Yardbird Southern Table & Bar
Coffee
Mama’s Classic Buttermilk Biscuits – honey butter, house-made honey butter
Swine Burger – short rib, brisket, and chuck blend, house smoked pork belly, house pickles, american cheese, thick cut tomato, pickled onions, lettuce, house fries
Fried Green Tomato BLT – house smoked pork belly, smoky tomato jam, frisée, pimento cheese pickled lemon vinaigrette / Deviled Eggs – dill, chive, smoked trout roe
Lewellyn’s Fine Fried Chicken – 1/2 of our famous bird served with honey hot sauce
Smoked Brisket Sandwich – house pickles, smoky tomato jam, swiss cheese, fresh ciabatta bread, arugula
Collard Greens – pot liquor, pork
Mama’s Biscuits and Gravy – bacon, crispy chicken, fried egg
Chess Pie – sweet cornmeal, chantilly cream, caramel sauce
Banana Pudding – rum soaked banana cake, chantilly cream, fresh bananas, vanilla wafers, house made banana chip
Bourbon Pecan Tart – chocolate sour cream frosting, fudge sauce
Velvet & Berries – creamy red velvet cheesecake, sweet macerated berries, cream cheese mousse
Salted Caramel Bread Pudding – warm custard bread pudding, whiskey Anglaise dragee pecans, chantilly cream, gooey salted caramel
Peach Cobbler – marzipan crumble, french vanilla ice cream florentine almond cookie bowl, cinnamon twist
Having undergone a fair share of turnover since opening in early 2015, despite critical acclaim and a dining room that is far more frequently filled than the neighbors next door, a lengthy hiatus caused by the behavior of persons in the Yardbird Las Vegas Public Relations department was finally ended during Saturday brunch and with Chef Sandra Palomo back on the line in place of Melvin Johnson there is every indication that the kitchen remains in good hands while the service still outpaces other similar priced Strip options by several steps.
Not changing anything as relates to the décor, music still transitioning blue to rock and back, it was at a four-top set for two that an 11am arrival saw our party sat on this particular Saturday and deferring orders to the Chef it was not long after seating that service got started, the best biscuits in America still golden, flaky and benefitted by an unheard-of amount of butter folded in via laminator while the first of several cups of coffee were poured.
Doing the best possible to focus on new items, or at least those altered or reborn in the past half-a-year, Chef Palomo started the table off with her seasonally updated Swine Burger sand perching a thick slice of Pork Belly atop two juicy beef patties the flavors were rich yet restained thanks to a thick wedge of tomato plus pickles, onions and lettuce, a sampler-size portion of the famous Deviled Eggs and BLT as good as ever with the latter particularly noteworthy thanks, in part, to the Spring Season but also a brighter display of citrus than previous versions had led me to expect.
Famous for their chicken with good reason, the 27-hour prep of Free Range bird admittedly pricy but still a worthy investment with more than enough to share, collard greens serve notice that Yardbird is not just about upscaling with a pork and smoke sapor that is as authentic as it is delicious while the Brisket Sandwich a bit overwhelmed by the sweetness of its sauce despite an upgrade to the bread that adds more stability with crisp arugula that holds its own beneath the tang of melted Swiss.
Not taking it easy on the table, two more of Mama’s Biscuits served beneath a piping hot ladle of Sausage Gravy with Fried Chicken and Bacon, desserts from newly appointed Pastry Chef Keris Kuwana continue in Vivian Chang’s tradition of lightening and enlivening the South’s greatest traditions, the unchanged Chess Pie sill towering over any other version found over the past several years of travel while an enormous baked-to-order Peach Cobbler is one of the Venetian’s greatest bargains with a portion large enough to feed a family for just twelve dollars.
Happy to see Yardbird still flying high, and certainly not prepared to skimp when it comes to sweets, further inspection of the new pastry menu shows Pecan Pie as well as Banana Pudding served traditionally yet bettered but superior ingredients, the Bread Pudding and Red Velvet Cheesecake each a little bit more complicated with the former a veritable butter-bomb that restrains sweetness in favor of subtlety while the later eats as smooth as satin with each bite awash in rich cocoa notes.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS: Scaling back the menu shortly after Todd Harrington left the reins and really not doing much to broaden the offerings for the better part of a year, Yardbird Southern Table & Bar remains one of Las Vegas rare ongoing 2015 success stories, the recent turnover hopefully injecting new life into the place so that 50 Eggs does not continue to feel content with a menu resting on its laurels.
RECOMMENDED: Mama’s Buttermilk Biscuits, Chess Pie, Swine Burger, Fried Green Tomato BLT, Peach Cobbler, Collard Greens.
AVOID: While the quality of the brisket is great on its own, the flavor is unfortunately marred by too much sauce in its current preparation.
TIP: Menu updates are promised ‘soon,’ as are new desserts.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor.
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