Downtown Fort Worth’s Bird Café announced Thursday it’s closing for good, a casualty of COVID-19.
The Sundance Square restaurant said it would close May 22, “while supplies last.”
“With the shutdown caused by COVID-19, we found it impossible to operate economically and have elected to close permanently,” Shannon Wynne, the designer and operating partner, said in a release. “We invite all of our loyal patrons to join us at 25% capacity or on the patio for one last hurrah before then, while our inventory lasts.” Wynne’s concepts have occupied the same building for 25 years.
Wynne recounted his history in the building. “Seven years ago, we were approached by [then-Sundance Square CEO] Johnny Campbell on behalf of the Bass family to create a fine dining concept for the historic Land and Title Building, one of the most important and best surviving Victorian commercial buildings in Fort Worth.”
Wynne was moving his Flying Saucer Draught Emporium concept to his former 8.0 bar space on East Third Street, Sundance Square was building the Sundance Plaza, and the former Saucer space was available for another use facing the plaza.
“The 1889 floor plan was a challenge to design, but is one of my favorites,” Wynne said. “Representative of the turn of the century, I wanted to merge the histories of the cattle and oil dynasties that would soon burgeon in Fort Worth. I would design it to be representative of a place people might have gone to get a good meal back then, heavily male, but with female refinement.”
Wynne worked with the family of twin artists Stuart and Scott Gentling to curate the installation of the Gentlings’ Birds of Texas portfolio, inspired by the artist John James Audubon. Wynne also designed the period-infused tile work on the walls and floors.
“We have worked hard to keep the Bird evolving this past seven years, but this pandemic is more than a chef-driven concept like ours could handle,” Wynne said. He thanked Campbell, Bill Boecker of the Sundance development and construction arm, and Ed Bass, Sundance’s developer and visionary. “We will miss the building a lot, and thank Johnny Campbell, Bill Boecker and Ed Bass for giving us a shot."