WILMINGTON — After years of planning, Dean Neff is preparing to open Little Bird in January 2027, located at 9. S. Front St. next door to his downtown seafood restaurant, Seabird
The restaurant will open at first with breakfast and lunch before adding dinner, while also giving Neff more room to bring guest chefs, host private events and other special dinners.
Taking over the former space that once housed Caffe Phoenix, 9 Bakery and Lounge and Platypus and Gnome, Little Bird is being renovated by historic preservationist James Goodnight, Old School Builders and Smith Hanes Studio. Drywall still needs to go up and gas lines are being installed, with finishing touches, equipment and tables still to come in the 2,200-square-foot space.
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“As they dug down, they found the 1890 version of the storefront, which was a double door,” Neff said. “They could see two vestibule markers that were made from brick. … So they researched it and brought the history back.”
The restaurant will have 60 seats, including 10 at the bar. The mezzanine — or second floor area once prominent in Caffe Phoenix — is no longer, as the 6-foot ceilings made it a little tight for tall diners who had to crouch. Instead, the space will be open, with a design that mimics Seabird: warm blues, greens and burnt orange, along with plenty of natural light pouring through the front windows.
Though the menu isn’t hashed out completely, Little Bird will serve breakfast and lunch, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., at least five days a week. Dinner will come thereafter.
Neff is still working out the menus but said everything will be sustainable, healthy and fresh. He wants exciting flavor profiles, avoiding unnecessary sugars. Breakfast will consist of fresh pastries from Seabird’s Birdie Rojas, served with varied proteins, sauces, spreads and other embellishments. A coffee program and fresh juices will be promoted.
“We tried breakfast at Seabird, but we were never able to brand it in a way that connects with people,” Neff said, adding Seabird’s sign didn’t help since it promotes oysters. “But Birdie is an incredible pastry chef.”
For lunch and eventually dinner, there also will be a nonalcoholic program, in addition to cocktails made by Chason Huggins, and sustainable wines and beers, as curated by Colby Perkins.
“I love the idea of taking obscure ingredients that are interesting and meaningful and making drinks from a sense of place,” Neff said, pointing to fresh watermelon juice in the summer or a fennel tonic spritzer.
He works with Yaupon Tea Company in Brunswick County, as Yaupon is a tree native to the area and the only natural caffeine source from a plant in the United States. He also will utilize hibiscus to create an agua fresca.
“Its buds give off a viscosity that’s similar to okra,” Neff explained. “It can almost mimic the viscosity of alcohol.”
Neff’s focus has always been on sustainability — utilizing ingredients central to coastal North Carolina — and staying rooted in the community. He works with local fish mongers and farmers, such as Shellem Seafood, Hold Fast Seafood, N. Sea Oysters, Red Beard Farm and Shelton Herb Farm, relationships that will continue at Little Bird.
Though still hashing out the lunch menu, Neff anticipates lots of vegetables — something other than standard French fries as side items — a good amount of salads and a couple of sandwiches. There will be options for all diets, vegan, pescatarian and meat-eaters alike, and limited fried foods. The vision is flavorful but healthy.
For instance, a tuna burger will appear, one that has gained popularity at Seabird brunches and recent functions Neff has hosted in New York. He grounds fresh bluefin tuna and combines it with egg, salt and pepper, and tamari, before forming into patties. Upon being cooked, the burger is topped with bread and butter pickles, grilled ramps, tomato jam and an aioli made with nước chấm, soy sauce, lime, ginger, chiles and fish sauce.
The burger’s toppings will change throughout the seasons, according to what’s fresh.
“So in winter, tomato jam will be replaced and we only get ramps a few months a year,” Neff said. “The menus will always be flexible.”
Once Little Bird is open for dinner, Neff imagines small plates being a central component for diners who wish to try a little bit of everything. Particularly, he envisions seafood crudo in varied capacities.
“I want it to be an experience,” he said, shying away from the traditional appetizer, main and dessert. “Eating from small plates is much more playful and exciting. It lends itself to people wanting to come back for more, to get a nutritious and delicious, satisfying meal that’s a good value.”
In addition to being open as its own entity, Neff envisions the restaurant as an extension to Seabird. He wants to host more guest chef events; he has brought to Seabird Cheetie Kumar, chef and owner of Ajja in Raleigh, and Steven Satterfield of Miller Union and Madeira Park in Atlanta.
“We want to welcome chefs in the proper way and give them the support they need,” Neff said, noting Seabird was limited in space and capacity to accommodate extra food storage outside of its regular dining needs.
That was also the reason the restaurant stopped serving breakfast and lunch consistently. Little Bird will be able to pick up in that regard, allowing more room but also giving Neff more opportunity to do specialized events. This will include private functions, too, which he said diners have requested in recent years.
“When you’re building a restaurant, you think about all the possibilities,” Neff said. “We’ve always been able to adapt and change as we find better ways to evolve. The constant is being passionate about food and community, and Little Bird will play into that.”
It will be Neff’s third restaurant in Wilmington. Aside from Seabird, he also owns and operates Zora’s Kitchen and Market on Castle Street — both a seafood market and restaurant. In January, Neff launched a free fish program called Zora’s Fish Bank that is still going strong; he gives away 20 free black sea bass from UNCW’s aquaculture program weekly to help food insecure populations.
“Every week, they’re accounted for in 15 or 20 minutes,” he said, noting they rotate beneficiaries to ensure equitable distribution.
Duke inquired a few months ago whether Neff wanted help turning the fish bank into an official nonprofit. This fall a class at the university will work with the restaurateur to prepare its launch.
“We’re restaurant people, not a nonprofit,” Neff said, though he has worked with Duke before, serving on the North Carolina Fish Consumption Advisory. It held a campaign more than five years ago to “stop, check, enjoy,” in regards to how people could assess contaminants in the fish caught from local waters, such as PFAS coming from the Cape Fear River.
It’s an important part of Neff’s mission overall; beyond providing attentive food to people, he hopes to give back to the greater Wilmington region in meaningful ways. Seabird, for instance, will host Cape Fear Watch’s Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette later this month, who will speak about the river, its importance and the efforts being made toward its preservation.
The River Watch is only one nonprofit Neff has championed locally; he also has paired up with the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina in 2024, when Neff was nominated for Outstanding Chef by the James Beard Foundation. Seabird hosted a fundraising watch party for the awards ceremony and raised $15,000 for the Food Bank (Neff also was also a James Beard semifinalist in 2026 for Outstanding Chef).
In 2022, when he opened Seabird, Neff did so as a fundraiser for GLOW Academy, the first all-girls charter school in the state that opened in Wilmington. He then opened Seabird with only 40 or so reservations nightly during the first week.
For Little Bird, Neff is considering a similar opening strategy, potentially with a nonprofit component.
“We’re still working it out,” he said, mum on details of the official opening. “But we want to get our footing and control the flow of business in those early days so we can put the best product out there.”
Easing into operations during the down season will ensure all employees are prepared and supported to serve the community to the best of their ability. Neff plans to utilize staff from Seabird to help with Little Bird and anticipates hiring roughly 10 more people to flesh out its needs.
“We want to be intentional and thoughtful — and be part of the community, contributing to the greater good,” he said.
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