My trip was over, but I had one more stop to make on my way out of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area (this is about an hour outside of Raleigh). Sunrise Biscuits, where I heard the biscuits were fluffy, fresh, and the chicken divine… how do you not want to stop there? Love the old school look of the place.
If you look really closely – that’s Blue Thunder on the left side of the pic – you will see the ever curious Keywee who wants to know what I’m doing.
My order was quickly taken, and took a few minutes to come out – freshly made, I presume. I decided to be a bit of a piggy, though I didn’t finish my coffee – an 8 hour drive ahead of me made that the obvious choice.
Chicken&biscuit. Piping hot, fluffy biscuit.
The biscuit was buttery, fluffy, and lovely. I’m not a huge biscuit-eater to begin with, but I liked this one and it did a great job cradling the chicken.
And the chicken? It seems a bit decadent to eat fried chicken for breakfast, but when in Rome… *shrug* Who am I to argue? Crisp exterior, moist, fluffy interior… this was way better than the Bojangle’s version, and about the same price or thereabouts – $3. I would be happy eating just this chicken, white meat as it was…
But you see, I’d been worried about the chicken possibly being dry, so I’d piggily decided to also order a side of sausage gravy for $1.40. This cup arrived and I thought “holy crap, I’m going to eat this gravy all by itself, aren’t I?”
Big chunks of sausage were in the gravy, which had mostly good flavor except… I could taste the flour. It wasn’t cooked through completely so that raw flour taste prevailed a bit and I hate that. I wound up eating the chicken dipped in a little gravy, then smashed my biscuit into the gravy, ate the parts with sausage and a bit of biscuit, a little gravy, and calling it a day. I didn’t need to eat the rest of the day…
Oh wait, and my hash brown! I don’t think many people order this there… it was clearly freshly fried (good), but it wasn’t fried completely crispy and it hadn’t been drained of oil at all, so the hash brown stuck to the wrapper and ripped the exterior off, wahhh… otherwise this was eh, unnecessary (though another good vehicle for eating sausage gravy!).
This all came out to about $8 or so. Not bad considering how much food I got and could have done without! Also on the menu are sausage biscuits, steak, redhots – but I couldn’t figure out what a redhot was! – ham, butter, pork chop biscuits (!!!), tenderloin, fatback and bacon… yeah I think you can get just about anything on a biscuit here. Including gravy.
Amusing side note: I got in my car and sat there, programming my GPS and trying to figure out how many stops I wanted to make on the way home, etc. Eight hour drive ahead of me and all, you know? While I sat there, an older man came out and looked at my car, then motioned for me to roll down my window, and proceeded to ask me if I was from Jamaica, NY – my license plate frame says Hillside Honda, because that’s where I got the car. He told me he used to live in Jamaica, Queens, and that his family still lived up there but he lived down here now and loved it. Small world – he was so nice, too, wishing me a safe trip home several times (he asked if I lived down here now, and I told him no, I’d just visited friends and was driving back to NYC now). Funny 🙂
Yvo says: While I can’t claim there’s a whole lot else to do in Oxford (though it’s a historical area; I just didn’t Google to find out what else is there), if you find yourself in the area, you have to stop here for a biscuit or two. It’s really good, and the old fashioned feel to the place is just amazing, incredible and will make you smile if you’re at all goofy like me. Plus you can get FATBACK on a biscuit. Do you know what fatback is? No? Then Google it! I want to try every single thing they have, yum yum yum!!! I will definitely be back – every single time I visit my friends, on my way home, I will be back. And if I move there, I’ll make sure to stop by every once in a while.
recommended
BeerBoor says
There’s nothing in Oxford. Trust me.
During my four-plus years working there (shout-out to Plastic Ingenuity!) I went through most of the Sunrise biscuit menu. I never saw anyone get the hash brown. The pork chop Sunrise (egg and cheese make any biscuit a Sunrise) was quite good, but yeah, fatback. Or Canadian bacon. Made with love every morning and so terrible for you.
Aimee Self says
I’m not a biscuit kind of girl (I’m a Yankee so…) but I do like one done well. These look good.
Feisty Foodie says
I’m a Yankee too but a good biscuit every once in a while is nice!
Hungry says
Is this place related in any way to Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen in Chapel Hill?
BeerBoor says
If the sign looks the same, they’re related. I think Oxford came first though, especially if you saw the nice ladies who cook and serve.
Feisty Foodie says
No, not at all. Completely unrelated.
kimberly says
I used to live in Jamaica, but in the ‘not so bright’ area. The high school was equipped with metal detector at the entrance. That’s how bad it was. What a nice encounter with a former NYer. 🙂
T.C. says
Looks good to me. Since no innards, I’m wondering how meaty the chicken was or more on the crusty side?
Feisty Foodie says
The ‘crust’ was very thin, it was all juicy delicious chicken! 🙂
chakrateeze says
Fatback is the fat and rind of the back of a pig (as opposed to the belly) that’s been salted for long-term preservation. We use it to season greens, black-eyed peas or in place of bacon for breakfast. My grandmother loved it, me not so much. ‘Cause, frankly, it’s a little rank. As for red hots, they’re smoked sausages with a thick red (dye # something or other) casing.
Those biscuits look great! I’ll have to check it out if I’m ever in the neighborhood.
Tracie