Restaurants named after Birds

Whether currently open or closed from our time weary past, do any favourites stick in your mind? Be they restaurants, diners, cafes, cantinas, bistros, grills, food emporiums, bars/pubs, trattorias, etc. they are all worthy of mention!

In the 60s/70s my parents took me/us once every few weeks to a place called The Roadrunner. It was 'run' by a Greek couple who retired when my own children were in grade school, so I was pleased to go full circle from my own childhood now linked to theirs, through this very simple but delicious spot near the 401 highway between London and Woodstock (Ontario). Our habits were simple; cheese omelettes, toasted westerns, apple pie with a cheddar slice or cherry pie, a la minute milkshakes, hot roast beef or turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and extra gravy, etc.

On a few excursions to Point Pelee National Park, yes for requisite birding, a little place in Leamington, Ontario caught our eye and became a tradition. It was called The Flamingo, and yes it was painted pink! Great BLTs and Club Sandwiches there, which were perfect after twelve hours in the fresh air. It gave my children their first chance to read a menu and order something they might not have tried before.

My elder sister used to own and run a bed and breakfast called the Sandpiper, one of a row of purpose-built Victorian guest houses on the seafront in Barmouth in Wales. Not a restaurant, but she did serve evening meals for a while, as well as breakfast. Both she and her husband are birdwatchers, hence the name.

On a completely different note, there's a bar called the Hornbill in Ongata Rongai in Kenya. I've never been to the bar, but I see their sign every time I drive through the town, a rather smart stylised impression of a hornbill.

>3 John5918: That totally counts! What a stunning place to operate a B&B. We saw our first sandpipers on the shore of Lake Erie, after eating at The Flamingo, as mentioned above. =)

I read the Jamaica Inn last year for the first time, and it aroused an innate fear of Cornwall!

Yesterday, I viewed a brief encounter between a squirrel and a woodpecker protecting its nut stash in an old dead tree, and it made me laugh aloud. Getting into a tangle with that beak on a hornbill would seem also like a very bad idea! I had to look it up...

>4 frahealee:

I did some part-time birding in Cornwall last year, and a few years earlier we walked a couple of hundred kms of the coastal trail. Beautiful countryside, good food, locally brewed beer, cider and even gin... oh yes, and some birds too.

This may not be what you had in mind...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fat_Duck

Nashville, Tennessee has a place called The Bluebird Cafe. Songwriters new and old perform here 7 nights a week. Some are up-and-coming and some have been around a while. And some very famous people will make a surprise stop. I am told Keith Richards popped up there one night.

>6 affle:

Interesting. There must be quite a few pubs with bird names. "The Cock" seems to be quite a common one, although I'm struggling to remember where I've drank in one of that name. I suspect varations on Swan, Grouse and Pheasant would also be common. There's one in Durham called "The Swan and Three Cygnets".

I've seen a few old pubs with low doorways or roof beams with the punning warning sign "Duck or grouse!"

"The Duck Inn" seems to be a popular name.

"The Fighting Cocks" is another popular one. There's a "The Falcon" in Cornwall And of course there's a beer called "Old Speckled Hen".

In Ft. Worth, Texas, we go for brunch when visiting family.
This is a fun subject. Thanks for starting it.

"At Bird Café, the focus is Modern Southern cuisine for everyone. Southern staples like chicken and dumplings, fried catfish, and shrimp & grits are perfectly executed with some modern twists. Enjoy them with exceptional cocktails, wine, or beer from our award-winning bar and bartenders. All right on beautiful, historic Sundance Square here in the heart of Downtown Fort Worth.

The split-level restaurant with more than 6,400 square feet of indoor space and 2,300 square feet of patio space looking out upon the new Sundance Square Plaza will sure to make your experience special and unique.

Lunch and dinner during the week. Brunch and dinner on the weekends. Hatching Hour from 4PM to 7PM, Monday through Friday."

At the top of Cairngorm Mountain in the Scottish Highlands there is a restaurant called the Ptarmigan housed in the top station of the mountain railway. The whole place is incredibly drab and unwelcoming. The railway was built a few years ago (2001) but closed in 2018 because of structural problems with track supports. I went up with Mrs Poss when there was just a ski lift and then you could wander out and roam up to the true summit. But when they built the funicular they decided that people using it would not be allowed to leave the station in case they interfered with the birds. When I went up shortly before it closed I would have liked to go to the summit (a short climb) and then walk down the mountain but this is not (officially) allowed. Of course if you walk instead of riding up you can kick as many ptarmigans and newts as you can find but I suspect that most people who go are not budding psychopaths.

Wasn't the cafe which was owned by Rick's business rival in the classic film "Casablanca" called "The Blue Parrot"? OK, it was only fictional, but...

>13 John5918: I only recall the flyswatter that Sydney Greenstreet wielded so menacingly... =)
Fictional counts. I enjoyed the 'Phoebe' restaurant name in The Big Year (2011) scene with Owen Wilson checking the NARBA hotline with his code name Great Grey Owl (Steve Martin's was Red Tailed Hawk?). Good point also about the name of the beer. Pelee Island Winery has several bird images on their labels although the wine might not named for them specifically. I'll dig through their LCBO inventory online to extract any.

There is a Ptarmigan Inn in Banff, Alberta. Unsure what the restaurant is called, but we can include all of the Tourism/Hospitality industry in this thread. I spent twelve years working for an inbound incentive tour operator in Toronto, which is why I'm fond of the topic. The Osprey Lounge can also be found in Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Neither restaurant nor hotel but why not, since I'm sure a fair amount of food and beverage consumption occurs there on a regular basis. There is also a tiny lake town called Turkey Point, Ontario that boasts a Turkey Point Hotel and Turkey Vegas restaurant, on Lake Erie.

I got a kick out of today's Bing homepage (Canada?) which features an albatross pair. I've seen one crow today, and not a single bird yesterday, so I'm going through bird withdrawl/drought. This keeps the images keen and fresh!

>13 John5918:

Ah, Banff. Lovely place. Visited it 25 years ago, but unfortunately I didn't get to sample the hospitality of the Ptarmigan.

>13 John5918:

It was, indeed!

>14 frahealee: The label of Pelee Island Merlot has what I think might be a red-headed woodpecker, but from the picture I can't see enough. Any other types with a red head and black/white feathers? There is a black birdie on the Pinot Noir, but also too tiny. It seems that butterflies adorn the white while birds grace the red. Lovely tribute. They are at the same latitude as Spain! Lesser known than Kelowna or Niagara regions, but fun to track.

In about 1986-7, our family visited Florida and did about a 50 mile detour to visit the Kapok Tree Restaurant in Clearwater, Florida. My husband had remembered and raved about this restaurant since his childhood. Once we arrived (reservations even for lunch) we clearly saw that this was once a beautiful establishment, but had seen its better days. (In fact it closed in 1991) The greenery was lush and there were parrots, macaws, and other "pet" birds in the trees within the restaurant. There was a grand piano also with a very colorful bird sitting on it. The food was bad, the atmosphere somewhat better.