Delia Champion - The Flying Biscuit Cafe Cookbook

Over a decade ago, Delia Champion was waiting tables at Indigo Coastal Grille, a wonderful seafood restaurant in Atlanta. I used to eat there fairly frequently, and I always asked for Delia because she was this burst of light and energy. Over time, we became friends. She used to talk about her dream of opening up a place where you could eat breakfast all day, with a bottomless cup of hot coffee, good wholesome food, and a fair price. It would be a place where the community, in all of its diversity, could gather to share meals, talk, celebrate lifes milestones, read the paper, or just plain old hang out. Everybody in the restaurant business who worked and slept late needed a place to eat breakfast any time they wanted. Delia figured they werent the only ones.

Before Delia knew, friends came around to chip in one way or another and start to make that simple dream a reality. Some of us loaned money, others painted and knew how to get paint cheaply, some went to the Memorial Drive flea market and picked out tables and chairs, Polly made pottery plates and cups, and many learned how to flip eggs for the first time. The tiny location in Candler Park, with its twenty-one seats, plug-in cash machine, and purple ceiling, was scrubbed spotless by a team of friends and workers, and the original Flying Biscuit Cafe opened its doors in 1993. Delia and the other owners, Missy and Cynthia, had no idea what they were in for! The lines stretched down the sidewalk and wrapped around the corner. When those plates of steaming, heavenly biscuits with a side of April Moons Cranberry Apple Butter arrived, people just couldnt get enough. They came in droves, eating biscuits in the morning and biscuits at night.

I made the Flying Biscuit my destination for any occasion. Amy and I even had a record release party there. With friends and family, over plates of Love Cakes and bowls of hearty soup, I have celebrated weddings, adoptions, new jobs, and life changes. Weve had therapy sessions and marked the passing of loved ones. Weve watched the seasons change and return. Life takes place at the Biscuit with its bustling, friendly staff, diverse community, and good food. After all these years, with two locations and a bakery, the Flying Biscuit has spread her wings. But she started as a pinpoint of a dream with a team of people who came together and made it happen. The Flying Biscuit is everyones neighborhood.

Now enjoy the heart and soul of this special place in these recipes. Bring the community to your table. Make a ruckus, laugh loud, and dream big. Anything is possiblebut you know it takes a village.

Indigo Girl and Biscuit Patron