Little Bird Bistro Announces New General Manager and Wine Director

Today, Gabriel Rucker's Little Bird Bistro announced Kristen Thoennes as general manager and Andy Fortgang as wine director. They take over for Tara McDonald, who served as Little Bird's general manager and wine director for ten months.

Thoennes hails from British Columbia and entered the restaurant industry when she was 14. She's worked at Little Bird since the day it opened in 2010, starting out as host.

Fortgang also serves as wine director at Le Pigeon, sister restaurant to Little Bird, and he co-owns both restaurants with Rucker. Now that he's taken the reins of the wine program at Little Bird, he intends to bring a wider selection of wines at all price points; specifically, he wants wines from Nicolas Chemarin, Robert Peroud, Clos de la Roillette, Joseph Voillot, Bernard Defaix, Guillot Broux, Pattes Loup, William Feve, and Chateau Beru.

These latest changes at Little Bird follow the big chef shuffle in June, when Rucker took over the Little Bird kitchen as executive chef, after longtime chef Eric Van Kley flew the coop.