Biscuits - Let's Get Serious

So, Chicago basically wouldn't know a good biscuit if it hit it between the eyes. And let's not talk about the gravy; but them biscuits are NOT worth eating. What kind of culture thinks it's OK to stick biscuits in a box and microwave them for the patrons? Would Fox & Obel microwave a 24-hour old baguette? Think not, and even if a biscuit actually started its life decently (and I don't think very many do hereabouts), being set in a Tupperware for a few hours then stuck in the Radar Range won't fix things right.

I've found one place in Chicago that makes a decent biscuit. Of course, there are no doubt other or even better options, and I want to know about them. So I'm opening a dialogue, here. Thanks and best regards, JiLS.

Biscuits have to be fresh to be great. If they aren't eaten pretty much fresh out of the oven, they aren't very good.

Down south there are some places that have good biscuits. The best biscuits I ever had was at the Daphne Lodge in Cordele, GA. I would provide a link but they don't have a website. Its one of my favorite restaurants. Great catfish, hush puppies, fried pickles, and desserts. I need to explore the menu next time I'm down there.

I've never come across a decent biscuit in Chicagoland. Maybe they're out there but I've never came across it. I have to also qualify that statement by saying that I'm very spoiled. I have a little 84 year old Southern grandmother that's made biscuits everyday of her adult life. The weeks prior to my family vacations were spent dreaming of biscuits, gravy, and home made apple jelly.

Bruce wrote:Biscuits have to be fresh to be great. If they aren't eaten pretty much fresh out of the oven, they aren't very good.

Down south there are some places that have good biscuits. The best biscuits I ever had was at the Daphne Lodge in Cordele, GA. I would provide a link but they don't have a website. Its one of my favorite restaurants. Great catfish, hush puppies, fried pickles, and desserts. I need to explore the menu next time I'm down there.

Yes, well, Cordelle, GA is 857 miles from Chicago. Any suggestions a tad closer by?

Erzsi wrote:I've never come across a decent biscuit in Chicagoland. Maybe they're out there but I've never came across it. I have to also qualify that statement by saying that I'm very spoiled. I have a little 84 year old Southern grandmother that's made biscuits everyday of her adult life. The weeks prior to my family vacations were spent dreaming of biscuits, gravy, and home made apple jelly.

You just hit on two major factors: freshness and daily experience in making the things. My paternal grandmother made biscuits every day of her life while her husband lived and breathed; he was a boy from Knoxville, TN, and darned if he wouldn't have fresh biscuits at every breakfast. Not a chance Mrs. JiLS will be doing the same (or that I would be asking her too), but there really is no answer to a fresh biscuit; that was mainly what charmed me about the biscuits I had at Kuma's Corner over the summer -- still the best I've had in Chicago (or anywhere north of Central Indiana -- where, by the way, we were served marvelous biscuits at Hollyhock Hill -- tiny sized "plop" biscuits, actually the best size for a biscuit to be; always disgusted by the quantity over quality, Bob Evans/KFC "cat's head" biscuits.)

Jim,

When Joan Nathan was lecturing in Chicago in November, she referred to a future New York Times article on biscuits. She was somewhere in Virginia, I believe, when she encountered biscuits, "As light as angel's wings." She obtained the recipe, which would be included in a future article. I've been looking out for this article ever since with the intentions of alerting you first.

So there is hope Jim to at least produce these angel wing biscuits someday soon.

Regards,

Yes, well, Cordelle, GA is 857 miles from Chicago. Any suggestions a tad closer by?

Flying Biscuit is only 723 miles!

Mike G wrote:

Yes, well, Cordelle, GA is 857 miles from Chicago. Any suggestions a tad closer by?

Flying Biscuit is only 723 miles!

And Hollyhock Hill is only 180 miles away (and 2 miles from my parents' home). And Kuma's (if they are still making them) is less than a mile from my home. Just hoping for more options, is all.

After seven years, this thread deserves a bump. Anybody who knows the score got an updated biscuit suggestion to make within a reasonable radius? Thanks in advance.

Big Jones - leaf lard biscuits. I described them in another thread as fluffy pie crust or something like that. I'd eat that for breakfast every day, and grab a couple for dinner.

I'm a big fan of the sweetmilk biscuits at Sweet Maple cafe. Ask them to heat up the applesauce and use it on the biscuit. It isn't a flaky layered biscuit but it's the best I've had in the area. A lot of biscuits taste overwhelmingly of baking powder & I don't like that.

Unfortunately, no one else in my house loves biscuits so it seems a waste to make them, but I've been meaning to try CI's flaky biscuits ( I like layers).

Picture here of Sweet Maple's biscuit. http://twitpic.com/zrte2

Sweet Maple thread ( I started it because of the frakking biscuits!) here.

