The Local Bourbon House and Eatery has turned a once-unremarkable alleyway and parking area behind its Montgomery Highway location into a 3,000-to-4,000-square-foot outdoor patio, giving Vestavia Hills a new spot to grab a smash burger, watch a soccer match, or sip a bourbon flight outside. The restaurant is owned by Kiran Sunkavalli, who expanded the space after hearing from locals about what the community was missing.
According to Bham Now, Sunkavalli asked locals what they loved about Vestavia Hills and what they felt was missing, landing on the idea that the city needed a place where people could gather. The new patio is designed to deliver exactly that, with space built for family-friendly gatherings that mix food, live music, football and bourbon all in one spot.
The menu leaning into that vision includes premium smash burgers, hand-cut fries, and meat-and-three lunch plates, alongside curated bourbon flights built around flavor, proof, region or barrel style, seasonal cocktails, and at least one drink with a notable bourbon kick. The burgers get an extra layer of local pride: the restaurant grinds them in-house using a custom grass-fed Black Angus beef blend sourced from Youngblood Ranch in Haleyville, Alabama, according to WBRC 6 News, which highlighted the farm partnership in a segment on new neighborhood businesses.
A Weekly Lineup Built Around Community Requests
Outside, the new patio hosts live music and shows premier soccer matches, giving the restaurant a reason to fill tables well beyond the dinner rush. The restaurant's weekly schedule goes further than weekend entertainment, with trivia nights on Tuesdays and music bingo, known as Singo, on Wednesdays.
The Local Bourbon House and Eatery also offers private bourbon tastings, catering and private event space, with the latter accommodating birthdays, team parties, school events, rehearsal dinners, business groups and patio gatherings. The restaurant sits at 633 Montgomery Hwy in Vestavia Hills and is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and closed Sunday and Monday.
A Location With a Revolving Door of Concepts
The address has seen plenty of turnover in recent years. The space previously housed Hillside Music & Que, which rebranded from The Palm & Pig in July 2024, and before that it was home to The Backyard Market, a grocery and prepared-food venue, as reported by Bham Now. The site had even brought in chef J.P. Holland at one point to run a pub-style concept before the current bourbon house format took hold.
Sunkavalli is not new to juggling restaurant concepts in the Birmingham suburbs. He previously launched Glass Panda, an Asian street food concept in nearby Hoover, after spending over a year developing it; the Hoover City Council approved its alcohol licensing in March 2023, per city records. The Local Bourbon House and Eatery received a food service score of 82 in July 2026.
New State Law Fuels a Suburban Patio Boom
The timing of the patio expansion lines up with a shift in state law. Under Act 2026-105, passed by the Alabama Legislature, the Vestavia Hills City Council now has authority to establish up to five entertainment districts permitting open-container alcohol consumption within designated boundaries, giving municipalities more flexibility for outdoor dining and drinking spaces. Vestavia Hills first tested the concept back in October 2015, when it created its initial entertainment district in the Rocky Ridge commercial area and capped weekend operating hours at 11 p.m. after consulting with neighborhood residents, according to the Over the Mountain Journal.
Vestavia Hills is hardly alone in chasing this model. Neighboring Over-the-Mountain suburbs including Hoover, Mountain Brook and Trussville have all established their own entertainment districts, with Hoover and Trussville doing so in 2020 and Mountain Brook in 2021, to keep dining and leisure dollars inside city limits, a trend tracked by Bham Now. The city's demographics help explain the appetite for higher-end casual dining: U.S. Census Bureau 5-year estimates reported in 2024 put Vestavia Hills' median household income at $134,369, more than double the statewide Alabama median.
