Photo by Erin Nelson.
Stuart Stone, owner of Freddy’s Wine Bar in Birmingham, stands outside of the former Nabeel’s Cafe in Homewood on Monday, Feb. 13. Stone is opening Freddy’s Cafe in the Nabeel’s Cafe location.
The space formerly occupied by Nabeel’s Cafe and Market will have a new tenant this summer. Stuart Stone, owner and operator of Freddy’s Wine Bar, signed a lease in December and is scheduled to open his second Freddy’s location this June.
Named after his beloved poodle, Stone opened Freddy’s Wine Bar on the bottom floor of Highland Park Towers apartments. Taking a cue from intimate cafés throughout Italy and France, Stone envisioned Freddy’s as a neighborhood gathering place for space specializing in charcuterie, upscale Italian salads and sandwiches, and hand-selected wines from such well-respected regions as Burgundy, Loire Valley, Tuscany and Napa Valley.
Stone understands he has big shoes to fill by moving into a space once occupied by a treasured local business and is well aware of the special bond Nabeel’s had with Homewood for half a century. A native of Birmingham now living in Crestline, Stone and his family were regulars at Nabeel’s, and he desires to honor the spirit and legacy of Nabeel’s while establishing Freddy’s as an anchor in the community.
"I grew up in Birmingham and I remember going to Nabeel's and loved it, especially the chicken salad," Stone said. "It was an institution and we're really excited and happy that it's staying as a local restaurant.
“We’re not trying to erase the past at all. We want to honor the space that was there and keep it as a similar amenity to the neighborhood,” Stone said. “I would love to get my hands on their old chicken salad recipe, but that’s for my own benefit, too.”
A graduate of Auburn University with a degree in environmental engineering, Stone jumped into the food business in 2015 after spending a couple of years working in the family business, Stone Building Company. With the blessing and assistance of his father, Stone opened Pranzo, a trendy spot on 3rd Avenue North in the “no man’s land” between 22nd Street and Richard Arrington Boulevard in downtown Birmingham. Pranzo — Italian for the word “lunch” — offered Italian-influenced sandwiches and salads before closing in 2016. Despite the setback, the Stones regrouped, opening Freddy’s in late 2017.
“We said, ‘Okay, we learned our lessons, let’s try this one more time,’” Stone said. “We knew we wanted to do something night-oriented with a bar, but we didn't want to be a bar. We also knew we wanted to do more wine because my dad is a big wine geek and taught me a little bit of that kind of thing.”
While the original location is known as Freddy’s Wine Bar — a name that even Stone admits has pigeonholed the restaurant in some respects — the new location will most likely be called Freddy’s Cafe and will have a full-service restaurant, bar and a market under one roof.
“The menu will be similar but will have some slight differences. We probably won’t have quite as big of a wine and bar program over there [Homewood] as we have here to make way for something that’s a little more [like] Pranzo and Freddy's had a pseudo baby,” Stone said.
Stone says he would like to incorporate as much of the old Nabeel’s decor that remains as possible. For instance, he intends to keep the old mosaic tile treatment in the upper portion of the restaurant. However, much of the artwork and the fireplace were already removed by the time Stone signed the lease. “It was basically an empty box when we went to look at it for the first time,” Stone said. “We’re trying to keep it as a neighborhood space with a local feel, but it'll be a Freddy's.”
The new decor will incorporate elements from the original Freddy’s on Southside, including pressed tin ceilings and copper accents throughout. Unlike the first Freddy’s, which is strictly a night-time restaurant, the Freddy’s in Homewood will have daytime hours although Stone is still thinking through the exact schedule.
“We'll probably do some charcuterie, fresh to order, cheeses and that kind of stuff during the day, and then probably around six or so that will kind of go dark and we'll be doing dinner service,” Stone said.
Stone said the restaurant may eventually serve lunch.
"That's not going to be day one. We're going to try to baby step our way into that, but I could see us doing a lunch special on Sundays after church.
“We just need to figure out what the neighborhood wants,” Stone added. “At our core, we're a neighborhood space.”
