Three Fold Announces New Restaurant and New Concept

Over the past four years, Three Fold has earned a place in the hearts and bellies of Little Rockers. Now they are ready to announce a new restaurant along with a large concept to come later.
The new restaurant is a bit of a return to their roots by launching in their original location on Center Street, yes this means that Hanaroo that currently occupies this space is closing. The new concept will be a will be a fried chicken-focused pop-up concept to be called Haybird.
Fried chicken as the core of the concept, but it is uniquely their style, it will be a lighter style than traditional southern fried chicken with a bit of an Asian twist. They will use boneless breast and leg as the meat in a chicken fried steak along with extremely thin-cut fries. They will include a number of pickled vegetables and mushrooms.
Along with that, they will do a vegetarian fried chicken as well. This is a special recipe that they have worked on over several years.
“We want to take something traditional like fried chicken, but introduce a bit of lightness and freshness not normally available,” owner Lisa Zhang says. “Little Rock needs a greater variety of fried chicken, especially in a chicken-heavy state.”
This spot is set to open in late May. They have signed an initial year lease and plan to evaluate the concept later to determine if it will be a long term location or bring the fried chicken items to other concepts.
The big news is a long term project that is at least two to three years out. This is a big idea spot set to be a window to the eastern food culture. Their main goal is to showcase food traditions in way that has not been done before in the area.
“Chinese culture is always changing and always chasing what is new,” Zhang says. “In many ways, we have lost the roots of many of our foods. Our goal here is to lean heavy on tradition.”
Those food traditions include classic Chinese preserved meats, pickled vegetables, pastries, and more. They will also lean heavily on a Chinese version of sake that pre-dates the commonly known Japanese sake.
“Our people survived for thousands of years without refrigeration and we want to honor that history, “Zhang continues. “This for us is not about making money, but showcasing the history and the culture.”
Included with the manufacturing side they will have a restaurant component that will utilize the ingredients produced.
The spot, located in Riverdale, will be around 8,000 sqft and will require a total demolition and rebuild of the building. Because of this, they are looking at a 2-3 year timeline for this concept.