A Little Louder LoveBird
PHOTOS BY JORDAN RANDALL
Most fans of Lakeland’s “almost famous chicken” spot probably never thought the 5-year old restaurant needed a glow up, but open the doors to LoveBird today and it’s clear that even the ’50s and ’60s themselves would be jealous of the new, refined aesthetic.
Walk inside the South Florida Avenue restaurant that takes up residence in an old gas station lot that turned into Starbucks in its previous life, and the electric pink is even more evocative and the artwork is louder and more blunt.
You’ll find sparkling pink bar stools and chrome outlining a space that includes a graphic of Colonel Sanders (the KFC icon) blotted out and larger than life caricatures that make playful pop culture references.
“Our voice has always been a little punk rock — against the grain, questioning authority — and in our world, the authority happens to be the giant chicken chains,” says Leah Brumley, who owns LoveBird with her husband, Jeremy. “That’s where (the motto) ‘Fast Food Sucks’ comes from. It’s provocative, but there’s something real behind it. We don’t consider LoveBird fast food. We work incredibly hard on the food, the ingredients, the people and the experience.”
The menu has evolved slightly over time but is still centered around the star of the show: always fresh, never frozen chicken tenders and quarters that have been brined for up to 24 hours.
The menu includes a half dozen longstanding sandwiches that can be dialed in at any desired heat level, the tenders can be fried or grilled and the list of A-sides are worth ordering a couple of every time
you stop in.
With the updated look come some new flavors as well.
The “Green Room” salad includes tenders, greens, bacon, egg, smoked gouda, tomato cucumber, red onion, cilantro-corn and croutons with a choice of dressing.
The current seasonal sandwich on the menu is the “God Feather.” It consists of a pair of crispy chicken tenders with house-made San Marzano red sauce with a generous portion of melty mozzarella, basic-garlic aioli and parmesan on a warm buttery bun.
“The food has to be just as doable as it is creative and craveable,” Leah says. “A lot of our ideas come from just being out in the world—traveling, eating and seeing things that get us excited. One of the new sandwiches we’re working on for fall was inspired by a recent trip we took to Hawaii. It’s not about trying to recreate something we ate there; it’s taking that inspiration, bringing it back to LoveBird and asking, ‘What would our version of this look like?’”
It’s also fun to see a local staple near the checkout register, where you can find fresh gluten-free red velvet brownies baked by Mike & Mikes, a local company best known for its GF cupcakes.
Since opening in 2021, the Brumleys have opened a second LoveBird, in Winter Haven, as well as launched Grievous Angel and taken over ownership of The Peach House. They continue to prove that quality food and a great brand are capable of bringing customers back time and again for something they can only experience in their neighborhood.