Farm Bird
Ghost restaurants. That’s a concept that’s becoming more and more popular with the rise in popularity of food delivery services.
The whole idea of a ghost restaurant is that there is no physical location. They work out of a commercial kitchen somewhere and deliver food via the popular delivery apps.
Kalamazoo doesn’t have a lot of these ghost restaurants yet but there are a couple out there.
One of those ghost restaurants has kind of come out as not really being one anymore once the secret got out.
Farm Bird started out as a ghost restaurant working out of Lake Burger’s location on West Main Street. It popped up on Grubhub a few months ago offering up fried chicken and smoked mac ‘ n cheese. At the time, Lake Burger made no mention of it being part of their business and didn’t offer the chicken in store. That’s not the case anymore. You can get the chicken in store now but it’s best to call ahead as they cook everything to order.
I got home pretty late from my kids’ dance class on a Thursday night. They had eaten before but I went straight from work to the dance studio. I didn’t want to stop and make them wait for me so I decided to just have something delivered. J was already home packing for a trip to Traverse City so I ordered as L’s class was wrapping up hoping it would be there by the time I got home.
The DoorDash driver beat me to the house by a few minutes so my food was sitting on the table when I got home. I had ordered Four Pieces of fried chicken, smoked mac ‘n cheese, and Parmesan Truffle fries. I picked DoorDash over Grubhub for delivery because DoorDash has the option to add Lake Burger’s Fries while GrubHub does not.
There are options for both Four Pieces of Fried Chicken or a Half a Chicken. They sound like they should be the same but they are not. The Four Piece is two thighs and two wings. I wanted a breast so I should have got the half chicken. My mistake.
I love fried chicken that’s super crispy yet super juicy. That’s exactly what Farm Bird is. The chicken is coated in a thin, crispy breading but the meat is so juicy. I’m not a huge fan of thighs…I’m one of those weird people that prefer breasts…but I really enjoyed these. There was a real, sort of strong salty flavor to the breading but in a good way. The wings were about the same. I enjoy wings no matter how they’re prepared. These had such a delicious, crispy, salty breading and I could have eaten like 20 of them.
I picked two sides because I really wanted to try the smoked mac ‘n cheese. The pasta is a pretty good side portion. It’s elbow macaroni with a house made cheese sauce. You can tell by looking at it there’s some smokiness to it. It wasn’t an overpowering smoke flavor. It’s there but it’s subtle and compliments a deliciously cheesy sauce.
I did the order through DoorDash because I really wanted the fries. I get the fries whenever I stop in at Lake Burger so I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity. They’re the greasy, golden brown fries that I really love topped with Parmesan cheese, parsley, and White Truffle Oil. I. Love. These. Fries. They end up being a little limp and maybe even a little soggy but these are the kind of fries I grew up with in the Chicagoland area. It’s the greasiness that reminds me of home and makes these things so damn good.
There really aren’t a lot of fried chicken places in Kalamazoo other than the few chain restaurants we have. That’s disappointing but Farm Bird definitely fills the void. They don’t have a huge menu but what they do have, they do right and they do delicious.
SW Michigan Dining 