There are worse ways to spend a summer than driving the backroads of Northeast Georgia in search of the perfect biscuit.
With a feisty 2-year-old riding shotgun—or, more accurately, firmly secured in the backseat—I set out across the region in search of the biscuits our readers told us we simply had to try.
The Great Southern Biscuit Beatdown began with nominations from our readers. Those nominations became our guideposts. We followed the votes across Northeast Georgia, from Gainesville to Lavonia, from Helen to Tiger, through Clarkesville, Baldwin, Clermont, Sautee Nacoochee and Eastanollee. In that sense, every restaurant we visited was already a People’s Choice winner before we ever took the first bite.
And we took many first bites.
We visited 3 Heifers and a Hotplate, Dairy Queen in Clarkesville, Mr. Biscuit’s Cafe, MC’s Kountry Kitchen, Dottie’s Kitchen, The Biscuit Barn in Downtown Lavonia, Tiger Biscuit Place, Cheryl’s Grill, Longstreet Cafe, Sweetwater Coffeehouse, Rabbittown Cafe, Miss Kitty’s, Maryland Fried Chicken and Stew-N-Que.
Some were towering. Some were buttery. Some were pretty as a poem. More than once, Maple and I found ourselves completely stuffed before 10 a.m.
It was grueling work, but we persevered.
But first, a word from the folks who made the Beatdown possible
The Great Southern Biscuit Beatdown is presented with the support of Loretta’s Country Kitchen, located at 4305 Mundy Mill Road in Oakwood. This regionally iconic restaurant serves straightforward and delicious Southern comfort food in a cafeteria-style setting.
The Golden Biscuit: Maryland Fried Chicken
First Place — Best Biscuit in Northeast Georgia
Maryland Fried Chicken in Eastanollee is a community ecosystem disguised as a restaurant. Black-and-white tile runs beneath yellow walls and wood paneling that has mercifully escaped the great beigeification of the 21st century. While Maple and I ate, a train rolled past. The parking lot filled, emptied and filled again. Customers lingered outside after breakfast to talk, and people pulling in waved to people pulling out. Inside, the kitchen kept plates moving.
The chicken arrived thick and juicy beneath crisp, flavorful skin, with meat tender enough to cut with a fork. The biscuit had some heft, with a thick, remarkably soft center that pulled apart easily. The staff greeted us warmly and sent us out the same way.
Maryland Fried Chicken earned the Golden Biscuit for our favorite biscuit of the Beatdown.
2095 Liberty Hill Road, Eastanollee
The Silver Skillet: Mr. Biscuit’s Cafe
Second Place + Maple’s Choice Award
Won’t He do it? This is the motto of the owners of Mr. Biscuit Cafe.
The answer to that question, surrounding their prayerful leap of faith in establishing the cafe, seems to be a resounding, “Yes.”
Mr. Biscuit’s Cafe walked away from the Beatdown with 2 awards, including one bestowed by a judge whose standards can prove considerably more difficult to satisfy than mine.
Maple chose Mr. Biscuit’s for the Maple’s Choice Award, and I gave the Clarkesville cafe the Silver Skillet as our overall runner-up.
Mr. Biscuit’s has built a menu around coffee, espresso, boba, loaded teas, sandwiches and pastries, but the name on the door still carries certain obligations. If you call yourself Mr. Biscuit, the biscuit had better show up ready to work.
It did.
596 W. Louise Drive, Suite D, Clarkesville
Miss Kitty’s: The Southern Spread + Worth the Drive
I love Miss Kitty’s.
The biscuit arrived soft and pillowy and cram-jammed with jelly. The kids loved it, I loved it, and then the pork loin biscuit came along piled with tender, savory meat.
Miss Kitty herself has the same warmth as the food she serves. Her operation has a drive-thru, outdoor dining, a new bench and bright pink-lemonade-colored umbrellas. The portions come generous!
Miss Kitty’s earned the Southern Spread Award and Worth the Drive Award.
The man responsible for the biscuits applies a rigorous formula to his creations prompting the nickname, the Walter White of biscuits. I have questions. I have chosen not to ask them.
6944 Holly Springs Road, Clermont
MC’s Kountry Kitchen: Most Buttery Bite + Prom Queen
Some biscuits have looks, and the biscuit at MC’s Kountry Kitchen could coast on them.
Truly golden and extremely photogenic, it earned the Prom Queen Award for the prettiest biscuit in the Beatdown. Fortunately, the biscuit also came prepared with a personality. A generous buttery flavor earned MC’s our Most Buttery Bite award.
MC’s Kountry Kitchen has served the Hollywood community since 1945, long enough to see breakfast trends come, go and come back again under new names. Homemade biscuits, gravy and coffee have survived all of them. I’ve also been told they make a mean burger, which gives me a perfectly respectable excuse to return after breakfast hours.
3690 Hollywood Highway, Clarkesville
Dottie’s Kitchen: Grandma Would Approve
I loved the owner of Dottie’s Kitchen.
She was kind to Maple, easy to talk to and cool in the effortless way that makes you want to pull up a chair and chat. Her staff treated us just as warmly.
Dottie’s sits in Helen, where the spacious dining room feels current while retaining the comfort people want from a breakfast place. The meat came savory and rich, and then I saw the biscuits.
Cathead biscuits.
Those 2 words carry considerable weight in the South.
Dottie’s earned the Grandma Would Approve Award for a biscuit that tastes familiar in the best possible way: big, comforting and homemade. Just like grandma, this biscuit has character.
I can’t wait to go back.
8287 S. Main Street, Helen
The Biscuit Barn: People’s Choice
If someone asked me to draw CuteSouthernRestaurant™️ from memory, I would probably draw The Biscuit Barn in Downtown Lavonia.
