These 2 SC restaurants make the best biscuits in the state, Southern Living says
Southern Living has compiled a list of 12 places chefs in the South say you can get a great biscuit. And no, your grandma’s kitchen is not one of them.
But you might find this a bit surprising. The first place on their list is Popeye’s, “quick, cheap, and very easy to find,” the magazine said.
“Popeyes biscuits are tried and true. Sorry, not sorry.” Sophina Uong, chef/co-owner of Mister Mao in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Little Miss Mao in Nashville, Tennessee, told the magazine.
Two of the best biscuit purveyors are in South Carolina — Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit in Charleston and Bad Biscuit in Hilton Head Island.
“Callie’s biscuits are consistently delicious. They are always moist and flaky and I love the different flavor options, both sweet and savory,” said Greg Garrison, partner and executive chef of Repeal 33 in Savannah, Georgia and Prohibition in Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina.
“Their simple biscuit is buttery and tender yet sturdy enough to make a sandwich with,” said Aaron Bludorn, chef/restaurateur of Perseid, Bar Bludorn, Navy Blue, and Bludorn in Houston, Texas.
Callie’s sells across the south at Publix, Harris Teeter, Whole Foods and The Fresh Market. On their website, they feature videos of bakers making biscuits and their recipe.
Founder Carrie Morey said the art of handmade biscuits is not dead.
“I grew up thinking everyone handmade their buttermilk biscuits at home like I did with my mom and grandmothers,” she said.
She started the company with her mother’s country ham recipe as a mail-order company in 2005 and has received 22 sofi awards from the Specialty Foods Association and was listed on Fortune’s 2019 100 Fastest-Growing Inner City Businesses list.
She’s also a cookbook author — Callie’s Biscuits and Southern Traditions and Hot Little Suppers.
Bad Biscuit, whose tagline is rebellious Southern fare, is often described as “funky and fun.”
“That’s the only way I want to be!” owner Dave Peck says on his website.
He has lived on Hilton Head for about 50 years and was the chef at his other restaurant, A Lowcountry Backyard for 10 years. He started in the restaurant business at Salty Dog after a career in advertising.
“Why Bad Biscuit? Because I LOVE them, I love all day breakfast options and why not? And our biscuits are bad to the bone,” he said.
The restaurant, founded in 2019, is open for breakfast and lunch.
“If you crave and seek the definitive Southern-style biscuit that is buttery, fluffy and slightly tangy, there is only one place: Bad Biscuit on Hilton Head Island,” Leslie Rohland, chef/owner of The Cottage Cafe in Bluffton, South Carolina, told Southern Living.
Other biscuit restaurants on Southern Living’s list are The Loveless Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee; Biscuit Head in Asheville, North Carolina; BoBo’s Fine Chicken in Virginia Beach, Virginia; Butchertown Grocery Bakery in Louisville, Kentucky; Stilesboro Biscuits in Kennesaw, Georgia; Brass Tacks Coffee in Jacksonville, Florida; The Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar in Mobile, Alabama; Compère Lapin in New Orleans, Louisiana and Dandelion Cafe in Houston, Texas.