Dirty Bird Update?

Now that the hype has died down, have the kinks been ironed out? Has anyone been to Dirty Bird of late?

[shane]

I dropped by last night as I was in the neighborhood. I spent $20 on the four piece fried chicken which came with two slices of cornbread and 2 sides plus an iced tea. There wasn't enough chicken for two people and although moist is was pretty tasteless. The chicken at KFC is really quite similar. The sides I chose were coleslaw and mac-n-cheese (which has a $1 surcharge). The coleslaw was nice in a vegan kinda way. The mac-n-cheese was really just mac with a hint of cheese. I have no idea what they're charging the extra $1 for. The corn bread was as described above. I'll go to Dallas or KFC next time for 1/3 of the price.

[guttergourmet]

I got the works last night. Mrs. GG thinks the fried chicken and mac n cheese are the best in the city. Apparently John Edge agrees with her. Me, I'll stick with Popeyes.

[serious]

Stopped by last night:
portions too small
tasteless cardboard for cornbread
good roast chicken
coleslaw dull
rice unusual and very good

[big o]

As far as the chicken goes:

I have a friend who knows one of the guys involved with Dirty Bird. He drops some chicken off for her every now and then at her bar, and my physical dominance pretty much dictates that I get to eat her food whenever I feel the need.

The first time I tried the chicken -- and this is back when they first opened -- it sucked feet. It was as though they had found a process for taking air and somehow granting it the texture of chicken. A week later, Friend 2 wanted fried chicken for her birthday and Friend 1 pushed for Dirty Bird. I went to Popeye's.

A couple weeks ago, though, I was slightly buzzed and hungry, and showed up shortly after one of the clandestine Dirty Bird deliveries. Long story short, this time the chicken was really good. It was cold by the time I got to it, which may or may not have had an effect on its flavor. All I know is, I ate one piece, and then I ate another (which happened to be the last -- a fact that my relatively-large Friend 3 spent the rest of the night complaining about).

[csw]

Everything tastes good when your buzzed and hungry. Even Wo Hop is gourmet 3AM in the morning after drinking.

[big o]

I don't know, my sensitivity to flavor is very much inversely proportional to the amount of alcohol I've taken in. If the second round of chicken had been like the first, I wouldn't have tasted a thing.

But yeah, take that as you will. With a few drinks in me and a need to eat, Dirty Bird's chicken was pretty good. And for what it's worth, I was nowhere near Wo-Hop-level inebriation.

[audrey Kasindorf]

I agree about the cornbread - pretty bad. But I thought the buttermilk fried chicken was really good and so was the dirty rice and the napa cabbage cole slaw

[danoots]

My one experience with the fried chicken was terrific. Not sure exactly how it's done, but even after a half-hour commute, the chicken still maintained it's crunch. I had the same reaction to the corn bread as everyone else here had....

[csw]

How can one mess up on cornbread? I've never been to dirty bird but from the sounds of it, this place makes the BBQ chains look good.

[Lucia]

by making it about a 1/4 inch tall pancake. Yuck.

[wleatherette]

the cornbread is totally bizarre. it's served in very thin, flat triangles with a vague garlicky flavor (it's billed as shallot) and slightly underdone texture. i can't believe i'm saying this, but based on my one experience at db, i'd rather eat at dallas.

[csw]

Sounds like the cook forgot the baking soda/powder. Haha

[big o]

When I was working in Tennessee, I had a lot of cornbread that was served in a flat, pancake-like form factor. There may be many aspects of life where flat isn't necessarily a great thing: tires, soda, boo... you get the idea. Still, I think cornbread pulls off the look just fine.

However, shallots -- as mentioned below by wleatherette -- would have made me unhappy.

(ps - I have nothing at all against flat boos)

[Le Den]

I drop in from time to time as it is close and there are no other options in the neighborhood (Balducci's is HORRIBLE).
While not the best food I've had, it has gotten better. Portions are bigger, service is faster and it has always been consistent. I agree the cornbread is very weak, but its the chicken that matters.

[danoots]

I'm curious as to what you think is horrible in particular about Balducci's? It's definitely expensive, but I've found some great produce, cheese, and desserts there. I also love that they stock bread from Balthazar, Amy's, *and* Sullivan St. Bakery.

[wleatherette]

went today for lunch at the request of a visiting friend. never again. my $11 got me a flavorless, weak iced tea and a quarter serving of rotisserie chicken that was probably about 2oz of actual meat. it was pretty juicy, but nothing remarkable in the flavor department and the skin was thick and very flabby/greasy.

I went a couple of weeks ago and got the chicken fingers with cornbread. The chicken fingers were bland, just like others had complained. The cornbread, while not awful, was some of the worst I've had in a long time.

I went last week, and found the chicken fingers to be good, but the cornbread was the WORST I have ever had! It was vile.

The lemonade is terrific!!

[Buttercream]

I agree...the WORST cornbread ever made!! However, the lemonade is excellent.