Bird & the Bear

New off of Westheimer near Kirby, by Ouisie's.  Passing by I'm sure most have seen Bird & the Bear in works. Well, it's officially open and it's really nice and upscale inside with a little sass.  It has a bit of the Ouisie's flair, brick exterior, black canopy, and the red door, and also has tufted bench seats that are a deep reddish pink, beautiful chandeliers, a ton of sunlight, unlike Ouisie's more dark atmosphere.  I'm not sure I get the meaning of the floating chairs and table, but it's definitely interesting. 

Bird & the Bear just opened a month ago, service excellent.  I want to say nearly 5 servers and a manager stopped by to greet and ask us how we were doing.  Our server's name was Tin, which is probably not spelled right.  Terry ordered the "damn Eggplant", (with shrimp, jumbo crabmeat & oysters in a spicy brandied sauce with wild rice & shallots, $20), which she said was good.  Jodie got the "Ouisie's Not Entirely Classic Caesar", (Romaine lettuce, deviled egg, anchovies, fried capers, croutons, parmesan & aioli & Caesar dressing, $22).  We were curious and made her search for achovies and yup, there it was, in whole form.  We encouraged her to taste it, and she did, and said it was really fishy.  What a trooper!  I asked Tin to pick a really good dish for me and warned him, it better be good!  He ordered me the "Meat Paella" (beef, wild boar Italian sausage, lamb & chicken, served with saffron rice & English peas, $19), which I initially thought he said "Meat Pie", hmm, brazen name I thought.   It was nice to look at, but the flavors were just ok and it was really greasy.  We also ordered the Lemon Meringue pie, which I liked and it was pretty to look at.

I'd defnitely have to give Bird & the Bear another try.  Though I liked the atmosphere, the service, and I do like the parent company, I thought my food was a little bit of a disappointment.  Oh well, better luck next time!