The Best Biscuits in Los Angeles

Charcoal is a relatively casual, but still refined Venice restaurant from Mélisse chef-owner Josiah Citrin. Weekend brunch brings substantial aged cheddar buttermilk biscuits coated with pepper honey and served with premium butter. They credit frozen, finely grated butter as one key to the biscuit dough’s success, since that form becomes easier to incorporate. Flour and buttermilk are layered before the dough’s folded four or five times. They’re careful not to overmix, which leads to a tough, dense texture. One-inch rounds are punched, brushed with butter, and baked, yielding light, fluffy results.

Tyler King presides over a caffeine-fueled business now that now has branches in West Hollywood, Hollywood and Burbank, with more outlets on the way. Coffee Commissary’s Burbank branch, with a pink rooster logo, planter-lined patio and photogenic zigzag flooring, features very good biscuits bolstered by buttermilk and high fat Plugra butter. Pastry chef Naomi Shim, who developed the initial recipe, pointed out, “obsessive collaborative culture” has led to biscuit improvements. She said, “What gives our biscuit visible layers and perfect texture is using frozen butter, mixing it by hand, and using the right blend of all-purpose flour and pastry flour.” She credits pastry flour for “lightness” and pastry flour for “nice spring and chew.” Biscuits are available with sausage gravy or as a sandwich with fried chicken.

This bustling Brentwood Country Mart restaurant, market and bakery from chef Jeff Cerciello, also has a Bay Area branch in Larkspur. Their buttermilk biscuit is fairly large and straightforward, served with sea salt dusted butter and a seasonal jam like strawberry. According to Jeffrey de Leon, Farmshop’s Santa Monica based Group Pastry Chef, “We try to focus on using the best ingredients, like European-style butter and locally milled flours, while concentrating on the method and tradition that makes a fluffy flaky biscuit.” Mission accomplished.

When biscuits have their own Facebook page, that’s probably a good sign that you should order a batch. At Manhattan Beach Post, chef David LeFevre’s bacon cheddar buttermilk biscuits are justifiably famous. These buttery biscuits are uniformly buttery and arrive studded with smoky Nueske bacon. What makes these biscuits so special? "For some guests it's the bits of cheese that ooze out and form crispy little blobs on the edges, for others it's the maple butter or the smoky bacon,” said LeFevre. “For me the secret is starting with a memory and recipe that's special to me and building on that on to make something really soulful."

Chefs Brooke Williamson and Nick Roberts house four concepts under one roof within shouting distance of the Playa del Rey sand. At breakfast and brunch, they serve buttery biscuits with butter and spoonfuls of dulce de leche finished with sea salt, which add a savory hit to sweetness. Feuer credits the success of her biscuits to a “very light touch to maintain the fluffiness and tenderness of the dough.”

Poppy + Rose has become a comfort food beacon in downtown’s Flower District. For his biscuits, Georgia native Ryan Lamon, who also runs The Peaches Truck with co-owner Diana Yin, crafts delectable buttermilk biscuits at the restaurant they run with chef Michael Reed. He gives his dough six turns, rolling and folding six times, leading to a good crust and soft, pillowy core. His “little brother to laminated dough” involves plenty of butter and buttermilk. Lamon previously used smoked tallow in his biscuit recipe, but some people didn’t embrace the meaty, smoky undertones.

Na Young Ma helped take Atwater Village to new culinary heights with the opening of her bakery in early 2010. To start the day, she always fills a pedestal with chive Gruyere biscuits, which stack buttery layers almost to the ceiling. A cup of nuanced Cognoscenti Coffee, brewed behind the counter, is a natural biscuit accompaniment.

This multifaceted restaurant and bakery fronted by chef Walter Manzke and pastry powerhouse Margarita Manzke features an overflowing display of delectable baked goods each morning. Margarita’s cheddar chive biscuit features a crusty sharp cheddar cap and flakiness to spare. As she said, "Making it by hand and not using a mixer is key." Republique also serves biscuits and gravy at brunch, but with a more basic biscuit.

Jessica Koslow spent quality time cooking in Atlanta, so it should come as no surprise that she soaked up Southern biscuit wisdom. On Sundays, “flaky ass biscuits” are available at her seasonally minded café in Virgil Village. The biscuits live up to their billing, with crisp coats and buttery, pull apart cores. Each order comes with rich butter and a choice of house-made jam, which, depending on the season and which California farms Koslow sources from, could be Rich Lady peach or wild blueberry with tarragon.