Over-the-top chicken-and-waffle chain closes RiNo location

A sprawling Southern food restaurant closed abruptly in September, with a neighboring business saying it left without a trace.

Yardbird Table & Bar, a trendy chicken-and-waffles chain that began in Miami, has shut the doors of its River North location at 2743 Blake St., and the company website lists it as a former concept.

The restaurant appeared to have stopped functioning about three weeks ago, said Crystal Brown, an employee for an auto dealership next door, on Tuesday. There was no note or sign physically indicating their closure.

“We didn’t know that they were closing,” Brown said. “One day it just closed.”

At the time of its opening in August of 2023, Yardbird’s parent company, the hospitality group 50 Eggs, Inc., touted the 14,950-square-foot restaurant as its largest of the Yardbirds, scattered among major cities.

The restaurant was known for its over-the-top presentation, like “The Whole Bird” ($78), a large basket of fried chicken with honey hot sauce, chilled spiced watermelon and Vermont sharp cheddar cheese waffle. The decor also went beyond the norm, with leather booths, floor-to-ceiling liquor bottles behind the bar, an open kitchen and a 600-seat patio.

50 Eggs did not respond to a request for comment.

Attempts to reach CEO John Kunkel, who was in Denver for the Yardbird launch, were unsuccessful. Kunkel also owns an Aspen restaurant, CHICA, that is temporarily closed, according to its website.

Trispan, a private equity firm with offices in New York and London, has heavily invested in Yardbird’s expansion to Denver, Dallas, Chicago and other cities since 2017, according to its website. More expansion loans were made by Brightwood Capital Advisors in 2022.

Jacqueline Bonnano, creative director of the Bonnano Concepts restaurant group and a friend of Kunkel’s, said in an email that Kunkel stopped working at Yardbird about two years ago.

The listed director of Trispan in New York did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Yardbird’s original location in Miami was a semifinalist for best new restaurant at the James Beard Awards in 2012. Other locations are still open, according to the Yardbird website.

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