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The name for Songbird Social House, a new restaurant and bar on the northeast side of Carmel, came to Traci Karns in the middle of the night.
It was at 2 a.m. when she rolled over and woke her husband, Brian, to tell him what they should call the restaurant they began planning in 2021.
“I said, ‘Songbird Social House.’ And he was like, ‘What?’” she said. “And I said the name Songbird Social House. He said, ‘Can you please tell me at 7 a.m.?’”
Songbird Social House, which opened Oct. 5 at 7245 E. 146th St., features a 6,000-pound wood-fired pizza oven, a menu with pasta, sandwiches, steak, seafood and chicken, drinks that include bourbon, cocktails and wine, and live music on Fridays and Saturdays.
The building has a 3,000-square-foot lower level with a bar, dining area, lounge area and open pizza kitchen and a 1,600-square-foot upper level with couches, chairs and a boardroom table for up to 30 people.
A large mural painted by Indianapolis-based artist Megan Jefferson of a woman called Lady Songbird is on the wall along the stairway to the upper level. Cocktails are named after songs, such as Fly Like An Eagle and Free Bird, while bird light fixtures can be found in the establishment’s restrooms. Karns said her mother called her “my little songbird” when she was a child.
Songbird Social House employs 12 people, including Executive Chef Michael Vancil, who previously designed dishes at Anthony’s Chophouse in Carmel, 45 Bistro in Indianapolis and Old Oakland Golf Club in Indianapolis.
Songbird Social House is in an area of Carmel that is near Fishers to the east, Noblesville to the north and Westfield to the west. Karns and her husband live nearby in the Legacy neighborhood.
“We’re in that little nook of all four of those [cities], which is really cool, and so we’re trying to reach out to those as well,” she said.
Traci Karns has a marketing background and most recently worked at Indianapolis-based Peerless Pump, while Brian Karns has a business background. Traci said she is a hands-on owner at Songbird Social House all day, six days a week, while Brian goes to the restaurant after work at Indianapolis-based Cork Medical and manages payroll.
The Karns studied different types of wood-fired pizza ovens and chose a 6,000-pound version manufactured by Beltsville, Maryland-based Marra Forni. The Karns attended Marra Forney’s “Pizza University,” where they spent 10 hours a day for three days learning how to use the oven and make dough and sauces.
“With his business background and my marketing and customer service side, we’re like, ‘We can do this,’” she said. “We really, really put the effort into realizing what goes into this industry and how you can be successful.”
Karns enjoys hosting events, and she said she wants Songbird Social House to be a middle ground between a restaurant and a bar where people can gather and connect. She is planning an end-of-Prohibition party on Dec. 7
“Everything that Brian and I would want in a date night, we incorporated into Songbird and then it expanded to not just a date night, but hanging out with some of your friends or your family,” she said. “Everybody’s like, ‘Slow down. You’ve been open just a couple of weeks.’ But I have so many big plans.”
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