North Carolina’s Most Famous Biscuits Aren’t Found In Raleigh
Raleigh might be the capital, but the real biscuit crown belongs to a mountain town two hundred miles west.
Asheville has become ground zero for buttermilk brilliance, where flaky layers and creative toppings have turned a simple Southern staple into a cult phenomenon.
If you haven’t made the pilgrimage yet, your breakfast routine is seriously missing out.
A Biscuit Pilgrimage To Asheville
Forget theme parks and beach resorts. The hottest destination in North Carolina requires nothing more than an empty stomach and a willingness to wait in line. Biscuit Head in Asheville draws crowds that often stretch out the door on weekends, and weekdays aren’t much better.
People drive hours just to taste what food bloggers have been raving about for years. The restaurant has turned breakfast into an event, complete with Instagram moments and flavor combinations you never knew existed. Tourists plan entire vacations around getting a table here, proving that carbs truly conquer all.
Meet The Biscuit That Broke The Internet
Size matters when you’re talking about these monsters. A cathead biscuit earns its name by being roughly as big as a cat’s noggin, which sounds weird but makes perfect sense once you see one. These aren’t your grandma’s dainty tea biscuits.
Each one is famously oversized—some press photos show biscuits approaching half a pound—but most simply impress with their generous, fluffy size. The outside crisps up golden while the inside stays cloud-soft, creating the perfect vessel for whatever crazy topping you choose.
Social media buzzed for years as food influencers shared photos, and suddenly everyone needed to experience this carb-loaded wonder for themselves.
Gravy Flights And Jam Bars
Why settle for plain butter when you can sample multiple house-made gravies in a flight? Biscuit Head treats toppings like a wine tasting, offering rotating gravy options such as mushroom, sausage, and vegetarian choices.
The jam bar takes things even further with dozens of homemade preserves, ranging from classic strawberry to wild innovations like blueberry lavender.
This isn’t your typical buffet situation. Everything gets made from scratch daily, using local ingredients whenever possible. You can pile on as much or as little as you want, turning each biscuit into a completely different experience.
A Local Success Story
Founded in 2013 rather than as a food truck, Biscuit Head has grown into a regional empire without losing its soul.
Founder Jason Roy and his wife Carolyn opened their first Asheville café before expanding to Greenville, South Carolina, and other Asheville neighborhoods, each one maintaining the same commitment to scratch cooking.
Success hasn’t gone to their heads, though. The menu stays rooted in Southern tradition while embracing modern tastes, and the atmosphere remains welcoming rather than pretentious. Other restaurants try to copy the formula, but nobody captures that magic quite the same way.
The Secret Ingredient Is Asheville Itself
Location isn’t just about geography when you’re cooking with intention. Asheville’s farm-to-table culture means ingredients travel miles instead of states, arriving fresher than anything you’ll find in big city restaurants.
The mountain town’s creative energy seeps into everything, encouraging experimentation without abandoning tradition. Local dairies provide cream and butter that actually tastes like something. Nearby farms grow berries that end up in those famous jams within hours of picking.
The whole city operates on a wavelength that values quality over convenience, and Biscuit Head benefits from being surrounded by like-minded food artisans.
Why North Carolina Still Owns The Biscuit Game
Geography blessed North Carolina with a long history of soft winter wheat cultivation, which makes all the difference in texture.
Beloved Southern flours such as White Lily, made from this softer wheat, contain less protein than Northern varieties, producing that signature tender crumb everyone craves. You can follow the same recipe in Boston or Seattle and never quite replicate what happens here.
Beyond ingredients, there’s cultural knowledge baked into every batch. Grandmothers taught mothers who taught daughters the feel of proper dough, the right oven temperature, the exact moment to pull them out. That wisdom doesn’t transfer through YouTube tutorials.