Sometimes the simplest things bring the greatest joy, and when sampling Southern cuisine, that can mean biting into a fluffy, feather-light biscuit, warm from the oven and covered in butter. Biscuits may be topped with jelly, jam, pimento cheese, or covered in sausage gravy depending on where you go. They’re definitely a Southern staple and if you’re looking to try some of the best in Nashville, here’s where you want to go (in no particular order).
Kitchen Notes
250 5th Avenue South, Downtown Nashville
Kitchen Notes, housed in the Omni Hotel downtown, serves biscuits every day, all made from a Southern recipe handed down from the chef’s grandmother. Bites of perfect imperfection, these rough-around-the-edges biscuits are served for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
You can sample four different types daily: sweet, savory, gluten-free, and buttermilk. No two look exactly alike, with a delectably firm crust and a perfectly soft center. Top them with butter, fresh local jams and jellies, or pimento cheese.
The Farm House
210 Almond Street, Downtown Nashville
The Farm House offers light, flaky, biscuits made with butter, buttermilk, and that the famous Southern standby, White Lilly Flour. Biscuits here are a favorite during weekday or Sunday brunch. Enjoy them with butter and jam or topped with sausage gravy. This classic farm-to-table restaurant also sometimes serves a BBQ biscuit sandwich.
Husk
37 Rutledge Street, Downtown Nashville
Husk is known for some of the best biscuits in the South, and you can enjoy them with brunch or dinner. Chef Katie Coss says biscuits here are made with smoked Tennessee cheddar cheese giving them their unique flavor. Biscuits are cooked right before each meal, so they’re fresh and warm to the touch. Come early!
Marché Artisan Foods
1000 Main Street, East Nashville
Marché Artisan Foods, owned by longtime Nashville chef Margot McCormack, is located in East Nashville and serves brunch all day (voted the best brunch in Nashville for 12 straight years), featuring her delicious buttermilk biscuits. Here you can have biscuits with butter and jam or topped with an egg and sausage gravy. Biscuits are folded, layered, and baked to perfection.
Biscuit Love
316 11th Avenue S., The Gulch
Biscuit Love started out as a food truck, and now has several brick-and-mortar locations, including one in the Gulch. They’re known for their Bonuts — a biscuit-donut hybrid — as well as the East Nasty, a biscuit with chicken, cheddar cheese, and sausage gravy. Stop by for breakfast or lunch, but you’ll have to find dinner biscuits elsewhere; the doors close at 3 p.m.
Photo: Loveless Cafe on Facebook
Loveless Café
8400 TN-100, Nashville
If you’re a biscuit lover in Nashville, you’ve almost certainly heard of the Loveless Cafe, famed in town and beyond for its Southern-style biscuits, made from scratch. These quintessential bites of Nashville haven’t changed since 1951, and are served alongside their famous house-made preserves.
Loveless Café is nestled on a farm about 20 minutes outside of downtown Nashville off a rolling section of Highway 100. Don’t get out that way much? Pick up a bag of dry mix from the Loveless’ Hams & Jams Country Market, and you’ll be able to recreate this iconic bite in your own kitchen.
Henrietta Red
1200 4th Avenue N., Germantown
Henrietta Red serves brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., featuring savory biscuits created by pastry chef Caitlyn Jarvis, with help from a family recipe handed down by her grandmother. Toppings offered with her always-amazing buttermilk biscuits vary depending on the season, from marmalade to lemon jam, apple butter, and more.
Slow Hand Coffee + Bakeshop
1012 Gallatin Ave., East Nashville
Southerners take some things so seriously that it’s unwise to weigh in with an opinion, lest you be challenged by those with generations of experience. Who makes the best biscuit is one of these topics.
So, we won't go so far as to say that Slow Hand Coffee + Bakeshop in East Nashville has "the best" biscuit. However, we will say it is very, very good — flaky, multi-layered, not at all dry or chalky. It’s served best cut in half with an egg and cheese or chicken for a breakfast sandwich. You'll need a knife and fork, too; these biscuits are too big to get your whole mouth 'round.
Looking for a way to explore the best food in Nashville? Walk Eat Nashville walking food tours make it easy — covering East Nashville, Midtown and SoBro/Downtown, each tour includes tastings at multiple restaurants/shops and behind-the-scenes interactions with chefs and owners. Learn more about Walk Eat Nashville food tours.