Jim-

It might be worth a trip out to the Country Cafe in Big Rock, IL. There's some discussion [url=
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=9780&p=426018&hilit=big+rock#p426018]here[/url].

Country Cafe
103 Galena
Big Rock, IL
630-556-3610

Bangers and Lace has a pretty solid leek biscuit, better than most at least

Hi,

I have a friend who swoons over Bang Bang Pie Shop's pies and their biscuits. From what I was told, these biscuits are not available first thing in the morning. I believe they pop up around 10:00 am. To sweeten the deal, they have an array of jams and compound butters to go with them. In this post, there is a biscuit picture.

Bang Bang Pie Shop
2051 N. California Ave.
http://www.bangbangpie.com/
773-276-8888

Monday: Closed
Tuesday-Friday: 7-7
Saturday: 9-5
Sunday: 9-4

Someone aptly dubbed the Bang Bang biscuit a "butter delivery vehicle." Delicious, but not like the ultra-light biscuits one often gets with leaf lard.
If you're a butter fiend, Bang Bang is the place.

And for those who want both buttery and flaky, and who have some kitchen ambition, here's a post just blogged today by Mark Ruhlman: http://ruhlman.com/2013/02/biscuit-recipe-and-ratio/

TomInSkokie wrote:Someone aptly dubbed the Bang Bang biscuit a "butter delivery vehicle." Delicious, but not like the ultra-light biscuits one often gets with leaf lard.
If you're a butter fiend, Bang Bang is the place.

It's obviously a topic of great debate - I have always thought that flaky biscuits are the only way to go, but then I tried Bang Bang's (not flaky at all) and though they were the best I've ever tasted. I think it's a sour cream-based biscuit, making it ultra-moist and a little tangy, but also very different. Some friends of mine complained they're too much like muffins - I get it, but I also love it. I also like the slightly crisp top and the house butters and jams. Note though, like any other biscuit, they are best eaten immediately.

I view biscuits the same way as pizzas and burgers: there's no one style that trumps another style. I grew up on southern style biscuits in North Carolina(mmmmmmm ... chicken biscuits from Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen), but still love the Bang Bang biscuit. I like to get the ham biscuit (the ham is excellent in its own right), split it open, then put a little compound butter and jam du jour on the other half. An excellent breakfast without too much overload.

Chicago Hokie wrote:I grew up on southern style biscuits in North Carolina(mmmmmmm ... chicken biscuits from Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen)

Amen to that!

This is more for the Shopping and Cooking forum, but as it happens, Michael Ruhlman posted today The Key to Flaky Biscuits

I've never made rolled bicuits, from the "the more you handle it, the tougher it will be" side of biscuit making, but tender and flaky are of course dire enemies.

stevez wrote:Amen to that!

Sunrise chicken biscuits and A&S chopped pork are pretty much the only two things I get when I go back home to Chapel Hill. Although a fairly new bbq place (Backyard BBQ) near the airport now makes for a good alternate if I can't make my way up to A&S. It's a perfect stop for takeout to eat inside the terminal waiting for your flight.

http://www.sweetribs.com

Cathy2 wrote:I have a friend who swoons over Bang Bang Pie Shop's pies and their biscuits. From what I was told, these biscuits are not available first thing in the morning. I believe they pop up around 10:00 am.

I checked with Dave at Bang Bang and he says this is not the case. Biscuits are available first thing in the morning. He said he'd chime in when he has a moment.

TomInSkokie wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:I have a friend who swoons over Bang Bang Pie Shop's pies and their biscuits. From what I was told, these biscuits are not available first thing in the morning. I believe they pop up around 10:00 am.

I checked with Dave at Bang Bang and he says this is not the case. Biscuits are available first thing in the morning. He said he'd chime in when he has a moment.

Great!

This makes sense since my experience has been kind of the opposite: I've hit Bang Bang in the afternoons and two of the three times they did indeed have biscuits, once they were sold out completely and every time I have been they have been completely sold out of the ham and biscuit. I hope to return one morning to sample that ham/biscuit combo!

bjt

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I have a friend who swoons over Bang Bang Pie Shop's pies and their biscuits. From what I was told, these biscuits are not available first thing in the morning. I believe they pop up around 10:00 am. To sweeten the deal, they have an array of jams and compound butters to go with them. In this post, there is a biscuit picture.

Bang Bang Pie Shop
2051 N. California Ave.
http://www.bangbangpie.com/
773-276-8888

Monday: Closed
Tuesday-Friday: 7-7
Saturday: 9-5
Sunday: 9-4

I've supposedly heard from online sources that you have to get there by 1:30-2pm, to be able to get their biscuits. They supposedly switch to only serving pie by 2pm till they close. That said, I do want to try theirs at some point. However, their location is out of the way for me, only reason I haven't gotten there yet. It is on my eventual to do list, to see how BBPS' biscuits are like.