Lucious Wilson is passionate about his work.  As the General Manager of the newly franchised concept, The Flying Biscuit Cafe, Lucious Wilson has found a hero in the restaurant’s founder, Delia Champion.  A waitress-turned entrepreneur, Delia “proved that a restaurant built on biscuits can fly.”  The Atlanta based Flying Biscuit Cafe serves up healthy comfort food, calling itself “down-home, but world-wise.”  The Biscuit offers three meals a day, including breakfast all day.  Delia says that the secret ingredient to keeping the Flying Biscuit a success is cooking with love.  “Make every decision from a place of love, and it will filter down from the employees to the customers.” 

 

Lucious Wilson agrees.  “The concept is phenomenal.  That’s what enticed me to come down here from Asheville.  It’s a wonderful opportunity.  Often in a franchise, you don’t have a lot of choice.  But it’s easier when there’s a person behind every decision, from tablecloths to dishes.  This is what she wants…this is Delia’s dream.  It’s a lot easier to work with a dream than to work with a set of core values from a corporation.  There are a lot of things we’re allowed to do that you couldn’t do in a typical franchise, such as provide our own dessert recipes for specials.  The man who bakes the biscuits is also a pastry chef, and we are free to design our specials.  By the third time he made my pie, the recipe was better than my own.”

 

So what is the concept at the Flying Biscuit Café?  The Biscuit serves a healthy, homemade breakfast all day.  They do it in an eclectic manner, in an urban, casual, colorful environment.  Oh, lunch and dinner start at 7:00a.m., as well.  “We had three men come in the other morning at 7:00 for oven fried chicken, grilled macaroni and cheese and collard greens,” says Wilson.  “And we have many who come for breakfast at night.  We serve a lot of eggs at night.”  Or you could just split the time down the middle and have an all-natural, hormone free, grass fed flat iron steak with two large farm fresh eggs. 

 

The Biscuit has some serious eats for any palate.  The menu is almost overwhelming at first glance.  Favorites include the delectable Shrimp & Grits…creamy, dreamy white cheddar grits topped with sautéed jumbo shrimp in a roasted red pepper and tomato sauce at $11.95; Love Cakes…three black bean and cornmeal cakes sautéed and topped with tomatillo salsa, sour cream, feta cheese and red onion for $7.50; and Coca-Cola Glazed Salmon, served with yukon gold mashed potatoes and french green beans, priced at $11.95.

 

Small plates range from $2.95-6.95, such as Flying Fried Green Tomatoes, seasoned and sautéed in a cast iron skillet and topped with cashew-jalapeno relish and goat cheese; Red Pepper Hummus, Baked Brie, and Stoup of the Day, a cross between stew and soup which changes all the time…just ask. 

 

One of sixteen breakfast entrees, the Flying Biscuit Breakfast, at $7.25, consists of two large farm fresh eggs served with signature chicken breakfast sausage (one can substitute with SOYsage at no charge).  All breakfasts are served with a fluffy Flying Biscuit and your choice of oven roasted “moon dusted” potatoes (there’s a taste of rosemary in there), award winning creamy, dreamy grits or a salad of field greens.  The Biscuit is happy to substitute with egg whites, as well.  Has the homemade cranberry apple butter that accompanies the sugar coated, crunchy on top, soft in the middle, homemade biscuits been mentioned?  Biscuit Love…Biscuits are a girl’s best friend…two appropriate mantras don the walls. 

 

The menu rounds off with signature salads, sides, sandwiches and hot off the griddle Organic Oatmeal Pancakes, topped with warm peach compote and maple syrup.  Dessert offerings include Key Lime Pie, Warm Chocolate “Biscuit” Bread Pudding on a puddle of vanilla crème anglaise, Georgia Peach Shortcake and Chocolate P’nut Butter Layer Cake…peanut butter crunch with milk chocolate and caramel.  All desserts, including the specials from the kitchen crew, are $4.25.  True to form, the selection of beverages from milk, to juice, to ale and wine, is diverse, eclectic, and reasonably priced. 

 

Unlike the Atlanta establishments, which are in urban, professional areas that cater mostly to adults, the Ballantyne location is more family oriented.  The eighty seat indoor capacity at Stonecrest expands to almost equal space and capacity on a lovely patio, full of umbrellas.

   

“We are so excited,” gushes general manager Lucious Wilson.  “We have the best crew, and the best kitchen crew.  We have an eclectic vibe, so there’s something for everyone.  Founder Delia Champion generates ‘The Delia Effect.’  She motivates people to go to tremendous lengths, and we’re excited.  One thing I would like to convey to the community is thanks for all the positive energy I have received from individuals who come in.  For example, it rained on Mother’s Day, our biggest day of the year, closing the patio.  It was crazy.  In the midst of that, one person and then another stopped me to say, ‘We thought it was worth the wait,’ ‘This is our first time here and we think it’s wonderful,’ or that they loved the food, and what a good experience they had.  People don’t have to stop and encourage us, so I have really appreciated all the positive comments we’ve received.”  Here’s to Flour Power. 

One can buy a t-shirt or take home a cookbook from The Flying Biscuit Café at Stonecrest.  Homemade cranberry apple butter and balsamic vinaigrette dressing are sold by the jar.  Biscuits and menu items are available to carry out.  They also cater a business function or a party.