First Look: Denver-Based Birdcall Brings Its Chicken Sandwiches to Dallas

In January Birdcall, a fast-casual spot that started in Denver in 2016, opened its doors in Carrollton, with an emphasis on chicken sandwiches. Can there ever be too many chicken sandwich places in North Texas? We’re guessing no and went the other day for lunch, all in the name of research.

If you can get past the name of a restaurant that uses the generic term for the primary animal served (never been a fan of such place names as “Pig City” or “Let’s Eat Some Cow”; we’re not vegans but don’t rub our faces in it), it’s a fun, bright spot located in what used to be a Taco Cabana on the border of Plano and Carrollton. The place offers eight chicken sandwich versions (if you count the veggie version, and why not?), ranging from Nashville hot and fried to a grilled version in different spice levels and with a variety of toppings such as pimento cheese spread, bacon red onion jam, slaw and pickles.

We placed our order via a touchscreen kiosk and went with the Nashville Hot and the grilled chicken Caesar, just to span the gamut. The Nashville has all-natural crispy chicken tossed in Nashville hot sauce with sweet butter pickles; it can be further personalized by requesting “hot” or “hotter” sauce. It arrived on a bun that can be swapped out for a lettuce wrap or gluten-free version. We ordered the regular hot, not the hot-hot, which still was almost too hot. Maybe they need to add a “somewhat hot.”

The grilled chicken Caesar sandwich included a grilled piece of chicken with Parmesan cheese crisps, lettuce, tomato and Caesar dressing on the same bun as the Nashville. Not too saucy but still a bit messy because the lettuce was chopped. It’ll do.

You can pick from several sides if you make it a combo, and we went with some tater tots and a bag of chips. The tots had a weird flavor reminiscent of barbecue chips, which wouldn’t have been so bad if it was expected, but it wasn’t. We should have gone with the shaved Brussels sprouts option.

Beverage choices include various teas and punches, shakes, draft and canned beer, and frozen and rocks margaritas. The teas and punches are self-serve, so we tried several; the pomegranate green was especially refreshing.

Finally, we find it hard to pass up on a good milkshake and decided to try the banana cream pie shake, even though the temperature outside was in the mid-40s. We were glad we did: it was creamy and rich with the right amount of banana flavor. Next time we might try the strawberry shortcake version.

Birdcall has announced the opening of two new locations this summer and fall in the area, with Frisco and Richardson being the apparent winners during this round of expansion.

3232 E. Hebron Parkway, Carrollton. Daily, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.