Doughbird's Chicken Tenders May Change Your Life

Doughbird, a new restaurant where Bread Winners was in Inwood Village, comes from Sam Fox and Fox Restaurant Concepts. The group has restaurants in Dallas and Phoenix, with several on the current pop charts, like Culinary Dropout in the Design District, a gastro pub with a British accent that we have a medium-hot crush on. They also have The Henry in the Victory Park area — dang the bread and pesto starter.

Fox also has Flower Child and North Italia. Very multipurpose and edgy. A chic utility player; something everyone wants.

Doughbird seemed like cargo pants, though. For some reason, the idea of pizza and rotisserie chicken was just too multipurpose for its own good. But with other hits in the bag, we should have known better. Here's the thing: Doughbird isn't focused on making culinary waves or trying to get James Beard's attention. But it's a fine casual restaurant, with great service and, this is hard to say, the best damn chicken strips I've had.

Doughbird has Houston's vibes (the old restaurant, not the city). This space is casual with dark wood and big booths. Tables have wine stemware optimistically set out. Just months after opening, three generations of Park Cities families were squeezed into the booths on a Monday night like it's been a decades-long tradition. Chicken strips and pizza for the kids, chicken and salad for the parents. Wine for Grandma.

House cocktails go for around $15 each.
Let's start by saying that I hate chicken strips — I'm a proud snob about them. But there's some pressure to eat chicken tenders here, so I ordered a plate for the table as an appetizer ($18 with fries and coleslaw). A thick amber crust clings like Saran Wrap, and the chicken meat is so tender it's like it's trying to be a fish stick. We reached out to the restaurant about this almost zany tenderness. Doughbird chef Tyler Peters explains that they use, "quality chicken tenders rather than chicken breast, which is more common in restaurants. We meticulously leave only the delicate tender meat to make the final product."

Don't order these if you prefer being a chicken strip snob. The fries were thin and crispy. Honestly, I don't remember a darn thing about the slaw. I'm also a slaw snob, but that's because of my hometown barbecue joint, Zimmerhanzel's (RIP).
A chicken avocado salad ($18) is fresh and clean with pulled rotisserie chicken, big chunks of avocado, bacon and ranch dressing. This mature bowl of greens pulled us back from our chicken strip dalliance and was large enough to share.

Pizzas here represent the "dough" portion of the marquee out front. A crunchy and chewy crust is bouncy in spots and thin in others with nice toast on the undercarriage. If we had to go back, and we will, we'd get another pizza for certain. The Aviator ($21) comes with pepperoni, Italian sausage, Nueske's bacon, crushed tomato sauce and mozzarella. We took part of the pizza home.

Many plates of rotisserie chicken passed through the dining room. The $22 plate is served with a leg, thigh and part of a breast, along with broccolini, mashed potatoes and gravy. We're not sure what kind of chicken voodoo they're using in the kitchen, but Doughbird know birds, to say the least.
We capped off dinner with a warm butterscotch cake with vanilla bean gelato ($10) because the lady next to us had one and we didn't want her to feel alone. This dense cake is served warm with a gelato marrying into the sauce at the bottom. So simple and so amazing.

The service is great: attentive, friendly and knowledgeable. After two entrees, a pizza, and dessert, we walked away (with leftovers) and spent less than $100 after tip, which feels like a great deal.

A kids' menu has five plates (mac and cheese, cheese pizza, chicken tenders), all around $10.

Doughbird. 5650 W. Lovers Lane. Sunday – Thursday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.