Unrated during the pandemic
Knots of wannabe diners clog the entrance of what sounds like a nightclub but looks like the feedery it is, what with a big circular bar and servers crisscrossing the expanse with trays of food and not a little drama. A flotilla of dishes pass by. What, we wonder, awaits inside the smoke-filled glass domes? As a host leads us through a bustling dining room to a table in view of the open kitchen, she responds to our bug eyes with a knowing smile.
“It’s been like this since we opened in April,” she says as she hands out menus and returns to traffic control.
Say howdy to Yardbird Southern Table & Bar, an import from the Miami-based 50 Eggs Hospitality Group and, at least for this restaurant observer, the surest sign yet that people want to kick the pandemic to the curb and party like it’s 2019 again. The newcomer, which follows Acadiana at its downtown address, is about as subtle as an air horn. Only the Fourth of July sees more sparklers than the Yardbird desserts destined for celebrants.
As its name suggests, Yardbird is best known for its fried chicken, which can be ordered within a biscuit, alongside waffles, as a whole bird and even gluten-free. Company founder John Kunkel started with a recipe based on his grandmother’s chicken and a technique that now involves brining the chicken for more than a day, placing it in tumblers to make sure the seasonings penetrate the fowl and cooking the birds low and slow in pressure fryers.
Order “Lewellyn’s Fine Fried Chicken,” and you get, every time, chicken that’s golden, crisp, juicy — something to cluck about, especially after a shake or two of the stinging housemade hot sauce. The same can’t be said about everything you might surround the dish with, but if chicken’s your thing, Yardbird is where I’d send you. All the better if you throw in some waffles and a watermelon salad hinting of citrus and paprika. The fried signature takes 17 minutes to prepare, but the kitchen gets a reservation count and a head start on the cooking process, so there’s never the sense of “where’s my chicken?”
But first, some nice opening acts. The buttermilk biscuits, served four to an order, are just the right amount of crisp (top) and fluffy (center) and they arrive with honey butter and jam made on-site. Yardbird’s charcuterie “board” is actually a tall Lazy Susan, its tiers displaying the expected pimento cheese and snappy pickles along with a faint chicken liver parfait, a better bluefish spread and — the most interesting part — sausage links that ooze cheddar cheese and register heat from jalapeño. Unfortunately, the carousel is deposited without so much as “here you go” from the staff, leaving you to play detective as you explore some of the components. Hummus for $18 sounds ridiculous until you spy a bowl of lemony mashed rice peas — an heirloom field pea — and enough chilled vegetables to throw a block party. Yardbird apportions some dishes as if a crowd is eating. Two of us put a serious dent in the cumin-fueled hummus, made interesting with toasted pistachios and a splash of pickling liquid.
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Given the heft of much of this food (read on), you’ll want a salad to lighten things up. My go to is basically a produce aisle arranged in a bowl. We’re talking green beans, cauliflower, broccolini, radishes, creamy butter beans and more, crisp with croutons and tossed with a straightforward roasted garlic vinaigrette.
Weighing in with 180 seats inside and two outdoor patios — room for 140 more — the Washington Yardbird is the brand’s sixth branch, following Miami, Las Vegas, Singapore, Los Angeles and Dallas. While their menus share some common dishes, the lists are tailored to reflect the taste of their audience, says Patrick Rebholz, 50 Eggs’s executive corporate chef. Singapore offers smaller portions, he says, while Las Vegas leans showier and Miami features stone crab. No surprise, then, to spot local Rappahannock oysters and crab cakes on the D.C. menu, some of which was being tweaked when I spoke with executive chef Dan Dienemann, hired this month to replace opening chef Chris Watson. A Rockville native, Dienemann comes to the job from Barrel & Bushel in Tysons and says, “I really know my crab cakes.” Stay tuned for his plans to replace the current flat cakes with bigger and rounder “Baltimore”-style cakes.
If you’re not eating chicken here, you should be eating shrimp and grits. Yardbird does the classic right, combining speckled grits from Nora Mill Granary in Georgia with shrimp cooked to retain some spring and a dark pool of PBR jus — make that Pabst Blue Ribbon beer ennobled with demi-glace, roasted tomatoes and matchsticks of country ham. Just hope you get the “fresh catch” hot, rather than tepid, which was the case when I first tried the peppery entree in the restaurant. Oddly enough, the second time I ordered it, the shrimp and grits were hot — even after a trip of about 20 minutes from the restaurant to my doorstep, via delivery.
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Yardbird is big on dishes that turn heads, get people snapping photos and talking to neighboring tables. The whole chicken, for instance, shows up in a form-fitting yellow stainless-steel basket. Those smoke-filled glass domes? Once the fog disappears, you’re left with a stack of hickory-kissed ribs, meaty and tender if sweeter than I like. Still, it’s a cut above ordinary short ribs plopped on baby carrots plopped on mashed potatoes. The advertised sweet tea braise seems to be missing in action.
Easily fixed annoyances get in the way of diners wholly embracing Yardbird. Like, can waiters remember to dole out serving utensils with dishes meant to be shared? Also, entrees are sometimes brought out while the table is still occupied with appetizers, forcing diners to surrender first courses they have yet to finish. I get it, servers are slammed, but if their idea of checking in on customers is asking “How is everything?” without pausing long enough to hear the reply, that’s — not Southern hospitality.
As for the kitchen, Dienemann, who oversees a staff of 40 and is just catching his breath, knows he’s got some work to do. “The mac and cheese is sometimes amazing,” the new hire told me in a telephone call. “Sometimes it needs a little love.” Side dishes in general could use some TLC. I hate to ask who the maternal figure is behind “Mama’s” mashed potatoes, but the lackluster spuds don’t exactly rate the feel-good reference. And can we just say goodbye already to fried Brussels sprouts (everywhere)? Especially now that summer has arrived, the overexposed vegetable needs to follow the quarantini out the door.
Desserts revel in what the principals call “action plates.” The monumental chocolate cake with thick applications of salted caramel and Nutella and a crown of candied bacon fairly threatens to challenge height restrictions in the District. The showy garnish adds a touch of smokiness to the construction (and demonstrates the support salt gives to sweet things). I imagine the battered, deep-fried Oreos would be a hit at a state fair. Before they hit the fryer, the cookies are rolled in Rice Krispies, which lend a nice snap, crackle and pop! to the decadence. The most interactive finale is the baked-to-order strawberry-peach cobbler, served beneath a big round cover of what looks like fruit leather but is in fact a tuile. Servers instruct you to break the shell with a spoon to reach the fruit. Permission to play with your food!
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There’s nothing dull — and plenty that’s fun — about Yardbird, where knowing what to order improves your chances for happiness. But I’d trade some of the fireworks for more finesse. At this point, I’m rooting for the new chef to deliver. The chicken and the crowds deserve it.
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Yardbird Southern Table & Bar 901 New York Ave. NW. 202-333-2450. runchickenrun.com. Open for takeout, delivery, indoor and outdoor dining 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Prices: Dinner appetizers $8 to $38 (charcuterie board), main courses $26 to $120 (for 32-ounce porterhouse steak).Accessibility: No barriers at entrance. Ramps can convey customers who need them to lower parts of the restaurant. Restrooms are ADA-compliant.
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