Bird Dog Restaurant: The Dining Savior of Palo Alto

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Celebrating their one year anniversary in November, Palo Alto’s the ultra-modern Bird Dog restaurant has been heralded by the San Francisco Chronicle as “one of the brightest spots” in the Silicon Valley.

Bird Dog is a compilation of contemporary culinary comfort, culture and adventure. Owned by Executive Chef, Robbie Wilson, and his wife, Emily, hey strive for a “simple allegiance to create cuisine that they want to eat.”

It was during his senior year in college that Robbie Wilson discovered his passion for cooking. He worked at a local old-school French restaurant in Texas owned by Gabriel Rosseau. Rosseau encouraged Wilson refine his culinary prowess by moving to France and cooking for numerous restaurants throughout the country. Wilson received classical French training with chef Michel Troisgros at his Michelin-starred restaurant, Maison Troisgros, considered one of the greatest restaurants in all of France. Wilson has also been under the inspired tutelage of Nobu Matsuhisa at his namesake restaurant in Aspen, which is where he met Emily, as well as that of Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame.

Wilson brings a compilation of these experiences as well as his own distinctive twist to Bird Dog’s menu. Influenced by Northern Californian and Japanese cuisines as well as that of areas to which he’s recently traveled, Wilson divides Bird Dog’s menu in three key categories that highlight the ways in which he personally enjoys foods.

These categories are:

  • Raw foods, including sushi
  • Proteins
  • Vegetables & Grains

Bird Dog’s signature dish is their wood-fired avocado with fresh wasabi and ponzu sauce. Also on the menu is faro with sunflower, kosho, poached egg and miso and Wagyu Bavette with jet-black beans, kiwi, jalapeno and Cotija.

Bird Dog was listed at the top of EATER’s top 15 Hottest New Restaurants in Silicon Valley in April 2016 and has received significant press accolades. It has been featured in the New York Times, San Francisco Magazine, Luxury Silicon Valley Magazine, Cooking Light and Zagat, who referred to Wilson as “Silicon Valley’s Dining Savior.”

Bird Dog is open nightly at 5pm for dinner. It is located in Downtown Palo Alto at 420 Ramona Street. Reservations can be made online or by calling 650.656.8180.