which sold them later to Landry Inc.
In 2008, CMR’s first Ocean Prime location opened in Troy and now has more than a dozen locations across the country. CMR also operates Rusty Bucket Restaurant & Tavern locations in Bloomfield Hills, Northville, Park Place, and Bingham Farms.
Mitchell is known for going from dishwasher to a well-known, successful restaurateur, building various restaurant concepts.
“Yes, is the answer. What is the question?” is Mitchell’s philosophy, motto, and commitment to customer service recognized across the CMR brand.
It’s also the title of his book that tells the story of his entrepreneurial journey, founding Cameron Mitchell Restaurants.
Big Rock Italian Chophouse will be open daily for dinner service. Hours are 4-9 p.m. Sunday, 4-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 4-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Its menus are at bigrockitalianchophouse.com.
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.
Dining and Cooking