The West Side renaissance will continue its surge when a new upscale restaurant and bar opens its doors next week.

The Black Heron Kitchen & Bar will begin serving up seasonal New American dishes along with handcrafted cocktails, ciders and beer at the corner of Bridge St and Summer Ave starting June 29.

Originally constructed as a car dealership a century ago, diners inside the completely renovated space will be able to select higher-end plates like duck pate, roasted bone marrow and quail, as well as West Side-inspired fare like hand-made chorizo, kielbasa and pierogies. The menu will also have a couple of poutine options, salads and a cheese board.

The bar area will boast 36 taps of mostly Michigan beers, seven of which will be dedicated just to ciders, with some exclusive taps that won’t be available elsewhere in Grand Rapids. Spirit enthusiasts can decide between three different levels of mixed drinks: classic cocktails, barrel-aged (including a pre-Prohibition martini) and handcrafted cocktails with unique recipes created in-house and overseen by a mixologist who trained in New York City for more than a decade.

The project has taken more than a year to come to fruition for owners Laura and Seth Porter, who also started the Michigan Beer Blog in 2010. Laura grew up on the West Side and worked as a dental hygienist and Seth had a background in banking before they transitioned into the culinary realm. To get restaurant experience under their belts, Laura worked for Rockford Brewing Company and Seth spent time in the back of house at HopCat.

“I wanted to give back to the West Side,” Laura says. She and Seth spent countless hours converting the space that most recently housed a physical therapy office, even building the restaurant’s tables with reclaimed wood found inside during the demolition process.

Friends and family will be able to see final product first hand during a series of soft openings this week, with the general public invited to come out beginning on the 29th.

Diners can expect pricing to be in the $12 to $28 range per plate and the restaurant will have a significant number of gluten-free options, as well as one vegan dish.

The Black Heron will be open at 4 p.m. for dinner daily, with brunch served on Saturday and Sundays starting at 11 a.m. Lunch during the week may be added down the road.

The Black Heron’s website

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