Jolly Pumpkin coming to Bastone space in Royal Oak

Bastone Brewery and Jolly Pumpkin are joining forces to shake things up at the corner of Fifth and Main in downtown Royal Oak.

Jolly Pumpkin will open a 210-seat restaurant in the space that now occupies Bastone and the adjacent Vinotecca wine bar. Bastone will move to the smaller space on the corner, replacing Monk Beer Abbey.

The plan is to close Bastone and Vinotecca in mid-May. Monk and the basement night club Craft Royal Oak will stay open throughout construction.

Expected to open this summer, the new Jolly Pumpkin Royal Oak will serve pizza similar to the one at the Midtown Detroit location, plus sandwiches, truffle fries and a full bar with beers from Jolly Pumpkin, Bastone, North Peak and other Michigan craft beers, plus wine and booze.

Once set up in the Monk space, the new Bastone will seat 60 people with an additional 36 outdoors during patio season. General Manager John Sleamon, chef Robert Young and master brewer Rockne Van Meter will all stay on board.

“Bastone Brewery is one of the most decorated craft breweries in Michigan, having received over 200 awards for our Belgian beers,” said managing partner David Ritchie in a press release Monday. “This renovation and partnership with Jolly Pumpkin will allow us to ‘return to our roots’ and focus more on Belgian-style dining and brewing while still catering to the varying tastes of Royal Oak diners.”

Future plans for Bastone also include bottling and distributing its beer.

In 2013 Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, which was founded in Dexter, MI in 2004, attempted to open a restaurant in Royal Oak, but had issues with building permits and a deal was never reached. The Midtown Detroit location opened in 2015; President Barack Obama visited January 2016. In October Jolly Pumpkin announced it would open a restaurant this spring in Chicago’s Hyde Park.

In other beer-related news in Royal Oak, HopCat is preparing to open a new location at 208 W. Fifth, just a few steps from Bastone. The new beer-centric restaurant is hiring for several positions, and is running a hiring center at 514 S. Washington in Royal Oak starting Wednesday. Details are posted at facebook.com/hopcatroyaloak.

mbaetens@detroitnews.com

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Twitter: @melodybaetens