In tandem with warmer weather and the blooming of downtown Fenton’s many flowerbeds, changes are happening at the city’s former firehouse-turned-restaurant.
Known for more than a decade as the Fenton Fire Hall, owners Curt Catallo and Amy Stevenson recently updated the concept to Latin-influenced Honcho Fuego and relaunched casual lower-level bar as Leroy’s Lounge. The rebranding means moving away from traditional barbecue cuisine and toward Latin flavors, including salads, tacos, rice bowls and pizzas with a Mexican twist.
“When we opened the Fire Hall in 2013, it was about woodfired meats on our Grillworks grill and about leaning into barbecue and having fun with the proteins,” said restaurateur Curt Catallo. “Really, the way the climate has changed, commodity costs have changed and appetites have changed, we thought it was time to kind of give it a little dimension and add some vibrancy.”
Catallo owns Union Joints restaurants with designer Ann Stevenson; these include Vinsetta Garage in Berkley, Union Assembly in downtown Detroit and Union Woodshop in Clarkston, among others. They started the changes at 201 S. Leroy in downtown Fenton by rebranding the lower-level Leroy’s Lounge, which serves burgers, hot dogs, wings, grilled cheese and other no-frills food.
“We thought it was time to give Fenton a little bit of love and we started with the lower level. We changed the lower level, which was always a great little bar, to Leroy’s Lounge,” said Catallo, adding that the burger joint is a partnership with Flint music venue Machine Shop. It’s got kind of a polished “dad bar” vibe with stained glass light fixtures, wood paneling, a pool table, throwback American beer signage and low, neon-style lighting.
As for Honcho Fuego, Stevenson and her design team updated that in short order to fit the new name, theme and menus. While the Fire Hall had barbecue platters, sandwiches, chili, pizza and the restaurant group’s famous macaroni and cheese, Honcho Fuego’s menu has chicken tortilla soup, salads, tacos, rice bowls, enchiladas and fusion pizza. Barbecued proteins are still part of the operation, but in a different form.
Those familiar with sister restaurants Honcho in Clarkston and Gran Castor in Troy will notice similar menu items like chicken tinga tostadas and the “elote especial,” a pizza with roasted garlic butter, grilled sweet corn, cheese blend, queso fresco, Peruvian green chili sauce, cilantro and a chili-dusted crust.
Stevenson and Catallo said they did the rebrand quickly. Besides being seasoned restaurateurs, they were able to send the Fire Hall staff to their Honcho Latin Street Food & Coffee in Clarkston for training on their Latin-influenced menu.
“We liked the idea of referring to the origin of the space itself,” said Stevenson about to the brick building’s former life as a fire station. “We wanted to take just exactly seven days to do a complete redo and conversion to Honcho Fuego. That just happened, so we’re still working on it while we threw open the doors.
“It is like Honcho but we have the pizzas at Honcho Fuego so we have the ability to do these interesting pizzas that lean into the Latin element, so it really is this great amalgamation of these flavors that are interesting to us,” said Stevenson. Both she and Catallo pointed out that Honcho Fuego’s rooftop space will be a great perch for sipping frozen margaritas and enjoying some chips and salsa this spring and summer.
“Barbecue is fantastic, but, you know, now we’re just giving the crew a greater license to play with it, and that’s what made Honcho (in Clarkston) work so well,” said Catallo, adding that he thinks Fenton “has an appetite for adventure.”
“It’s our same smoked meats that we’re doing in the back lot but now it’s on vessels like a rice bowl, or a taco or burritos or nachos, it’s having more fun with the vehicles, the delivery and the options,” he said.
Honcho Fuego and Leroy’s are open now at 201 S. Leroy in Fenton. Honcho’s hours are 3-9 p.m. Mon.-Thurs., 3-10 p.m. Fri., noon-10 p.m. Sat. and noon-9 p.m. Sun. Call (810) 936-0442 or visit honchofuego.com for reservations or more information. Leroy’s Lounge is open 4-10 p.m. Wed.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Fri.-Sat. and 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sun.
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