Biscuit Head

Things in the this world to love: family, travel, food, wine. Over the last couple days, I got to have them all. My sister was in Asheville for some biz meetings and invited me and the little foodie to come share the hotel room.  We have had an action-packed couple of days including Sliding Rock, Biltmore House, Looking Glass Falls, Grove Park Inn and chillin' in downtown Asheville.

Since K was involved in meetings all day, Viv and I had all the time in the world to do whatever we wanted, including seeking out good, eclectic A-ville food.  At my sister's recommendation we followed our noses and our GPS to Biscuit Head.  We went to the newer location on Biltmore Avenue.  It's a small, cute space with a really friendly and close-knit atmosphere.  You order at the counter, fix your drinks, make your selections at the (extensive) jam, jelly, butter and honey bar and then the staff delivers your food to the table.  At first, Viv wanted to sit at one of two cool terrarium tables that were fashioned out of old windows over table tops to create living terrariums.  Very cool touch.  But, she changed her mind and chose a small table for two that appeared to be made of one slab of hand-hewn wood.  

Viv has a tendancy to be a purist.  She asked for some milk and then blew my mind with this line:  "I was noticing that "got milk" mug hanging in your window."  So, the lady says, "would you like to use it?"  and there you go.  Probably got her twice the milk of a regular order.  She wanted just a plain biscuit with honey, so learning about their honey bar was quite a plus.  She tried clover, wildflower and sriracha honey.  The wildflower won out as the favorite.

Their whole deal is about making biscuits the size of a cat's head

 I chose the fried green tomato biscuit.  In a word(s)?  Holy mother of all that's put on a biscuit with smoky, creamy, brie-y, what-what????

Holy biscuit Bat Man!

 First of all, it's humongous.  Way bigger than your average bear can consume alone.  So, unless you're a lumberjack sort, I'd recommend splitting this with a friend.  It's a cat-head biscuit (of course) split and each half topped with a fried green tomato, a slab of fresh tomato, brie, a poached egg and smoked tomato hollandaise. The only hiccup at all was the the poached egg was a bit over cooked, but if you've ever tried to make poached eggs, you know this can happen in an instant and until chickens start laying transparent eggs, you just don't know. The tomatoes were fresh and wonderfully flavorful but man! that smoked tomato hollandaise was a creamy nectar of the gods.  So perfectly smoky that it lingers with you, in a good way. Add all these strong flavors with the creaminess of brie and you're in a culinary tongue twister. 

 Now, we Southerners can consume iced tea in volumes to rival all the tea drinkers in China.  Unfortunately, that volume leads to some weak, mediocre tea that in some cases ends up just being overly sweet brown water.  I ordered tea at Biscuit Head and it was RIGHT.  Good flavored tea, brewed properly, sweetened to my specs and was an awesome glass of iced tea.  Any more, I think it's of note when a restaurant is actually brewing a good batch of tea because too many aren't.

Take a look at the menu.  These are some really innovative preparations that elevate the biscuit to new heights.  Those of us in the South have always known the pristine beauty of a perfect biscuit, but now with these creative variations, even a Yankee tourist can get in on the game and realize the true culinary aristocratic nature of a proper biscuit! 

The original Biscuit Head is located at 733 Haywood Rd and the newer one is at 417 Biltmore Ave.  Click the link to their site and check out the menu.  Oh, by the way, the coffee rocks as well!