Canard Will Shutter

Owner learns lessons as cocktail bar next to acclaimed restaurant also plans to shutter

Canard will close December 31.

Courtesy photo

Fresh off the news that its acclaimed Thai restaurant Foreign Correspondents has closed, Treadsack, the Heights-based restaurant group behind Down House, Hunky Dory, and others, announced on social media that on December 31 it will also close Canard, the cocktail bar that shared a space with Foreign Correspondents.

"It’s really true that Foreign Correspondents and Canard despite being different concepts relied on each other. When we closed Foreign Correspondents, we tried to make the best of it," Treadsack co-owner Chris Cusack tells CultureMap. Unfortunately, after a slow Monday night at Canard, Cusack and Treadsack's management decided they couldn't separate the bar from the restaurant.

With the future of the space still uncertain, the company decided to close the bar. As a way to say thank you to the people who have supported it, Canard will sell all of its cocktails for $5. Most spirits will also be $5, with some premium spirits at $10.

"In the world of the best ways to deal with a closing, I’m able to do at Canard what I wished I could have done at Foreign Correspondents," Cusack says. "We talked it over (with the staff) and worked it out in a way we can give our guests one more visit and let our employees make money through the holidays."

Since Foreign Correspondents closed, rumors have swirled that the restaurant hadn't been paying its employees. Cusack acknowledges some problems but says they've been resolved.

"Paychecks bounced because the restaurant didn’t make any money. All those we’ve replaced or given cash on the spot," he says. "I will never let anyone go unpaid."

Are the problems at Foreign Correspondents a sign of the beginning of the end for Treadsack? Was the process of opening five bars and restaurants in 15 months simply too taxing financially to generate sustainable revenue?

"Definitely not," Cusack says. "You do learn more from failure than you do from success. I’ve had to take a really hard look at what brought us here and how we can avoid that . . . I’m going to take the lessons I learned to heart and answer the challenge."

Initially, Cusack says he thought the biggest lesson from Foreign Correspondents' failure was that it was too ambitious, but he says he's come to a slightly different conclusion.

"Now having had a little time to wrap my head around it, I’m convinced that not listening to guests was the biggest problem," he says. "What they say and what they don’t say. Where they go and how they choose to spend their money is the biggest lesson, and I think I ignored that."

cocktails closings the-heights

Goldee's and Barbs Go North

2 Michelin-recognized pitmasters cooking up Texas barbecue joint in NYC

Photo by Will Milne

Kirbee's will stay true to the menus at the two barbecue joints that came before it. (Pictured: A tray at Goldee's Bar-B-Q)

Two important restaurants in the Texas barbecue scene have spawned a new project in a less-expected locale: New York City. Barbs B Q owner Chuck Charnichart and former Goldee's Bar-B-Q partner Jonny White will open Kirbee's, a restaurant combining classic dishes from both of its progenitors, at 55 McGuinness Blvd. South in Greenpoint (a neighborhood in Brooklyn) in about four to five months, White says.

Both White and Charnichart have led two of Texas's most well-regarded barbecue joints. Located in Fort Worth, Goldee's ranked No. 1 on Texas Monthly's list of the state's 50 best barbecue restaurants in 2021 and ranked No. 3 on the 2025 list. Charnichart, who worked at Goldee's, opened Barbs B Q in Lockhart in 2023. Earlier this week, Barbs earned an impressive three-star review in the New York Times. Both restaurants hold Bib Gourmand designations in the Michelin Guide.

Eater New York broke the news on February 24, and White caught CultureMap up with some additional written details.

As Eater points out, Charnichart brings creative dishes from her Lockhart restaurant like pork ribs with lime zest, Mexican-spiced brisket, and the famous "green spaghett" made with poblanos and cilantro. White brings lauded barbecue from Fort Worth that's more fit for purists, including smoked turkey, brisket, and classic sides.

For many, Barbs B Q represents the Texas barbecue vanguard. Now New Yorkers will be in on it, too.Photo by Bryce Gilbertson

White further tells CultureMap that the menu will probably be organized into plates and trays so that guests can sample one barbecue joint or the other.

White has been in New York for seven months after selling his shares of Goldee's. He's secured a building and is working with contractors to convert it for barbecue greatness. The two pitmasters will get to work together physically soon — although White doesn't spill the beans about whether Charnichart plans to move there or just visit.

Kirbee's exterior New York Kirbee's will take over this cheerful space.Photo by Jonny White

"Chuck is one of my best friends and an amazing chef," White says. "I’m super excited for us to be working together again and we are excited to be in New York!"

One of the adjustments the duo had to make to thrive in the Big Apple is to make do with a smaller smoker setup. Instead of traditional offset smokers — the large barrels Texas foodies are used to seeing out back at their favorite barbecue joints — Kirbee's will use smoker ovens. White confirms the decision was about space, but he's hopeful the more consistent cooking process will actually be better than the Texas norm. "I think it will be interesting for people to compare," he says.

The real question for barbecue-lovers who are in it for the culture: How will New Yorkers deal with the lines?

"I think they’re used to long lines and being served to order because of Katz," White says, referring to Katz's Delicatessen, an ultra-famous New York deli since 1888 that's known for its gigantic pastrami sandwiches. But if it's not the brisket that transports Yankees to the Southwest, the Texas pitmaster looks forward to introducing them to Waco's own Big Red.

openings pitmasters barbecue