REVIEW | Yardbird Southern Table

Southern-style cooking finally hit South Beach at Yardbird

Yardbird Southern Table & Bar just opened on South Beach.  This is something we had long anticipated.  For months, they’d had their storefront windows covered with brown paper — teasing phrases like “Run Chicken Run” and Southern lingo.  Miami can get to be a bore, so seeing something on it’s way that looked “different” than the usual swanky ultra lounge was exciting.

Our Mangia Memoir (what we’ll remember):

Tony and I arrived (without a reservation) and waited at the bar until Jillian arrived.  Luckily, we weren’t in any hurry, because we waited well over 2 hours.  Goes to show everyone wants t o be the first to try a new spot!  This little blessing of extra time at the bar allowed us to try out their signature cocktails –one of the highlights of the evening.  Each is rooted in Bourbon…a nice change from the usual “mojito” flare of Miami.

The bartender, Joshua, was super friendly and obviously very “in” to what he does.  You could sense the passion he had for what and how he created the signature drinks on the menu.  He even offered to make us something “off the menu”, something he called “Run Passion Run” (omg, delicious…ask for it!)  Tony and I merrily sipped our cocktails, as our eyes moved from one piece of their Southern decor to the next.  It was like being kids in a candy store.  Every single glass, light fixture, tables-cape was part of their intricately designed creative staging for the restaurant.   Kudos to the peeps that implemented that. All of the attention to detail really created an atmosphere, rather than just decor.

My personal decor favorites:

1. The bar tap handles.  J’adore!  They were rustic items like a fork, knife, hammer, etc.
2. The lightbulbs covered with glass jars
3. The chicken-wire in the storage cabinets by the bar
4. The tiny flip-top glass containers and glasses they used to store their fresh herbs at the bar
5. The canning jars filled with actual fruits and veggies along the walls
6. BONUS – try to find the bathroom… there is no door handle, just a blank wall (see photo)

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