When Blueroot closed at Pepper Place last fall, they left behind a note on the door that read: “Lettuce turn over a new leaf! Blueroot is closed and we are transforming into a new neighborhood cafe. The Mustard Club is coming soon — a sandwich shop and more.”
That last part — “and more” — turns out to be doing a lot of heavy lifting.
The Background
The Mustard Club is the creation of the same team behind Ollie Irene’s, the beloved Mountain Brook Village restaurant that moved to Crestline and ultimately shuttered during COVID. They opened in late March at Pepper Place, Suite 10, and by their own admission are still finding their footing — the menu carries a note acknowledging they’re looking to grow, with more hours coming. For now, it’s a daytime cafe: Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., lunch only.
Those hours are worth knowing before you make the trip. The weekday-only, lunchtime-only format limits who can get there, and the Pepper Place location means the crowd skews toward people who work nearby. But if you can make it work — and you should try — the food makes a very compelling case for rearranging your schedule.
The Food
The menu is small and rotates frequently. Across two visits, only a handful of dishes appeared both times — but two of those were the Pub Fries and the Feta & Flatbread, and both are reason enough to come back.
The Pub Fries ($10) are cooked in duck fat and served with mayonnaise. They look and eat like a puffed pastry — somehow light and indulgent at the same time. The Feta & Flatbread ($14) is whipped French feta with spiced honey, dates, pistachios, capers, lemon oil, parsley, and Aleppo pepper on crispy flatbread. It’s the kind of dish that sounds complex on paper and somehow tastes even more layered than it reads.
The seasonal Tomato Salad ($15) — local tomatoes simply dressed with oil and vinegar — arrived off-menu and was worth every penny. Simple done right.
The House Porchetta Sandwich ($20) is the standout of the savory menu: herb-stuffed pork, rolled and roasted, sliced and slathered with salsa verde, and stacked with shaved fennel. It sounds like too much for lunch. It isn’t. The Chicken Paillard Salad ($20) is equally impressive — a thinly sliced seared chicken breast with herbed bulgur, fresh ginger, cardamom, golden raisins, pepitas, lime juice, watermelon radish, and tahini sauce. Asian, Middle Eastern, and French influences all at once, somehow in complete harmony.
The Chicken Sandwich ($20) with pistachio basil pesto, olives, and creamy feta and the Duck Confit Melt with crispy potatoes, pepper relish, provolone, and house mustard are both solid — but they don’t quite reach the heights of the Porchetta and the Paillard. All sandwiches come with chips.
The Drinks
Seven wines, three beers, and six spritzes make up the beverage menu — which leans into spritzes and coffee in a way that works perfectly for the lunch format. The Campari spritz with cava, soda, and orange ($14) is exactly right for a warm afternoon. The White Sangiovese, Capanna Sangiobi ’24 ($16), is worth asking about. The espresso ($4) and latte ($7) are both solid. No complaints on any front.
The Atmosphere
The dining area is L-shaped with an open feel and plenty of natural light — the kind of space that makes a long lunch feel effortless. There’s an outdoor patio with about five tables that would be ideal on a nice day. The decor has a distinctive personality — a motorcycle hangs on the wall and features prominently on the website, giving the place an unexpected edge that sets it apart from the typical Pepper Place aesthetic.
The Parking
Not a concern. Pepper Place has ample parking in the front lot and additional spaces near OvenBird, plus street parking throughout the area.
The Bottom Line
The Mustard Club is the best new lunch spot in Birmingham, and it isn’t particularly close. The hours are limited, the location requires some planning, and the menu changes often enough that you can’t go in with a fixed idea of what you want. But the food is genuinely exceptional — complex, thoughtful, and surprisingly light for how ambitious it is. This is a restaurant that will only get better as it finds its rhythm.
Go soon, and go hungry.
**The Mustard Club**
2829 2nd Ave S, Suite 10 — Pepper Place, Birmingham
Monday–Friday, 11 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
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