The interior of the Bird Kitchen & Cocktails restaurant in Mt. Rainer, Md. The restaurant opened for full service on Dec. 8.
Chef Lenny Robinson’s Bird Kitchen & Cocktails, a long-awaited, Southern-style restaurant, located in Mount Rainier, Maryland has finally opened for business.
The restaurant, which has a rotating menu, specializes in Southern comfort food with a modern twist, including chicken liver mousse, and shrimp and grits. All foods and drinks served at the restaurant are organic and locally sourced.
“We’re real big on the non-GMOs,” Robinson said, referring to food that is not genetically modified. “We are very conscious about where we get our goods, alcohol as well. We don’t have any rotgut liquor. It’s all handcraft or small batch.”
The bar manager, Maoti Gborkorquelli, said the cocktails have fresh ingredients with his personal craftsmanship of syrups, bitters, and shrubs. “I’m taking ingredients from the kitchen and bringing them to the bar,” he said. “I think there should be a kind of melding of the two.”
The restaurant also offers seasonal beers with two rotating taps.
Bird Kitchen & Cocktails has had a sign in the window for months, and residents have been anxiously waiting for the restaurant and bar to open. Lydia Watts attended the opening with her son, Sifa. “I’ve been waiting for weeks for the grand opening and it was just amazing,” Watts said. “Food was delicious, service was good, drinks were wonderful, and had a great time.”
She said the establishment could be a true asset to the community. “It’s really exciting to have a nice sit down restaurant with a nice full bar,” Watts said. “It’s something that I’ve missed and often go into D.C. for, so it’s really nice to have it close to home and to be a few blocks away.”
Rebecca Sheff, who has lived in Mount Rainier for over a year with her husband, also said she thinks Bird Kitchen & Cocktails is a positive sign for the area. “I believe this is really going to become a community hub,” Sheff said. “It has so much potential to bring people, not only from Mount Rainier, but from the whole area.”
The restaurant will begin their weekend brunches on Dec. 12 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and opened for a full service of breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Dec. 8.
