Mountain Biscuits

** THIS RESTAURANT IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED **

I was skeptical when the woman behind the counter recommended a fried biscuit, describing it as “like a beignet”: a fully baked biscuit that spends time in the fry kettle, after which it is served under a thick blanket of powdered sugar. It does look like a beignet, but since it starts as a substantial breadstuff made of dough that is laced with plenty of fat to begin with, it weighs two to three times as much. A first bite is formidable, for it is dense and chewy, but I found myself quickly going back for a second bite, then more … even though the menu had about a dozen other biscuit creations I was planning to try. No, it is not puffy like a beignet, nor fluffy like an oven-hot biscuit, but its avoirdupois – so well abetted by the massive layer of powdered sugar on top – won my heart. Let’s put it this way: The fried biscuit is to its baked cousin what a chewy bagel is to light white bread.

As if the double-trouble biscuit wasn’t iconoclastic enough, the same woman behind the counter ooed and ahhed when I asked about Mountain Biscuit’s fried cinnamon roll. Yes, it’s a perfectly decent cinnamon roll elevated to supreme wantonness by a hot oil bath and a generous glaze of sweet sugar icing. It, too, is dense and substantial; and it, too, put me off at first bite. But between sample bites of the more “ordinary” biscuit offerings on the menu, I kept coming back to this sweet bad boy. I am not ready to concede that everything tastes better when it’s fried, but I sure will be ordering these two items when I come back.

And I will come back. Aside from the above-mentioned oddities, the biscuit menu here is a roster of Southern classics, the biscuits themselves broad and cushiony, available sandwiching country ham (or regular ham), bacon, crisp-fried chicken (wonderful!), tenderloins and chicken-fried steaks.

It is a charming little spot located in a former gas station with very cozy indoor seating (much business is take-out) as well as a few picnic tables outside. Thanks to Classclown75 for the excellent recommendation.