If there is one thing Mei Lin and Francis Miranda didn’t envision for 2020, it was how their Los Angeles restaurant, Daybird, would come to life. Hot off the success of their first project, Nightshade, chef Lin and her partner Miranda originally planned to open their new Silver Lake spot in early May. It was meant to be a small, chef-driven fast-casual place inspired by Nightshade’s crispy-skinned Szechuan hot quail dish. Lin would also use it as a test kitchen of sorts, to play around with new recipes.
But as the months went by and the pandemic set in, Lin and Miranda found themselves confronting the challenges of a new kind of dining scene. They were forced to close Nightshade on March 15, and they chose not to reopen at limited capacity. With Daybird, the pair have ended up focusing much more on to-go and delivery. “Pre-Covid, I never wanted to do a takeout model,” Lin says, “but we have to think of the customers, and it will take some time to come to our new normal.”
But as the months went by and the pandemic set in, Lin and Miranda found themselves confronting the challenges of a new kind of dining scene. They were forced to close Nightshade on March 15, and they chose not to reopen at limited capacity. With Daybird, the pair have ended up focusing much more on to-go and delivery. “Pre-Covid, I never wanted to do a takeout model,” Lin says, “but we have to think of the customers, and it will take some time to come to our new normal.”
So when Daybird opens July 22, diners won’t be sliding into its birch booths. Instead, customers will be enjoying Lin’s dishes—the crispy chicken thigh sandwich on Japanese milk bread, for example, or chicken tenders with hot honey and cornbread—off-site. Yet Lin and Miranda are excited to feed their neighbors and Nightshade supporters in the weeks to come. They’ve carefully sourced key ingredients, like umami-rich porcini powder or fiery Thai bird’s eye chili, from expert supplier Le Sanctuaire. To temper the three levels of heat, Lin will serve her signature milk tea and other original drinks. And she will still be using the space to have fun with food, so playful dishes like her Instagram-famous scallion pancakes may start to pop up on the menu.
“Covid-19 has highlighted a lot of things for us and others,” Miranda says. “Fine dining is going to suffer, and things will move in a different direction. Is the future having a $2 million dining room or having something that can open? What’s important?” daybirdla.com. —
