The Biscuit Joint (2649 Washington)—a fast-casual, grab-and-go, biscuit-based eatery—tried to quietly open its doors early this week in Midtown. Soft openings don’t last long in 2023, though. “We announced the grand opening for October 21 but thought we’d sneak the doors open early,” says chef-owner Elliott Brown, “and word spread quickly when our products started showing up in the coffeeshop next door. Fortunately, the team was ready to go.” The eatery serves a variety of scratch-made biscuit and breakfast sandwiches every day but Sunday. Here’s what to know before you go.
The Menu
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The menu revolves around a simple biscuit recipe that uses super high-quality ingredients, Brown says. “You take a dish, decide how it can be the best it can be, and make it happen on every level—no need to overthink it.”
The menu features seven biscuit sandwiches, three versions of biscuits and gravy (sausage, roasted chicken, or local mushrooms), a signature cinnamon roll (containing savory spices), and fried biscuit bites (tossed in sugar and served with a dipping sauce). The signature OG biscuit is made with smash-cooked breakfast sausage, fried egg, American cheese, and sorghum aioli. The menu includes two fried chicken options (one with bread and butter pickles and Calabrian chili aioli; the other with bacon, American cheese and honey Dijonnaise), and two bacon options, one savory and one sweet (with egg, American cheese, and strawberry and peach jam). Lunch-appropriate sandwiches, such as a Cubano biscuit and a brisket biscuit, are in the works for the future. A large a la carte menu includes sides of eggs, bacon, sausage, a chicken cutlet, tots, and “juke jam.” Several varieties of Excel sodas are also available.
“I’ve served fancy food all my life,” Brown says, “but recently I realized I just want to serve good food and interact with people, so I’m happy to open a place that’s straightforward, without a lot of fluff. This city needs more tiny, niche-y restaurants like The Biscuit Joint, where the entire menu is pretty much one thing. Bigger cities are full of them.”
Brown adds that the restaurant can accommodate customers who are vegetarian or don’t eat pork, though “it’s almost impossible for a biscuit joint to make gluten-free biscuits. Plus, they’re not very good anyway; tots and loaded tots are as gluten-free as we can realistically go.”
The Concept
Brown—whose resume includes stints in New York, a James Beard Award–nominated restaurant in Iowa, Pastaria, Sardella, Vicia, The Last Hotel, BEAST Butcher & Block, and Winslow’s Table—has lived in Midtown for six years.
During the pandemic, he began hosting pop-up dinners at his loft apartment for eight guests at a time under the moniker Dinner at the Loft. He then started hosting them at Work & Leisure, in a space that accommodates 30. Every dinner was a sellout. “Those dinners proved the concept,” he says, “but paying the overhead wasn’t viable long-term, so the biscuit journey actually began while looking for a permanent space to continue the pop-ups.”
When Brown discovered a nearby vacant space on Washington Avenue, he saw a dual use. “I knew it would work well for our dinner pop-ups,” he says, “but it would be vacant the rest of the day, so I thought a biscuit concept—one of many restaurant ideas I have rattling around in my head—would fill a need at breakfast and lunch. And is there anyone who doesn’t like a biscuit, really?
“Omen [Coffee Company] recently opened next door and is crushing it,” he adds, “despite having any substantial food service, so we had a built-in audience.” Guests can order at The Biscuit Joint counter or via a QR code at Omen. When it’s not busy, the orders are delivered to the coffee shop. When it is, guests are notified by text.
“We kept the kitchen open so that people will be greeted with a ‘good morning’ and will be thanked when they leave,” he says. “Little things like that are important. I love a place that knows your name after the second visit and can pick up on the last conversation you had. I hope to build relationships like that, like Omen already has.”
The interior—which includes exposed brick, stone, and 20 leather-backed stools along two walnut counters—is clean, casual, and inviting. The music is energetic and upbeat. “I expect to see people in pajamas alongside people in suits,” Brown quips. “This is a quick-ticket-time concept that we think works for everybody. Delivery customers place orders directly through The Biscuit Joint, and they get delivered by DoorDash.”
The hours are 8 a.m.–2 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Sundays will be used to “scale up the concept,” Brown says, “selling ticketed, full-service brunches, like a cross between Dinner at the Loft and The Biscuit Joint,” markets that he says should cross over. Dinner at the Loft has 5,700 followers [on social media], and he bets “a lot of them would be interested in a brunch.”
Dinner at the Loft
Assisted by partner Jordy Logan and Keshon “Key” Benford, Brown plans to operate Dinner at The Loft out of the same space (adding two tables of four for a total of 28 guests) but wants his schedule to remain flexible. “Running a nighttime restaurant full-time isn’t conducive to seeing your kids, which is not what I want,” he says. “Dinner at the Loft allows me to be creative with night service but on my own terms.
“We are also planning events that include a cocktail club, wine club, dinner club, and do a second dinner club but with a guest collaborator, preferably an emerging sous chef who needs a platform, a place to craft a special menu,” he adds. “It’ll be affordable for them and for the customer. This city needs an event space for small, intimate pop-ups, and I’m excited to provide that.”
Over the last few years, Dinner at The Loft parlayed into private catered dinners, an ongoing revenue source for Brown and his team, whose wheelhouse is between eight and 20 guests. “There’s a tremendous sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in that,” Brown says. “We cooked a dinner at a private residence where Grandma was house bound. The family wanted to have a meal with her one more time, and we provided that for them. When they told me that, it gave me chills. We customized that menu as we do every menu. We’ve done more than 100 dinners and never served the same meal twice.”
Scout, another restaurant project on Wash. Ave. that Brown announced at an earlier date, is on pause until The Biscuit Joint and Dinner at The Loft launch and mature. “I would love to create a larger Dinner at the Loft venue,” he says, “a high-end event space where we could do a tasting menu for 100 people. That’s something you can’t find anywhere else in St. Louis.”
