Two popular Mountain Brook establishments, Avo and Dram, have recently closed, but one restaurant already has plans to expand into the upstairs space at 2721 Cahaba Road in Mountain Brook Village.
Abhi, an Asian fusion restaurant that currently operates at The Summit, has plans to expand and open a second location in Avo’s former space on Cahaba Road. A representative of Abhi said the restaurant hopes to be operational in their second location by the end of March or early April.
The dishes at Abhi reflect Chef Abhi Sainju’s Nepalese background. The menu includes noodle bowls, sushi, curry dishes and cocktails.
Avo, which operated upstairs from Dram Whiskey Bar, announced its closure in a Facebook post on Dec. 13.
“Cheers to TEN YEARS of business!” the restaurant wrote in the Facebook post. “Thank you to our loyal friends and patrons.”
Avo served its last meal on Sunday, Dec. 23. A week and a half later, Avo’s sister restaurant, Dram, also announced on Facebook that it would be closing.
“Dear friends, we are heartbroken to announce dram will no longer be operating in 2019,” the post said. “We fought until the bitter end, hoping against hope, that we could strike a deal with our landlord, but he had other ideas. We have loved every minute of being a part of this community. We will greatly miss supporting our MB schools, their teachers, MB athletics and everything else that mattered to our most loyal guests. We had hoped to be here for generations, so this is a hard blow. Cheers to all the friends we made along the way and to the many memories we shared.”
Both restaurants opened in 2009 and were developed by Tom Sheffer, who is also involved in Jackson’s Bar & Bistro in Homewood and Icehouse in Mountain Brook Village. According to a representative from Dram, Sheffer has no future plans to open a restaurant at this time.
