Where To Eat on Your Birthday in Austin: Birdie’s

I went to Birdie’s for my birthday dinner and now I need you to, too. The restaurant, 2944 East 12th St., has an ever-changing menu, a James Beard finalist chef, and stellar wine selections. Prepare to order a little bit of everything for sharing, spend a little, and wait in line a little, as the restaurant doesn’t take reservations.

If there’s ever a day I go to Birdie’s and fail to order their marinated Castelvetrano olives ($12), please know something has gone horribly awry. They’re delicious. My birthday group and I also ordered fried green tomatoes with remoulade ($13) and deviled eggs with Calabrian chili and bottarga ($12). Yum.

Order whatever salad is available. The salad on the menu was made with baby greens, aged Comete cheese, peaches, and a vinaigrette dressing ($16). It was sweet with a slight fennel taste, despite there being no fennel.

Another thing to always order at Birdie’s: The pasta. Two plates of orecchiette with field peas, carrots, marjoram, and Pecorino cheese ($24 each) were a hearty follow to the salad. I am going to spare you my photo of the pasta – I somehow made it look like a scary Martha Stewart food photo and that’s my bad!

For the mains, we got the snapper with summer squash, shishito, beurre blanc, capers, and parsley ($35) and the minute steak with Lesya pepper, red potatoes, tomato, and basil ($36). The potatoes stood out with their crispness and the steak was sliceably soft in the way a fancy steak is. The snapper was a bright bite.

Finally, we had dessert. Vanilla soft serve with figs poached in honey ($13), and a chocolate Torta Tenerina with whipped mascarpone ($14), were just the finishers we needed. The chocolate was so rich and comforting and the things Birdie’s does with soft serve is always inspiring. I once had a corn-flavored soft serve there and it was great. Digging for figs at the bottom of the dish was a fun treat!

Happy birthday, y’all!