D.C.’s fast casual restaurant Farmbird, popular for its grilled chicken plates, sandwiches, salads, and roasted vegetables, has opened a location in Ballston, it’s third location and first outside of the District.

Farmbird has taken space at Ballston Exchange formerly occupied by restaurant Dirt, which closed in February 2020.

Farmbird ranked No. 3 last year on Yelp’s list of America’s Top 100 Places to Eat, with an average 5-star rating.

Farmbird co-founders Andrew Harris and Daniel Koslow, New York City transplants, brainstormed their restaurant plans after eating too many mediocre chicken lunches at their desk jobs.

The pair started as a catering business at Union Market, and opened their first stand-alone restaurant in 625 H Street NE in 2017. After raising $1 million from investors for expansion, they opened a second location in D.C.’s Penn Quarter, and now Ballston.

Farmbird touts its never-frozen grilled chicken plates, chickens sourced from regional farms, roasted vegetables, salads and sandwiches all made from scratch daily.

Jamestown LP’s Ballston Exchange, a mixed-use redevelopment of side-by-side office high-rises, also includes a CAVA, El Rey Tacos, Asian street food restaurant Hawkers, We The Pizza, and Shake Shack.