Miami probably isn’t the first place you’d think of for Southern comfort food, yet it’s the birthplace of Yardbird, a spot that nails down-home cooking. At first glance, it’s one of those trendy places with exposed filament lighting and reclaimed wood panels on the walls, but that pretention doesn’t harm the food. (They also serve drinks in mason jars, but since they’re from the south we’ll give them a pass.) The key dish here is the fried chicken, named for Llewelyn, one of the grandmothers of the original Yardbird owners, and it’s purported to be her recipe. We don’t care if they invented it in a lab, frankly, it’s that good. The chicken brines for about 27 hours before anybody even thinks about cooking it; then it gets covered in cayenne pepper and deep-fried. You can order the bird alone as a half chicken, or get the whole shebang; it’s served with golden brown, cheddar cheese waffles, honey hot sauce, and chow-chow, a sweet and tangy Southern relish. Besides the chicken, they’ve got a fab version of shrimp and grits, topped with crispy ham; and country-style pate served with pickles that are made in-house. The perfect starter? A set of old school hors d’oeuvres like toast with chicken liver mousse, and a fun BLT stacked with thick-cut bacon and fried green tomatoes. For cocktails, they’ve created an ice program like no other, infusing cubes with herbs like rosemary and thyme, and freezing the sprigs inside; or adding mustard so that as the ice melts, it adds a savory aspect to smoky drinks. It’s weird, but we like it. Even if it is served in a mason jar.