Courtesy of Zeb Stevenson
When fine dining spot Redbird closed on the Westside last year, it also meant the end of owner/chef Zeb Stevenson’s famed Birdy Biscuits. The weekend-only offering was known for lines around the corner, as eager Atlantans downed fried chicken biscuits, guava biscuits, and cinnamon rolls served from a walk-up window. Many hoped Stevenson would open a brick-and-mortar Birdy, but he wasn’t interested in that level of responsibility.
A year later, steadily employed as culinary director for Intown Golf Club, Stevenson is finally bringing back Birdy Biscuits…for one day only. “People really seem to want it,” he says. “In the last year, not a week has gone by that I haven’t gotten a DM, text, or call asking for more Birdy Biscuits.”
Gigi’s Italian Kitchen co-owner Eric Brooks, who worked with Stevenson at Redbird, approached him with the idea, offering to host a Birdy Biscuits pop-up at Gigi’s. “It just sounds like fun to me,” Stevenson says. “When I look back, some of the best times of my career as a chef were standing in the window serving biscuits, doing shtick, and hanging out with people. If I’m being honest, I kind of miss it too.”
On March 10, Stevenson is bringing is old team together to serve a concise menu from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (or until they sell out). Offerings will include a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, fried chicken biscuit, guava biscuit with cashew butter and cream cheese, and a fried egg with avocado biscuit. Stevenson will sell boxes of four biscuits (with a limit of one box per person).
“We only have the capacity to make so many. If we are doing it for fun and because people want it, it’s important that the maximum number of people get to enjoy the biscuit,” he says.
Because the cinnamon rolls were a byproduct of dough scraps from the previous day, no cinnamon rolls will be available during the pop-up. Gigi’s will sell drinks—think Bloody Mary’s, mimosas, and coffee. Atlantans will order at the counter and can choose to take their food to-go or dine inside Gigi’s. “We’re trying to preserve the fun spirit of Birdy Biscuits as it was in past days,” Stevenson says.
Will we see more Birdy in the future? Stevenson says maybe. “I have a job I really like and I’m kind of good at. I don’t need to sell biscuits to keep the lights on—that’s a real privilege,” he says. “If [the pop-up] goes over well and four, six, or nine months down the road we feel like doing it again, we will. If not, we won’t.”
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Carly Cooper
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