Yardbird Southern Table & Bar (Las Vegas, NV)

Yardbird Southern Table & Bar
The Venetian
3355 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Dining date: 5/8/15

Yardbird opened the first of the year, one of the newest entrants to The Venetian’s lineup of restaurants (and right next to one-year-old DB Brasserie). It’s the second location for the restaurant based in Miami, which was a semi-finalist for a James Beard Award (Best New Restaurant South) and was one of Bon Appetit’s Best New Restaurants in 2012.

True to its name, the restaurant’s claim to fame is its 27-hour brined fried chicken but it serves a host of other southern classics as well. We stopped by for a ‘Friday brunch’ ordering this chicken with waffles along with a couple other dishes.

Mama’s Chicken Biscuits free range fried chicken, pepper jelly, house pickles, house-made buttermilk biscuit

Buttery biscuits sandwiched moist fried chicken; hard to go wrong with that combo. The exterior of the chicken lost its crispiness pretty quickly but these were some tasty bites nonetheless.

Smoked Brisket Sandwich tomato, house pickles, house-made ketchup, melted Swiss cheese, grilled country bread

The sandwich had plenty of brisket and was kind of wet from the sauce. Crusty bread added some texture, while a little bit of lingering heat kept things interesting.

Chicken ‘n’ Watermelon ‘n’ Waffles Yardbird’s signature ‘old school fried chicken’, honey hot sauce, chilled spiced watermelon, cheddar cheese chow chow waffle, bourbon maple syrup

This brunch platter was what I was most looking forward to. First, the chicken was pretty delicious. It had great crunch and was quite juicy, clearly benefitting from its 27-hour brine. Just really well-done fried chicken. The waffle was also good, slightly fluffy and slightly crispy with subtle cheddar cheese flavor. The spiced watermelon almost stole the show. Loved these chunks of sweet watermelon with just a little bit of spice. Perfect accompaniment to the chicken.

Yardbird was delicious and satisfying. The fried chicken was a clear highlight, particularly when complemented by the watermelon. I would totally get that again.