There are geese.
Decorative geese, to clarify. The wonderfully 1990s sort, the ones with the big blue bows, which have somehow lived long enough to become fashionable again. Polished wood, high ceilings and bay windows complete a dining room that feels pleasantly nostalgic.
Then the biscuit arrives.
As for the accompanying gravy, beloved by many a regular, Mom makes it. Not my mom, mind you, but definitely someone with serious mom energy.
Readers gave The Biscuit Barn more nominations than any other establishment in the Beatdown, earning it the People’s Choice Award. The people of Northeast Georgia have spoken, and they would like biscuits and gravy with a side of geese.
207 W. Main Street, Lavonia
Cheryl’s Grill: Best Rise in the South
I asked Maple what she thought of Cheryl’s Grill.
“Delicious.”
That is a big, 3-syllable endorsement from a 2-year-old.
Maple and I split the biscuit and still left full. Cheryl’s makes a tall, fluffy biscuit with enough substance to stick with you, especially if it comes with sausage and egg. This biscuit quite literally melted in my mouth.
Cheryl herself was every bit as sweet as those who love her proclaim.
The height and fluff earned Cheryl’s Grill the Best Rise in the South award. This biscuit has altitude- and even a little bit of attitude.
305 Panther Brook Lane, Unit A, Clarkesville
Stew-N-Que: Southern Hospitality Award
My eyes were agog when I saw the selection at Stew-N-Que.
The Baldwin institution serves a sprawling cafeteria-style spread of Southern food. Choosing my meat and three felt like a binding legal decision. I stood before the steam table as though poised with a pen, about to sign the papers on a $500,000 balloon mortgage in 2007 with 80 cents and a banana in my bank account.
I paused several times with questions, poorly landed jokes and, at one point, to scold Maple for rolling around on the floor. The women working behind the counter patiently answered approximately 9,000 questions while I conducted the apparently serious business of choosing lunch.
They asked Maple her name and remembered it.
Leah Vance was there, too, which hardly surprised me. She has a way of appearing wherever Habersham County needs an extra pair of hands. From the Clarkesville Thanksgiving meal to the Habersham County Fair and more community events than I can reasonably keep track of, Leah has made a habit of showing up wherever there’s work to be done. She carried the same warmth at her job at Stew-N-Que that I’ve seen her bring to the community elsewhere.
The food brought us through the door. The people earned Stew-N-Que the Southern Hospitality Award.
1065 Willingham Avenue, Baldwin
Sweetwater Coffeehouse: Most Complex Biscuit
Sweetwater Coffeehouse serves up a fascinating cheesy biscuit.
The cheese gives the biscuit layers of flavor as you eat, making a familiar Southern breakfast staple a little more interesting without getting too clever for its own good.
Sweetwater also gives you plenty of reasons to sip and stay. The Sautee Nacoochee coffeehouse has a porch, breakfast, coffee and a shop filled with pottery and handmade goods.
The biscuit earned our Most Complex Biscuit award for packing a surprising amount of flavor into a familiar package.
2242 GA-17, Sautee Nacoochee
Tiger Biscuit Place
Tiger Biscuit Place gave us exactly what its name promised.
We found a filling biscuit, quick service, friendly people and a simple patio where we could sit outside and eat. There is something refreshing about a breakfast place that knows its business and gets on with it.
3250 Old 441 S., Tiger
Dairy Queen, Clarkesville
Yes, Dairy Queen.
Do not sleep on this biscuit.
The district manager takes his food seriously and made a point of telling me that the biscuits are homemade from scratch. He refuses to have them any other way.
The biscuit comes flaky on the outside and warm and soft inside, which explains why I already sought these out before the Beatdown. I occasionally pick them up when I want to surprise my husband with breakfast at work.
Ice cream may get top billing later in the day, but breakfast deserves some attention, too.
1498 Historic U.S. 441, Clarkesville
Longstreet Cafe
OMG.
Longstreet Cafe is so affordable and good.
Walking through the door takes me back to the restaurants my grandmother and I visited in rural Alabama during the early aughts. Longstreet serves cafeteria-style Southern food without fuss or frills: biscuits, meat, vegetables, deserts and generous portions at prices that make you check the receipt twice.
I love taking Maple here.
The Ten Commandments printed on the cups seal the deal. Peak Southern cafeteria.
405 Pearl Nix Parkway, Gainesville
Rabbittown Cafe
Rabbittown Cafe commits to the rabbit theme.
There are rabbits inside. Many rabbits. A giant rabbit stands outside, where it has surely appeared in approximately 47,000 family photographs by now.
The Gainesville restaurant keeps an old-school cafeteria setup and offers a positively enormous drink selection. Locals have loved the place for years, and the steady crowd makes that affection easy to see.
2415 Old Cornelia Highway, Gainesville
3 Heifers and a Hotplate
3 Heifers and a Hotplate took over a former Mexican restaurant and turned the space into something cozy, colorful and full of personality.
Maple and I loved the decor and atmosphere, and the staff treated us kindly throughout our visit. The restaurant also has a devoted following. We saw that loyalty firsthand while we were there, with customers who clearly needed no convincing from us about where to eat breakfast.
And the Biscuit Goes On
I started the Great Southern Biscuit Beatdown looking for biscuits, and boy, did we find them. We drove highways and backroads like John Steinbeck and Charley, his faithful poodle companion, roaming the country in search of America—or, in our case, Northeast Georgia’s best biscuit.
I went looking for it with a 2-year-old in the backseat. Somewhere between the little towns, crowded parking lots, cafeteria lines, cups of diner coffee and more biscuits than any reasonable person should consume in the name of blogging, we found an awful lot of Northeast Georgia along the way.
