Week 45: Maple Street Biscuit Co

Sometimes, the world revolves around biscuits. Like every year at the International Biscuit Festival, every day at the biscuit office, or every day on a very specific street — Maple Street.

In Florida, in the land of sunshine, back in 2012, a new restaurant was opened. Maple Street Biscuit Company, and the world they created, was born, winning the hearts and tummies of Florida. So, without further ado, the home of the Florida Biscuit!

So, let’s set this Florida stage. Back in 2012, Maple Street was just a concept dreamt up by co-owners Scott Moore and Gus Evans, two friends with no previous culinary experience but a dream to create something different. Something warm and traditional, like comfort food, but with something new. This inspired the three key values Maple Street operates with:

- Comfort Food with a Modern Twist

- Immaculately clean store

- Gracious Service

Comfort food is served fresh and hot in a comfortable environment with the friendliest of people. Not a bad foundation to build a biscuit empire on.

Maple Street and their biscuits is a born and bread product of this ingenuity, and five months of constant recipe tweaks. Because they knew it’s not just about a warm, flaky, maple, biscuit, BUT what goes inside of it. And inside everyone of Maple Streets biscuits is a community of people standing strongly behind them.

This idea of community is felt and seen as soon as you walk into one of Maple Street’s establishments. Each restaurant named so after the city it sits, and all the people sit in community style seating. The first moment you eat at Maple Street is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, because you’ll be back.

The community even extends to where the food is source, using quality ingredients, making most of them in house, and serving up some of the best locally roasted coffee Maple Street will turn you into a regular.

Their coffee is organic and locally roasted just for them on a weekly basis. It's ground each morning to maintain freshness. There are four coffees to choose from; dark bark, light amber, decaf, and (possible inspired by Buddy the Elf) maple tap.

And the community extends even further than their sources because new stores are added all of the time! But this is no chain, more like a group of community stores and headed by community leaders.

So, you may be wondering, how do you become a part of this community? It’s easy!

It all starts with you walking through the front door and answering two questions.

The first, what do you want to order? This may take a minute because there are just under twenty different biscuit options and the newly added menu item of jar salads (completed with a veggie biscuit created to compliment). Now, it would take us all day to go through the ridiculously mouth watering descriptions of each biscuit babe, but we will highlight some hotties.

The Squawking Goat, is a fried chicken breast, hot pepper jelly and a fried goat cheese medallion on a biscuit.

There's also the Five — fried chicken breast, pecan wood-smoked bacon and cheddar cheese, topped with sausage gravy.

AND The Blues Biscuit, consisting of pulled pork, housemade slaw, and honey BBQ sauce.

You hungry yet?

The second question is the most fun, you will be asked a piece of personal trivia like, what is something you couldn’t live without? Or, what did you aspire to be when you grew up?

And why are you asked this? Because, unlike the embarrassingly misspelled name you could have scrawled on the side of a paper cup, you will have your answer of Altoids or Teacher used as your identifier. These questions inspire conversation among you and your group and facilitate the beginning of a wonderful hour spent in Maple Street. From the moment you order to the second you eat, to the hot minute it takes you to leave, you are already thinking about the next time you will be back. Welcome to the community!

(flagship store)

2005 San Marco Blvd

Jacksonville, FL

32207