By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— The Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar near Oak Mountain State Park has been a staple on Alabama 119 since 1995. Now, the restaurant is undergoing a complete restaurant renovation, launching a new menu and switching to a smoke-free environment.

“We are getting all-new interior furniture, carpet, tables, chairs, bathroom fixtures, you name it,” said General Manager Josh Gowan.

Everything in the restaurant is being redone, and Director of Marketing with Quality Restaurant Concepts Wade Crawford said it’s going to be a noticeably different.

In addition to the new look, Crawford said Applebee’s is launching a new menu— Hand Cut Wood Fire—on April 25, featuring hand cut steaks and pork chops cooked over a wood fire.

“It’s noticeable,” Crawford said. “We’ve been around for such a long time…We really wanted to take the opportunity to invite (residents) in to experience the remodel and the hand cut wood fire steaks and chops.”

During this time of transition at Applebee’s, Crawford said it also seemed like a good time to make the restaurant smoke-free. He said the Pelham Applebee’s is the last of Quality Restaurant Concepts’ 60 restaurants in the southeast to go smoke-free.

“It was not a big decision for us to make,” Crawford said. “With all the remodels and changes to the restaurant, it seemed like a good time to make that change.”

The new menu is part of a national launch that will begin in May. All 1,800 of the Applebee’s restaurants will begin marketing the Hand Cut Wood Fire concept, which started in Hoover and Chelsea more than a year ago, according to Crawford.

He said Chelsea and Hoover were part of a national test to see the results of the new concept.

“Based on the test results from Hoover and Chelsea, they decided to launch Hand Cut Wood Fire nationally,” Crawford said. “So it’s a big deal for us to be involved in something so big.”

Hand Cut Wood Fire will launch April 25 for restaurants in the southeast area. For more information about Applebee’s, visit Applebees.com.