Buttercloud Bakery

There are to lots of places on the road that make good biscuits, and quite a few even that specialize in biscuits, but there few places that take biscuits as seriously as the Buttercloud Bakery in Medford, Oregon. In fact, if you don’t like biscuits, don’t bother coming. If you do like biscuits, make a detour. The biscuits and total breakfast experience are worth it.

All the classic accompaniments for a biscuit are available. There’s great whipped butter, housemade jams and, of course, gravy. Strong French press coffee from Rogue River’s Evans Valley Roasting and careful cooking of eggs and breakfast meats provide support. 

As the name implies, the biscuits focus on lightness rather than richness. They are a rolled biscuit with a tall rise and darker on top than most: ideal texture and shape for biscuit sandwiches. Many of the sandwiches feature products from the famed Rogue Creamery. The Rogue Scramble inserts scrambled eggs and the Creamery’s rosemary cheddar cheese. It is appropriately restrained — you don’t want too much getting in the way of an airy biscuit and Rouge Creamery cheese. Add Aardvark Hot Sauce to relieve dryness and brighten it up.

Biscuits are gravy are satisfying. Black pepper bacon gravy wets and spices the biscuits just the way they need: a fairly good rendition of a favorite dish.

Unexpectedly, we like the French Biscuit Plate the best of all. The airiness of the biscuits is exaggerated by a shell of egg batter. Maple syrup rolls off at first, but gets folded into as you eat. Biscuit French toast ends up tasting donut-like. Served with bacon and eggs, this is a pretty sinful breakfast.

If you don’t want to indulge in such a decadent meal, biscuits are sold by the piece and can be slathered with creamery butter or their house made jams. Orange-blackberry jam is a very Oregonian choice to sweeten them up.

This being Oregon, they even serve beer at the biscuit cafe, including an IPA and a Maple Porter that’s specifically made for them by local brewers.