Bojangles or Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen? Pick the Triangle’s best biscuit
In the ultimate biscuit showdown, it’s the local hero versus one of the South’s biggest and most beloved biscuit brands.
For the crown of Best Biscuit in the Triangle, it’s down to Chapel Hill’s Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen or Bojangles, which has locations all over the area.
In the third round, Sunrise collected the most votes from local biscuit fans, edging Bojangles by a couple dozen votes as the two move on to the final. Left in the third round are the popular biscuits from the State Farmer’s Market Restaurant and fast food chain Biscuitville.
The Biscuit Bracket
The News & Observer has collected 16 of the most popular local biscuits for the Triangle Biscuit Bracket, from fast-food giants, everyday diners and artisan bakers, searching for the best biscuit within arm’s reach.
Here’s how it works
In the final round, biscuit fans vote for the top biscuit in the Triangle, choosing between Bojangles and Sunrise Biscuit. Voting ends Thursday, Nov. 3 at noon. Then, we’ll crown one of the tastiest honors in the Triangle, best biscuit. Results will be posted later that day.
(Note: This is not a scientific poll. Readers are allowed to vote multiple times Voting bracket only available in the online version of this story.)
Here are all 16 original contenders:
Beasley’s Chicken + Honey
237 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh. 919-322-0127 or ac-restaurants.com/beasleys
The chicken is the star of this casual Ashley Christensen spot in downtown Raleigh, but if the equation had another addition, it might be Chicken+honey+biscuits. Large, cloudy buttermilk biscuits are the style at Beasley’s, served a buttery brown and slicked with honey. The star sandwich is a chicken biscuit with pickled green tomatoes, honey and zippy dijon mustard.
Big Ed’s Restaurant
220 Wolfe St., Raleigh. 919-836-9909 or bigedsnc.com
5009 Falls of Neuse Road, Raleigh. 919-747-9533
231 Timber Drive, Garner. 919-900-7764
A legendary brand of Southern restaurants in the Triangle, Big Ed’s is perhaps best known for its biscuits. The original downtown Raleigh location is a breakfast hot spot, with two other Big Ed’s added over the years. A Big Ed’s biscuit is, unsurprisingly, big, baked until browned and crumbly with a pillowy center, the perfect place to slide in a slice of country ham.
Biscuit Haven
Food truck in Raleigh. biscuithaven.com
This fairly new food truck in the Triangle is already making waves in the biscuit world, serving popular weekly pop-ups stocked with fried chicken biscuits, pimento cheese and fried eggs.
Biscuitville
Ten locations in the Triangle. biscuitville.com
On Saturday mornings, Biscuitvilles across North Carolina practically need their own lane of traffic. It’s fast food, but its Southern breakfast bonafides are real, even serving grits as a side. Fans of these biscuits believe a great biscuit doesn’t need to be three inches tall to pack intense flavor.
Bojangles
Twenty-eight locations in the Triangle. bojangles.com
Perhaps the first name in North Carolina biscuits, Bojangles is the standard many biscuits are judged against. This fast food giant clearly puts a lot of pride in their biscuits, with many locations featuring a window where diners can watch batch after batch mixed up, rolled out, cut and baked to a crispy, salty perfection.
Flying Biscuit Cafe
9400 Brier Creek Parkway, Suite 101, Brier Creek. 984-219-2323 or flyingbiscuit.com
201 S. Estes Drive, Unit E2, Chapel Hill. 919-537-8974
2016 Clark Ave., Raleigh. 919-833-6924
With locations across multiple states, this popular and funky trio of diners in the Triangle lives up to its name. The biscuits are tall and big on fluff factor and always golden brown on top.
Jubala Coffee
8450 Honeycutt Road, Suite 104, Raleigh. 919-758-8330 or jubalacoffee.com
2100 Hillsborough St., Suite 100, Raleigh. 919-792-1767
200 Park at North Hills St., Suite 140, Raleigh. 984-200-5048
The Jubala brand of biscuit is endlessly crumbly (in a good way) and lightly sweetened, which adds a nice depth to a sausage and egg sammie, or doubles down in the indulgence of, say, a smear of raspberry jam paired with a silky cup of specialty coffee. This is what morning routines were meant to be.
Mama Dip’s Kitchen
408 W. Rosemary St., Chapel Hill. 919-942-5837 or mamadips.com
A Southern food icon in Chapel Hill, Mama Dip’s Kitchen continues to serve the gospel of freshly made sides, soul-warming desserts and classic biscuits.
Monuts
1002 Ninth St., Durham. 919-286-2642 or monutsdonuts.com
Among the array of excellent baked treats at this Durham doughnut shop and diner, the biscuits have a particularly strong point of view. They’re square, for one, and huge, big enough for crispy fried chicken and a pickle with hot honey, or simple and sublime with just a smear of pumpkin butter.
Neal’s Deli
100 E. Main St., Carrboro. 919-967-2185 or nealsdeli.com
A favorite in downtown Carrboro, the biscuits at Neal’s Deli are among the largest and fluffiest one can find anywhere, made with buttermilk and baked to deeply golden brown.
Rise Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken
Nine locations in the Triangle. risebiscuitschicken.com
This fast casual brand basically rewrote the local word on biscuits in the Triangle, quickly building a loyal following with numerous locations from Carrborro to Raleigh. The Rise biscuit is a buttery behemoth, crispy on the outside and fluffy throughout.
State Farmers Market Restaurant
1240 Farmers Market Drive, Raleigh. 919-755-1550 or realbiscuits.com
Adjacent to the agricultural delights of the State Farmers Market is a Raleigh biscuit landmark. Down to the website address, the Farmers Market Restaurant promises the realest of real biscuits, baked in the old fashioned way with a golden brown top and luscious pull-apart, cloud-like bites.
Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen
1305 E. Franklin St., Chapel Hill. 919-933-1324 or sunrisebiscuits.com
This iconic Chapel Hill drive thru biscuit shop is among the first names in Triangle biscuit cravings, feeding generations of UNC students and locals and calling biscuit devotees from far and wide to the tiny kitchen on Franklin Street, particularly for fried chicken biscuits.
Time-Out Restaurant
201 E. Franklin St., Chapel Hill. 919-929-2425 or timeout247.com
At all hours of the night, any night of the year, Time-Out will be there for you on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. The comfort of an all-the-time diner, especially in this case, is that you can find a giant, crumb-tastic biscuit whenever the need or craving arises. The famous order is the chicken and cheddar biscuit, which has drawn the attention of eaters like “Man Versus Food’s” Adam Richman.
True Flavors Diner/Debbie Lou’s Biscuit Sandwich Shop
5410 N.C. 55, Durham. trueflavorsdiner.com
As one of the Triangle’s most popular brunch destinations, True Flavors launched its own biscuit-centric brand, Debbie Lou’s, specializing in fork-and-knife biscuit towers. One of the standout creations is the blueberry chipotle chicken biscuit, an artisan mashup of a certain Big Biscuit’s Bo-Berry treasure and a fried chicken biscuit.
Union Special
2409 Crabtree Blvd., Suite 201, Raleigh. 984-200-3094 or unionsprecialbread.com
Nestled among the bready wizardry of this Raleigh bakery, alongside airy croissants and artisan sourdough, is a perfect little biscuit. Usually ordered with a crispy cutlet of fried chicken, the Union Special Biscuit is richly golden, big on crumbliness and crispy and soft in the right places.
This story was originally published October 21, 2022 at 6:45 AM.
