Ever since I arrived in Northern Virginia, I’ve been a fan of Odd BBQ‘s cheese biscuits. In one of my first reviews at Northern Virginia Magazine, I compared them to “Brazilian pão de queijo, leveled up in scale and cheesiness.” It doesn’t get much more alluring than that.
You can imagine my excitement, then, when Odd BBQ announced its new business earlier this month. According to owner Nick Giorno, Odd Biscuit Co. is a natural outgrowth of the popular cheese biscuits. “The dough in the stuffed biscuits is the exact same recipe,” he explains. “We just bake it in ring molds and push the filing into the biscuits.” The basic recipe, as well as the ones for the fillings, can be attributed to Susan Sung, Giorno’s partner at Odd as well as his former colleague at Mokomandy. Currently working out of the kitchen inside Ono Brewing, the biscuit company will expand to its own space soon, allowing fans to drop in anytime for a biscuit, and not have to order a day ahead as I did.
I tried each of the four available fillings. When a colleague with whom I shared them asked which was my favorite, I told her, “Whichever is in my mouth at that moment.” Each has a distinctly winning personality. Giorno says that the most popular among his team is the biscuit stuffed with Japanese vegetable curry and covered in a toasty cheese sauce and fresh parsley.
Only cheese lovers need apply. Every version has its own curd-focused assets. One is filled with apple-bacon jam and crowned with a mini wedge of Brie and crunchy walnuts. Ham and cheese–miles and continents away from the Hot Pocket that might come to mind–is blanketed in a layer of poppy seed and honey mustard glaze to awaken the salty, creamy flavors. No such reveille is required for the spicy kimchi and artichoke biscuit. With a combination of cream cheese, Parmesan, and mozzarella, it might be the heaviest, but the house kimchi enlivens each bite.
Not every biscuit is savory, though. The cinnamon biscuits are a fluffy, less sweet alternative to Cinnabon. The porous butter biscuits are woven with cinnamon sugar and buried in cream cheese icing.
Giorno says that the same dough will soon be available in garlic-Parmesan form, too. Additional fillings will also join the original four, including buldak, spicy Korean chicken. As Odd Biscuit Co. grows, my only hope is that I don’t grow with it.
4520 Daly Dr., Ste. 102, Chantilly
Feature image by Alice Levitt
For more restaurant reviews, subscribe to our Food newsletter.
