RVA Biscuit Bracket: The Best Biscuit in Richmond 2018
It all started with a harmless request from Cazey: write a review of Richmond biscuits, similar to the Where to Brunch in Richmond with a Patio guide or the by-the-food guide.
My entire non-committal response was: "Mmmmm yes."
To which Cazey responded with:
- "My biscuits bring all the bloggers to the yard."
- "That's right."
- "They ain't ever had buttermilk like this."
Which was hilarious and definitely would have been.... unique... content.
Then we realized: we can't sit here and declare the best biscuit in Richmond alone. While yes, we have a food blog and eat a lot, we can't make that call all alone. Instead, we turned to our ATOB Instagram followers to vote.
The Biscuit Bracket's Creation
Running alongside the World Cup bracket, we started our own bracket. We arranged a bracket with 16 local restaurants with biscuits on the menu and asked people to vote in each day's match up via our Instagram stories (which means voting is only open for a day). The winner would then move on to the next round.
Cazey and I both loved the idea. It was fun, easy and what's better than comparing biscuits? We had no real expectations. Maybe people would vote. Maybe they wouldn't. Maybe businesses would like it. Maybe they wouldn't. It was the first time we really tried anything like it.
The result of the #BiscuitBracket exceeded all of my expectations.
Hundreds of people voted each day. Businesses promoted it on their social media. There were upsets. There were intensely close battles. Cazey learned something sports-related. I learned you can draw on your Instagram Stories. People ate biscuits. Really, everyone won.
It was so incredible to see restaurants weighing in with their professional opinions, and to hear from our followers about restuarants we put up to battle, and who should win.
If you missed it, here's what the final biscuit bracket looked like:
The Final RVA Biscuit Bracket Showdown
After an exhilarating adventure through comparing weeks of buttery biscuits, it all came down to Salt & Forge (a relatively new biscuit spot in Jackson Ward that's really delicious) and Idle Hands (an awesome bakery that makes biscuits, breakfast sandwiches, bread and so much more).
This is the part of the competition where my heart melted. **pretend this is an obnoxious amount of heart-eyed emojis**
In the spirit of friendly Richmond restaurant camaraderie, Salt & Forge brought over some biscuits to Idle Hands on the day they were facing of for the finals.
While I had some favorites that I voted for personally (plead the fifth on which ones), I had no real skin in the game. But this gesture made me so proud of what we created. I was so proud of both of these restaurants, as well as the previous restaurants who showed support to their fellow restaurants. It made me so proud to have a blog committed to supporting the local community. This exemplifies why I love Richmond.
At this point, I wanted everyone to win. The final was a CLOSE battle. I mean, we were going back and forth all day between who was currently leading. It was incredible to watch the votes flow in. But in the end, Salt & Forge pulled out the victory and were declared the best biscuits in Richmond.
We wanted to present Salt & Forge with a celebratory trophy or plaque to commemorate our first-ever Biscuit Bracket, so we visited Ken at Crown Trophy to customize a biscuit trophy. I'd say this is the 'fun' part, but honestly the whole competition was fun. Cazey and I looked at dozens of trophy designs and settled on one, which Ken designed specifically for us (with our own biscuit picture at the focal point). Within just a few days, Ken got got our trophy completed. It was a quick turnaround for a quality trophy -- with boundless room to customize-- at a really affordable price!
Salt & Forge might have the biscuit trophy -- well we can confirm they have the trophy because we handed it to them (see below) -- but like we said a million times throughout the bracket, the real winners are the people of Richmond. We were easily able to name 16 restaurants with biscuits delicious enough to merit being compared, and after we went live with the bracket, we thought of several more that could have been included. The food scene of Richmond is incredible, and we are just so thankful to be able to eat our way through such a delicious city.
Make sure you're following us on Instagram, because we always have something fun up our sleeves! And of course, GO EAT BISCUITS AT SALT & FORGE, home of Richmond's best biscuits.