MOBILE, Ala. — Few people have left a bigger mark on the bar and restaurant scene of Mobile and Fairhope than Noell Broughton. Over more than a quarter century, the Mobile native has opened, bought, partnered in and sold a remarkable string of establishments, from live music clubs on Dauphin Street to a Christmas-themed bar in Fairhope and a geodesic dome on the Causeway. In a September 2022 interview, the serial restaurant entrepreneur looked back on a 26-year career full of twists, and made clear he had no plans to slow down.
Hooked From His First Restaurant Job
Broughton was born and raised in Mobile, attended McGill-Toolen Catholic High School and went on to the University of South Alabama. While in school, he worked for two years at the Ruby Tuesday in the mall, and that job set the direction for everything that followed.
“As soon as I started working at Ruby Tuesdays, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I love every aspect of the restaurant/bar business,” he said.
At 21, he began bartending at the Baley Café in Mobile. Two years later, at 23, he had the chance to open 14 South, a restaurant on Church Street in Fairhope. Around the same period he opened Monsoon’s, a live music venue on Dauphin Street in Mobile, which he operated for 10 years. “I love live music, and I’ve owned a bar on Dauphin Street since 1996,” he said. Four years after opening 14 South, someone approached him about buying it, and it was an offer he could not turn down.
A Run of Downtown Mobile Hot Spots
Broughton next partnered with Wendell Quimby to open Café 615, a popular café and bar in downtown Mobile. While running Café 615, he also opened Studio 5’4″, a playful take on Studio 54, the famous New York nightclub of the late 1970s known for celebrity sightings and excess. He borrowed the famous club’s logo style but swapped in his own height, a humorous touch that doubled as a marketing hook.
After selling Café 615 to two of his managers, he opened a sandwich shop called Noell Bs, which he ran for three years before selling it. He then partnered with David Shipman, owner of Cell Block, to open the Brickyard on Dauphin Street. At the time of the 2022 interview, the two still owned and operated the Brickyard, a live music venue where Broughton kept his office.
Dauphin Street has long been the heart of downtown Mobile’s nightlife. Its blocks of historic storefronts, with iron balconies overhead, fill with crowds on weekends, during downtown events and, above all, during Mardi Gras, when parades roll through the entertainment district. For a bar owner who loves live music, it is a natural home base.
Lucky Irish Pub and a Pandemic St. Patrick’s Day
In 2015, a year after Paddy O’Toole’s closed on Airport Boulevard following 30 years in business, Broughton and Shipman opened Lucky Irish Pub & Grill in Mobile. A second location followed in Saraland two years later.
For any Irish pub, St. Patrick’s Day is the biggest day of the year, and in March 2020 Broughton had everything ready for a huge party, with tents and entertainment in place. Then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, and the city shut everything down on St. Patrick’s Day itself.
“If this had been my tenth year of operating, we wouldn’t have made it,” he said. “We were fully closed for two months in all our establishments. Then we were allowed to operate at 50% capacity. I have really good and loyal employees, so we were able to survive.” Once restrictions lifted, he said, “People were itching to get out, and business has been booming ever since!”
His experience mirrored that of restaurant and bar owners across the country. The spring 2020 shutdowns forced dining rooms and bars to close or shift to takeout, and capacity limits lingered for months afterward. Many independent establishments did not survive, and operators who did often credited loyal staff and customers for carrying them through.
Bone and Barrel and a Christmas Bar in Fairhope
Broughton and his friend Bobby Kilpatrick of Fairhope often met for drinks at the old Fairhope Pub and talked about how great it would be to run a restaurant, bar and music venue in that location. When the space became available in 2015, Broughton, Shipman and Kilpatrick opened Bone and Barrel. In 2022 it was open seven days a week, with live music on an outdoor stage Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and it had become a gathering spot for watching Alabama basketball.
Around the same time, a visit with friends in Nashville took Broughton to Santa’s Pub, a Christmas-themed karaoke bar where the owner dresses as Santa Claus. He loved it. The three partners went on to open The Little Whiskey Christmas Club on Church Street in Fairhope, billed as the “oldest Christmas bar in Alabama.” It drew a strong late-night younger crowd, and the partners expanded the food offerings to attract more diners. The bar’s features included a space called Santa’s Living Room, and Little Whiskey and Bone and Barrel sit just a few feet apart.
The Little Whiskey location had housed many restaurants over the years. “It’s hard to change people’s perception once something has been established,” Broughton said.
Fairhope’s compact downtown, with its brick sidewalks, flower-filled corners and short walk to the bayfront pier, has long supported a lively mix of restaurants and bars, and Church Street sits right in the middle of it.
Debris, Traders and the Causeway
The Brickyard offered great drinks and live music but no food, so Broughton opened Debris on Dauphin next door, in the space once occupied by Boo Radley’s. Chef Mark Strickland runs the kitchen, and the menu leans toward New Orleans, with dishes made from scratch. A key detail for po-boy fans is that the bread comes from Leidenheimer Baking Company in New Orleans, the bakery whose French bread has been synonymous with the po-boy for generations.
Broughton’s next move came through a call from friend Curtis Ragona, who had a working relationship with the owner of Traders, the geodesic dome on the Causeway. The owner was interested in selling, and Ragona asked Broughton to partner on buying the property. “I didn’t even look at the books,” Broughton said.
The Causeway, the stretch of U.S. Highway 90/98 that crosses the head of Mobile Bay between Mobile and Spanish Fort, is known for waterfront seafood restaurants, bait shops and sunset views, and it has taken more than its share of hits from hurricanes over the years. Traders, a longtime fixture there, had been pushed around by a storm or two.
The partners took over in March 2022 with a plan “not to clean it up but to update with new paint and TVs.” They added a frozen drink machine, and Broughton said he planned to build a new pier so the bar could be reached by boat. At the time, Traders opened at 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at noon Friday through Sunday.
Partners in Everything
Asked whether he has partners in all of his businesses, Broughton did not hesitate. “Yes. I have partners in everything I do. The service industry is so much work and requires you to be there all the time. There is just so much going on.”
That philosophy runs through his entire career. Hospitality businesses demand long nights, weekends and holidays, and sharing ownership spreads not only the financial risk but also the time and attention each place needs.
Grace Opens on Dauphin Street
In the fall of 2022, Broughton’s next project was already underway in the former Catholic Services building at 555 Dauphin Street in Mobile. He described the restaurant, called Grace, as “gourmet goes casual,” a full-service restaurant with a bar downstairs and another on the roof. “The first rooftop bar in Mobile,” he said. “Everything is more fun with a bar!”
Grace Restaurant and Rooftop Bar opened at the end of October 2022, as planned, adding another destination to the Dauphin Street entertainment district, with Strickland also overseeing its kitchen.
Projects like Grace reflect a broader trend in downtown Mobile, where historic buildings that once housed offices, institutions and retailers have been converted into restaurants, bars and residences. Mobile’s downtown entertainment district allows patrons to carry drinks between participating venues within designated boundaries, which helps turn a cluster of separate businesses into a walkable night out. For an operator like Broughton, with several venues within a few blocks of one another, that environment is a natural fit.
Broughton comes across as a high-energy personality who is easy to like and clearly loves what he does. Each of his establishments has its own character, from music clubs to Irish pubs to a Christmas bar, and together they have helped shape how people in Mobile and Fairhope spend their nights out. Hours, menus and ownership of individual businesses can change, so readers should check with each establishment for current details before visiting.