The Mayor, New Lakeview District Restaurant to Launch in Birmingham: Owner Colby Conklin presents Asian inspired, traditional-American-food that serves everyone 

The Mayor is set to open on March 22 to the Magic City! The Mayor Lakeview will occupy the 4,311 square-foot retail space at 2808 7^th Ave South in Birmingham, Alabama. This will be the third restaurant that Owner Colby Conklin has contributed to in the Birmingham-Metro area.  

“Like the menu at EastWest where we bring American (East) and Asian (West) together and blend them, we wanted the menu to not be just Asian inspired,” said Colby Conklin.  

This approach led Colby to calling the space ‘The Mayor’ – someone who serves everyone. “It does help that our Mayor, Randall Woodfin, is one of the nation’s coolest Mayors and like any Mayor he serves everyone, no matter what. The Mayor in Lakeview will do just that,” said Conklin. 

“We opened EastWest, our Asian inspired full-service restaurant, in 2017 and since we opened, we’ve been welcomed by the Birmingham restaurant community ever since. Second Ave is a special place, and we are grateful to be a part of it,” said Conklin.  

When Covid emerged in early 2020 EastWest had to close their dining room and resort to only Togo orders. This approach ignited the idea of opening a fast casual version of EastWest. 

In Fall of 2022, Colby opened his first fast casual restaurant in the Trussville Entertainment District called Mr West’s Asian Kitchen. Like EastWest, the Trussville community has been wonderful and very supportive. 

“While operating Mr. West’s in Trussville we began to see the benefits of the fast casual model and felt like we could bring a model like this to the Birmingham market but do it in a way that was even better than Mr. West, in terms of the offerings and layout. We always liked the Lakeview area. When the space between Hattie B’s and Umami became available, we felt like it was perfect for our concept!” 

The space is split down the middle with a window wall. One side will feature an Asian Chow Hall and the other side will feature a bar with 30 taps and massive TVs to allow the best experience.  

Regarding the menu offerings, The Mayor will place a heavy emphasis on Asian inspired sandwiches and noodle bowls. The menu will also have traditional-American-bar food items like flatbreads, burgers, and several wing flavors.  

Robert Crook of IronVest Partners represented the tenant in this transaction. Cooper Smith of SRS Real Estate represented the landlord in this transaction.