Armour House, a neighborhood brasserie that will feature dry-aged, fire-grilled steaks and fresh raw bar options, will open next month in downtown Birmingham’s 113-year-old Armour & Co. building.

Jeffrey Compton, who spent five years as chef de cuisine at Auburn’s acclaimed Acre restaurant before moving to Birmingham to be the opening chef at The Battery in Homewood, is the restaurant’s executive chef and an operating partner.

Other investors include Birmingham entrepreneurs Rollins Montgomery, president of Montgomery Transport, and Chris Reebals, president of Christopher Architecture & Interiors.

The restaurant, at 2309 First Ave. North, is scheduled to open for dinner service beginning Friday, Nov. 8.

“We’re thrilled to bring elevated brasserie dining and a new culinary experience to the Birmingham community,” Compton said in a media release.

“Our team has poured their hearts into bringing this concept to life, and we look forward to welcoming both locals and visitors alike to experience all that Armour House has to offer.”

Compton joined the Armour House team in April 2023, after investors Montgomery and Reebals gave him a tour of the building.

“Once Rollins contacted me about the space and walked me through it, my jaw was on the floor because it’s just such a cool, unique space,” Compton said in an interview with AL.com. “It’s been a long time coming, getting this restaurant going, but we’re biting at the bit.”

An old building gets a new life

Built in 1911, the space had formerly been a pork-processing facility and distribution center for Armour & Company meatpackers.

In addition to Armour House, the four-story building, which faces First Avenue North on the front and Morris Avenue in the back, currently includes about 20 luxury apartments and a rooftop terrace with a sweeping view of Birmingham’s Southside.

The restaurant’s interiors blend the building’s history with modern touches, including original tiled brick flooring, floor-to-ceiling windows and tables hewn out of repurposed wood from the building.

“We’re not going to do white tablecloths because we want to show off the tables,” Compton said.

The visual centerpiece will be the glass-enchased, dry-age cabinets where the meats and seafood will be on display for the guests as they enter the dining room.

The restaurant will seat up to 116 guests in the main dining room, at the chef’s counter and on the front patio.

In addition, the space will also include a separate cocktail bar, a speakeasy-like lounge called Pogo, on the floor below the main dining area. It will open Nov. 22, Compton said.

Beef tenderloin and bluefin tuna

Among the dishes on the Armour House menu, according to the media release, are a black Angus beef tenderloin with pomme puree, charred broccolini, lamb shank jus and bone marrow butter, and a bluefin tuna crudo with huckleberry and champagne granita, Fresno peppers, Georgia olive oil and herbs.

“We’re going to do a little bit of everything,” Compton told AL.com. “We’ll have a raw bar section, along with curated appetizers and entrees, and we’ll also have more of the classic steakhouse, a la carte style. We’re going to emphasize seafood and steak.”

Compton will source most of his meats and seafood from Evans Meats and Inland Foods, both in Birmingham, and his produce from such growers as Ireland Farms in Alpine, Belle Meadow Farm of Tuscaloosa and Magic City Mushrooms in Birmingham — as well as forager Knox Fanelli of Larder Foods, also in Birmingham.

The beverage program will offer classic and cutting-edge cocktails, including an Armour House Martini and a Morris Avenue Mojito, as well as a curated selection of beers and wines.

An all-star culinary team

Caleb Reeves — who previously served as the beverage director and assistant general manager at The Depot in Auburn and, more recently, as the beverage director at The Club in Birmingham — is the Armour House general manager.

“Jeffrey and I have a lot of parallels,” Reeves told AL.com. “We always worked like right next to each other (in Auburn) but never really got to work together until this project. Acre and The Depot were about a block away. We were just working on opposite sides of the train tracks. . . .

“But once Jeffrey gave me a call and let me know what he was working on (at Armour House), there was no way I could pass this opportunity up.”

Compton’s wife, Kristen, whom he met while they were working for chef David Bancroft at Acre, is the restaurant’s events coordinator and marketing manager.

It was through his wife, who left Acre to move to Birmingham to work for Montgomery Transport, that Compton got to know Rollins Montgomery, a meeting that eventually led to them partnering with Chris Reebals to open Armour House.

“With Kristen working with Rollins, he and I got to know each other,” Compton said. “He always wanted (to own) a fine-dining restaurant, and I always wanted to open a fine-dining restaurant.”

The rest of the Armour House management team includes:

Chef de cuisine Tyler Ray from Birmingham’s Stitt Restaurant Group.

Executive sous chef Davis Tullier, who previously worked with Compton at Acre and more recently worked at Bacchanalia in Atlanta.

Sous chef Tyler Murphy, who also comes from Acre, and more recently, Helen and Automatic Seafood and Oysters in Birmingham.

Beverage director Carla Irene from Bar La Fête and The Essential in Birmingham.

Assistant general manager and sommelier Logan Turner, another Acre alum.

Maître d’ Mary Kathryn McCullough, also from the Stitt Restaurant Group.

“We really have a stacked team,” Compton said. “They’re all all-stars. . . . Most of our management team, we’re from Auburn. We didn’t do that intentionally, but it just kind of worked out.”

Armour House will be open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 4:30 to 9 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 4:30 to 10 p.m. Reservations will be available soon.

For more information and updates on the opening, go to armour-house.com or follow @armourhousebhm on Instagram.