Birdseye Kitchen — Restaurant in Encinitas

𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝚄𝙽𝙾

꧁༺𝐼𝑁𝑇𝑅𝑂𝐷𝑈𝐶𝑇𝐼𝑂𝑁༻꧂

This is an overdue ‘𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫’ to my all-time favorite restaurant. Just one small thing… It will be my first ever. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆, 𝒍𝒆𝒕’𝒔 𝒈𝒐…

Everything you’re about to read comes from my soul. None of this was requested of me. My words are authentic. Don’t believe me? Ask about me when you visit. (okay, maybe I’m not that important) 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅… (‘𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟’ 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟)

𝐴 𝑆𝑇𝑂𝑅𝑌… The story of 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐲𝐞 is one of 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑒.

A story of ‘𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒’ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ‘𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔’ 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 for all things food… (𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬: 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 ‘𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓃’)

A tale of 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝒉𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑… …and tasting 𝑒𝑥𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑠.

A story of 𝒉𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 confronted with seemingly 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠.

A story of 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔…

A story of 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠…

These were the thoughts that were running through my mind after an encounter I had with someone at the restaurant exactly one week ago. Although I've observed this person many times over the years, she always seemed like a private person, an enigma of sorts, and a mystery. So I rarely interacted with her… until now. This ‘𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦’ person it turns out, is both the creator and the chef… and she built the whole place… from the ground up, 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚. These words are a result of the conversation that occurred that breezy night in Leucadia. Monday night always calls for either Thai or Indian takeout, and these two options go to battle in my head every time without fail. If I had ordered my usual 𝑃𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑟 𝑇𝑖𝑘𝑘𝑎 𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑎, the conversation would have never happened, and you wouldn’t be here with me…

…and I’m glad you’re here.

I was however, right on the fence.

𝑅𝐼𝐺𝐻𝑇 𝑂𝑁 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐹𝐸𝑁𝐶𝐸…

So anyway, I left the restaurant that night divinely inspired to write and share. I’ve spent the last week photographing my favorite meals and drinks (these are real, not stock images—my photography skills are exceptional I know—𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵), taking fresh pictures of the crew (more on them later), and putting it all together in what I hoped wouldn’t push me past the 4𝙠 character limit (𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦: 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥, 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 9𝙠 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨).

This has been creatively satisfying.

𝐷𝐴𝑌𝐷𝑅𝐸𝐴𝑀… Imaginary conversation with ‘𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺’ chef/creator - 𝑪𝑯𝑬𝑭: “I like review, but too long, you’re weird.” 𝙈𝙀: “Oh thank you so much!, I’m glad you ‘ᒪOᐯE’ the review. No, I don’t want anything in return, well… maybe just a ‘ƒяєє’ Pad Thai and a Thai Tea with 𝑂𝑎𝑡 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑘 please.” … ᖴOᖇ ᒪIᖴE.

Ｔｈａｔ ｗａｓ ａ ｊｏｋｅ．

𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝐹𝑂𝑂𝐷… The meals shown here are some of my favorites. If you're interested in one of the dishes pictured, you can point to it and ask your server for the name of the dish. I’ll run out of character spaces if I list them all here—I’m getting rather close (𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵, 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐’𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺). As a running joke, I’ll suggest everyone get the Pad Thai. Not the most special or unique of meals, but it is a classic for a darn good reason, and it is made exceptionally well here. Start there and branch off …𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨h…

…𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 (⦁_⦁)

𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨… 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙖.

The reason it's a running joke here is because it's the safest option for the uninitiated and less adventurous among us. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘵. I personally love it, however I usually order other dishes. The Pho… Oh my, the Pho! Probably the best authentic Pho you can get second to visiting Hanoi, Vietnam yourself.

𝐶𝑂𝑁𝑇𝐼𝑁𝑈𝐸𝐷 𝑂𝑁 𝑃𝐴𝑅𝑇 𝘐𝘐… (𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵...

𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝚃𝚁𝙴𝚂

꧁༺𝐹𝐼𝑁𝐴𝐿 𝑇𝐻𝑂𝑈𝐺𝐻𝑇𝑆༻꧂

…𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰, 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴… 𓁹

As the prices of raw ingredients continue to rise and the health-conscious among us demand (𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘬, 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶) organic, sustainable, yet affordable food at the same time, it’s the chefs that are caught in the middle…

Quality ingredients such as 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴-𝘧𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘧 and 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 are expensive.

𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦…

Razor thin margins are the industry standard no matter how expensive the food is. The late 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝒉𝑜𝑛𝑦 𝐵𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑖𝑛 said so himself in his book: ‘𝙼𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚞𝚖 𝚁𝚊𝚠.’ It's a feat for a restaurant to make it past one year. 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐲𝐞 is going on their eighth. Even 𝐺𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑅𝑎𝑚𝑠𝑎𝑦 isn’t immune. Over a dozen of his worldwide restaurants have suffered losses and he at one point narrowly avoided bankruptcy.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬. 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑…

Striking a balance between offering quality and affordability is a dynamic challenge. Am I saying that we should all be 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑆𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑛 and leave a briefcase full of cash the next time we visit? No, I’m not saying that.

A single 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎 will suffice. 𝓔𝓃𝒿𝑜𝓎 lots of wine too, that helps!🍷 I'm just the messenger here… …𝒹𝑜𝓃’𝓉 ‘𝓈𝒽𝑜𝑜𝓉’! ︻デ═一

Joking aside, it's called the ‘𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑙𝑒’ and we're all intimately aware of its presence in our own personal lives (𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵). I’m just sharing it from a business owner’s perspective, more specifically a restaurant owner’s perspective. If I can help enlighten one or two people, then I’ve done my job as your 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑒. Small businesses such as 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐲𝐞 weave the 𝓉𝒶𝓅𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓇𝓎 that is our 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝓂𝓊𝓃𝒾𝓉𝓎…

…𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝑂𝑈𝑅 𝑇𝐴𝑃𝐸𝑆𝑇𝑅𝑌 𝐼𝑆 𝐵𝐸𝐴𝑈𝑇𝐼𝐹𝑈𝐿.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. This is the conclusion… (𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺)

…𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 ‘𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳’ 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥. 🎈

…𝒲𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒹 𝒸𝓁𝒾𝓂𝒶𝓍.

…𝘯𝘰, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘹, 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘪𝘵.

𓂀 … ‘𝓛𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓛𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇’ 𝒪𝓋𝑒𝓇… 𓂀 ❤️

ησω тαкє тнιѕ ‘ρℓαη в’ αη∂ ѕтσρ ρℓαуιη’…

Ｔｈａｔ ｗａｓ ａ ｊｏｋｅ．

𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝… 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚍.

𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝚐𝚘 𝚎𝚊𝚝… (‘𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒’ 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵)

Tonight, I’m having 𝒟𝓇𝓊𝓃𝓀𝑒𝓃 𝒩𝑜𝑜𝒹𝓁𝑒𝓈.

𝑊𝒉𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝒉𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔?…

See you at 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐲𝐞. 🥢

𝒫𝒮. 𝙸 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚌 (𝙸’𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎), 𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝚎𝚐𝚘 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎, 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎—𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎, 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝. …𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚘 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠?

C𝚑𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎. 🖤

Ｆｉｎｅ Ｐｒｉｎｔ…

⋆ …𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘴 ‘𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦’ 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺, 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬...

The food quality and taste is wonderful! The atmosphere is a little bit noisy, but I like how they expanded and the decor is lovely. The prices relative to the meat portions are ridiculously expensive. I made it clear in the very beginning when I walked up to the to-go counter, I wanted a lot of meat. I asked for their suggestion on what to get to ensure that happened. I got a $20 curry, paid $2 for beef and $6 for extra beef; totally ~$28-29. It came very thinly sliced and I only received about 2oz of beef. I called the restaurant, and they assured me they weigh every portion and it is the proper amount. They wouldn’t tell me how many ounces they use, but I’ve been food prepping for many years and used to be a manager at The Ritz-Carlton, among other experiences in the food industry. I hand picked all of the meat out and put it on a separate container, so they could see how little it was. They were giving me resistance over the phone; so since I was close, I drove back. When I got to the restaurant, the owner came up and she was SO rude to me. She was accusing me of eating some already, saying: “I don’t know what you already ate.” Not only was she fighting me on it and saying that’s just what it is, you have to pay for it and just accept it, she also told her waitress to note that if I come back I’m not allowed to order extra meat. Are you kidding me?! The waitresses were very kind and apologetic for her behavior. However, I looked at the owner and said don’t bother, I won’t be back here. It’s such a shame, because the food is very good quality and taste, and I’ve been eating there for many years. Although, I refuse to support somebody who treats customers like that. So I drove to the grocery store and picked up some grass fed ground beef, then proceeded to go home and cook it. An hour later I finally got to add it to my $30 overpriced meal and finish my dinner. I should’ve just gone to a nice restaurant and treated myself to a 6-8 ounce steak dinner. I think I’m being generous giving it a 2 instead of a 1 star based on that alone. This owner should not be in the F&B industry if she doesn’t understand basic customer service and how to treat customers with respect. I’ve had bad service a couple times I went there in the past, but thought I’d try again; especially since I’ve been going there so many years. I’ve never experienced that level of disrespect in any restaurant or establishment; so I will never step foot into this...