Chef Brian Batch {Bird Bird Biscuit}
Practiced hands, a serene mind, and a palate highly attuned to the nuance of a seemingly simple staple in Southern cuisine birthed the blue-ribbon biscuits that hold Bird Bird Biscuit together. The fast casual eatery led by chef Brian Batch is now itself a celebrated staple in the Austin food scene. Chef Brian prides himself on not only the pretty darn near perfect biscuits but also the chicken served as the filling in most of his delectable sandwiches.
Q: What’s the one dish in East Austin everyone should try at least once?
BB: Mi Trailita Y Mas makes breakfast burritos, and you can ask them to make it crispy. They take the tortilla and crisp it up around the edges. You can get just a simple egg and cheese and add either bacon, potato, or sausage; just don’t add too much stuff. Get a side of their table salsa and their red spicy salsa, and blend it. Get a side of sour cream, then take that burrito, and eat ‘til your heart’s content.
Q: What’s a local restaurant that’s doing something truly unique?
BB: One spot that I really love to go on dates with my wife is this vegan sushi restaurant called Nori. From the visual component to how they put everything together, the dishes are beautifully made, and the esthetic is great. The flavor combinations are fantastic.
Q: Is there a dish from a certain restaurant that evokes strong emotions of nostalgia for you?
BB: It’s whenever I make biscuits with my own hands, and I put love and attention into them. They’re like my little children, you know? And when you see that ‘kid’ grow up, you get to experience the final product: a biscuit done the way it’s supposed to be with the texture, crispness, and buttery caramelization that happens on the outside and then the fluff on the inside. It’s honestly nostalgic and blissful. I keep it very simple… I just take the top half off and put a bunch of strawberry jam on it (the jam we make in house). Then I just eat that slowly. Eating a biscuit is my ideal experience of joy.
Q: What is the thing you cook most at home?
BB: The one thing that I come back to consistently is a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I’ve been working on for years. It’s very good. I try not to eat all the cookies, so I’ll give them away to people just because I want to share with others. I’ve learned a lot about the process of making biscuits to get a certain texture, so I apply that same information to making cookies now.
Q: Where do you find inspiration? What keeps you motivated to continue creating?
BB: I’m a huge proponent of meditation to find fulfillment within ourselves in our day-to-day. When we can sit still, close our eyes, experience what we are within, that can be the fulfillment of our joy and purpose. Out of the wellspring of pause comes inspiration to do everything else in life with joy.
Q: What’s an underrated restaurant in East Austin that deserves more attention?
BB: Again, I’m going to say Mi Trailita y Mas, because I love that spot. They are trying to get into a new lease, and I’m really hoping that they figure it out so they can stay open.
Q: What’s one thing about Austin’s food scene that people don’t talk about enough?
BB: One thing I wish that we could talk about more is the healing nature of not just food in terms of how it’s prepared but also the healing nature of a great food experience as a total package. When we can enjoy an incredible food experience, from both a flavor and texture component with a beautiful experience of hospitality, this combination can be regenerative and healing. There are a lot of restaurants in Austin that are trying to take food to that level, to where people leave feeling as if they’ve had somewhat of a spiritual experience with that interaction. I would love for that to be a goal that we aspire to with serving people food. Because I feel like for myself, that’s one of the components that is going to help not only bring healing to our communities but also to one another. Sounds maybe a little simple, but it makes the world a better place.
Q: What is the thing you eat most at your own restaurant?
BB: I tend to not gorge myself with anything, really. I like to stay sensitive so when I’m eating at Bird Bird, I’m eating to discern. I’m not eating to fill my stomach. But the two things that I eat the most are the biscuit and chicken because they are the core of what Bird Bird is built on. Tasting the chicken is necessary so that I can understand how the brine has penetrated into the flavor of the meal and how that’s coming across at the end experience. Understanding how the breading is staying on the chicken is important to make sure we’re doing our processes correctly, and then also checking the ratios and making sure we’re staying consistent with how we blend the breading. From the biscuit side of things, every batch of biscuits has a little nuance to it because we make them all by hand, so just ensuring that we’re getting the right particle size breakdown and the right temperature to achieve that caramelization on the outside with the fluff on the inside.
Q: Do you make your own items from scratch?
BB: We make a lot of our sauces in-house and the brine for our chicken in-house. We make our biscuits in-house, of course. The biscuit and the brine are very important. Making a good brine is another level of nuance that adds to the flavor of the sandwich. A lot of places don’t brine their chicken, at least not from what I’ve experienced. For us, it’s imperative because it’s what enhances flavor profile; you’re adding another color to the canvas. We’ve been honing the biscuit process for six years now, and we’ve gotten to the point where our process allows us to get a certain combination of textures on the biscuit that is phenomenal.
