There has been a rise in biscuit centered eateries across the country, everywhere from Biscuit Love in Nashville to Pine State Biscuits in Portland. One thing is certain, Little Rock can make some damn fine biscuits, so it is no shocker that it is time for our fair city to get into the biscuit game. Enter Delta Biscuit Company.
Delta Biscuit Company is the brainchild of Hayne Begley, who has teased us for years about the desire to open up a restaurant. The search zoned in on his love for breakfast and desire to make it more available in the city.
“I love breakfast, if I wake up in the afternoon, I still want breakfast,” Begley tells us. “It is one of those things that I absolutely love. It is hard to find breakfast every day outside a chain, and I wanted to have that available.”
Indeed there are few local options for breakfast all day, most days of the week. A few spots like Mugs Cafe offers a full day menu, but for most it is a weekend thing.
As you would expect, the menu in Delta Biscuit Company is going to be centered around the buttery bread. We tried a sample of biscuits from the latest iteration of Begley’s recipe and found them to be top notch. Very buttery with several layers and the right amount of crumble.
“We went through several versions using various ratios of lard and butter, but I found that an all butter biscuit tastes best,” Begley explains.
The biscuits will come with a number of options from various meats, gravy, and other seasonal offerings. Delta Biscuit Company will also have a number of daily specials such as cinnamon rolls or short run biscuit pairings.
“We want to run special items frequently,” Begley says. “For example we will have fresh cinnamon rolls on Fridays, certain days we will do bbq or special meat cuts, or seasonal fruit items. We want to keep people excited about new items and give people a reason to come in.”
In addition to the food offerings, Delta Biscuit Company plans to have a full line of local craft beer and locally roasted coffee. “We want to make it if you want to come in at 10:30 and have a beer you can, or if you want to come in early afternoon and have a quality espresso, that is an option too.”
Begley says he plans to locally source as many items as possible, and focus on fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables when available. He also wants to eventually buy locally raised whole pigs and do in house butchery to bring a wider variety of meat options.
As for a location and open date, Delta Biscuit Company is zeroing in on a location and hopes to be able to announce that soon. Begley is targeting an open date of first quarter 2017 for opening. We will follow the progress and keep you up to date, you can also follow Delta Biscuit Company on Facebook for a look into the recipes Begley is working on, and future announcements about the restaurant.
