Food and Drink

Prowling Spenard for biscuits and gravy

The phrase "comfort food" didn't exist when I was a kid. Thus, to this day, I find comfort in all food. But if there's one particular breakfast item that makes me think all's well with the universe, even on a cold, dark winter morning, it's biscuits and gravy, the homeliest and least photogenic dish you'll ever see on a table -- and so easy to make that I seldom order it at an eatery.

In the South, every state -- heck every county -- may have a distinct style said to be best by locals. But there's a big range of what's acceptable, determined more by personal taste than by culinary rules. Biscuits can range from crunchy to doughy. The gravy can be anywhere from moderately to really thick and made from whatever is at hand, though pork sausage gravy is the preferred glop in most jurisdictions. And most folks like the sauce to be pretty plain when served, though almost everyone then douses the dish with salt, pepper or hot sauce.

I recently investigated B&G in the area around the Dispatch News. For practical purposes the gravy crawl was limited to establishments that are not part of chains or in hotels, that are open for breakfast and are located within a radius of where you could reasonably walk after shutting down a Spenard bar, roughly between Arctic Office Supply and the Lakeshore Hotel.

For that purpose, you can't beat Leroy's Family Restaurant. For starts, the landmark C Street diner is open 24 hours a day. You can get the two-biscuit breakfast for $5.99. I went a la carte and ordered one biscuit and a side of gravy, $4.50. The gravy came in a bowl. The unadorned biscuit, a crumbly and absorbent delight, was accompanied by a tub of butter. Tossing gravy on top of butter turned out to be a good thing. There was enough remaining in the bowl that I took the spoon and ate it like oatmeal. The waitress said the magic words, "Do you want some more gravy?"

The two-biscuit deal at Kriner's Diner ($9.99, $4.99 for one biscuit) was quite filling due to the big biscuits, the most bread-like of any that I had, neither too soft nor too tough. The gravy had a spicy snap to it and they didn't stint on the sausage chunks. The biscuits at Jackie's Place ($7.50, $5.50 for a half-order) were also large and the doughiest I encountered. The gravy had a distinct flour feel and an herbal cast.

Gwennie's Old Alaskan Diner had the plate on my table within two minutes of placing the order, which made me worry that they'd just tossed the plate into the microwave. In fact the very large biscuits were made off-site, but they tasted fresh and agreeable. So did the gravy. But what makes Gwennie's B&G ($8) really special is the two strips of bacon laid over the top, a nice aromatic plus since, by themselves, plain biscuits and white gravy don't have much of a smell. A half-order is $5.

City Diner had the crunchiest biscuits, the bottoms being particularly hard. I'd say they'd been cooked a day or two before, not necessarily a bad thing. They topped the gravy with a dash of parsley. I didn't find B&G as a standalone dish on the menu; it was included with eggs ($9.50). The coffee was better than what I had at the lower-end diners, and at $2.50, the highest I paid for a cup of joe, it should be. Not that there is any such thing as bad coffee in my book. Not at 8 a.m.

ADVERTISEMENT

The best coffee, however, Kaladi's, was served at Kay's Family Restaurant ($2). The biscuits were again very large and the gravy very silky, sprinkled with paprika. Everything here was made in house and I found I could order non-breakfast offerings even during breakfast hours. The menu includes items like T-bone steak, halibut, burritos and jalapeno poppers. I ordered calamari, which goes well with everything. The B&G would have been $8.95 ($5.95 for a half-order) ordered alone.

The biscuits were big at the Bear Tooth Grill and the paprika-topped gravy had plenty of sausage in it. But for $11 ($6 for a half-order) I would have liked a bit more glop. Maybe it shouldn't qualify as a breakfast place. They open at 9:30 a.m., and that's only on weekends, which would be early lunch in Alabama. And the staff was brusque, apparently not morning people. At Jackie's the waiter called me "my brother." At Leroy's the waitress brought me the newspaper. At both I watched homeless people come in to escape the cold morning, get welcomed with a smile and treated like they were the most important customers the establishment would have all day.

Capping off the gravy crawl, I came to Cafe AK, a relatively new "Alaska comfort food" hole-in-the-wall across the street from the neon windmill. My half-order ($5.95, $8.95 for the two-biscuit serving) came with one strip of bacon on top, like Gwennie's, a nice touch. So was the Alaskan art on the walls. Seating can be limited, however.

All were good. I licked every plate clean. One busboy speculated that the dish wouldn't need to be washed. (If you see me eating B&G and don't want to watch a man do an imitation of a bluetick hound working over a hubcap full of peanut butter, avert your eyes.)

None were as good as home, where biscuits come right out of the oven, the pour-over is as plentiful as you care to make it, the leftover sausage gets served on the side and the price for the whole thing runs just under $3.

Mike Dunham

Mike Dunham has been a reporter and editor at the ADN since 1994, mainly writing about culture, arts and Alaska history. He worked in radio for 20 years before switching to print.

ADVERTISEMENT