Food fine at kBird's new nest

kBird is a strange bird.

In the best possible way.

Recently transitioning from food truck to brick and mortar, kBird now nests in a little yellow house — formerly a convenience store and a short-lived Mexican restaurant, among other businesses — at the corner of Tyler and Woodlawn in Little Rock.

There was no sign yet, beyond the limited hours posted on the door — open only Monday-Friday and only for lunch, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., with a 4:30-6:30 dinner window — and a Razorback painted on the sidewalk.

The only clues that a restaurant functions inside are cars parked around its perimeter and wonderful smells wafting from the small structure into the lower Hillcrest air.

There’s not much to see in kBird, where two friendly guys prepare the food to order in a sparse, open kitchen that they’re proud to say is free of small appliances (they grind curries and blend sauces by hand).

The dining area features a few tables where customers will likely have to sit with strangers, and a small counter with a window view of a school across the street.

Looking for the menu? That's it on the front counter -- a piece of paper that lists dishes with limited explanations and prices scrawled in ink. It's worth checking kBird's Facebook page (facebook.com/pages/kBird/119010881547395) for the current inventory and full descriptions.

This week's menu offers nine choices ($3-$10) -- almost twice the number available during the holiday week, when we visited once for an eat-in lunch and once for carryout.

For our dine-in visit, we placed our order at the counter and took a seat with another group because it's a wonderful, communal, Eastern tradition. No, we did it because there was nowhere else to sit. Hey, wait! The counter seats at the window opened! We hurried our aloof Western tushes over there.

But we quickly realized there's no such thing as a private conversation at kBird, where the amiable staff is quick to chime in, especially if the conversation turns to travel. I let my world-traveling friend do the talking, which gave me plenty of uninterrupted time for eating.

Which was fine by me. I thoroughly enjoyed my alone time with kBird's superior Pad Thai, which I ordered with chicken ($10; $9 with tofu). The plentiful portion of noodles, stir fried with egg, onion, peanuts, bean sprouts, cilantro and a savory sauce that sung all the more with a spritz of lime and a squirt of Sriracha, was nothing short of divine. It's the stuff of cravings -- may they occur during kBird's restricted hours.

When she finally got a chance to eat, my friend remarked that her Red Curry of assorted vegetables, including Thai eggplant and pumpkin with Thai basil, with tofu ($9; $8 vegetable; $10 chicken) was "yum" and "spiced just right. The portion was ample without being over the top."

Diners can buy a bottle of water or soda. Or help themselves -- as we did -- to pitchers of free tap water and Mason jar drinking glasses. Expect to ask (as we did) for forks and napkins. There are scattered unlabeled dishes of powdered seasonings and sauces if you wish to enhance your food. Carry your dishes to the bin when you're done. It's a casual, comfy experience, not unlike eating in someone's home.

My second visit, I called in an order for Green Curry with Pork ($10; $7 half-portion) and Tom Yam Gai ($10), a generously sized entree soup that I would eat over several days. The food, which came with two containers of rice, was well packed and ready in the 15 minutes I was quoted.

I didn't enjoy the green curry as much as other selections. It was flavorful, with red onion, Thai basil, Thai eggplant, and pumpkin, but the tiny pieces of pork were fatty.

The spicy and tart chicken soup laced with lemongrass, however, was not only robust, it was restorative. It helped me to contain an oncoming cold.

Or maybe that was the DayQuil. But I'd rather self-medicate with kBird.

Weekend on 01/08/2015