Authentically Smoked: Biscuits Brisket & Beer
What happens when you transplant a Connecticut boy to North Carolina pork barbecue country? You get Biscuits Brisket & Beer! While the combination is a “no-brainer” to Biscuits Brisket & Beer owner and lead smoker, Chris Ryker, the restaurant has a rather roundabout genesis, leading to its place now in Stock+Grain Assembly, High Point’s food hall.
After 16 years living in High Point, working in a metal distribution company, Chris was presented with the opportunity to try a new hobby: meat smoking.
“Our next-door neighbor had an old smoker he was getting rid of,” Chris remembers. Chris’ wife encouraged him to take it and give smoking a try, and that seemingly simple moment changed the trajectory of his career. While Chris always enjoyed grilling out – and had even worked in the restaurant industry during his early twenties – he was never trained formally in the culinary arts. Instead, he just enjoyed making foods his family and friends liked.
But when he started smoking in his carport, something happened. A flame was fanned – literally and figuratively.
“When I got that smoker, it ignited that passion, that flame that was still there,” Chris reflects. After trying his hand at smoking the iconic North Carolina BBQ, Chris decided he wanted something a little more challenging. After purchasing a ¾ pound of brisket and smoking it up (“It was okay,” Chris laughs now), Chris caught the brisket bug. He became determined to get better and better flavors and textures from his brisket.
Eventually, Chris was smoking a whole packer of brisket (which can be anywhere from 12 to 18 pounds), and inviting his friends and neighbors to enjoy it. And it was a friend who convinced Chris that this smoking hobby was more than a hobby.
“We were sitting in my backyard eating brisket,” Chris remembers. He jokingly said to his friend that maybe one day he’d open a restaurant. “And with a straight face, he's like, ‘Alright, do it.’”
That friend became a silent partner supporting the endeavor that would eventually become Biscuits Brisket & Beer. The next “B” that would make its way into Chris’ idea came from a project he’d already been successfully running for about six years: NC Beer Pride.
NC Beer Pride, a social media effort that had amassed more than 10,000 followers, was Chris’ attempt at connecting people to the craft beer scene in North Carolina. His account became known as a go-to source for craft beer and brewery recommendations across North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virgina. But Chris saw the opportunity to marry his passion for craft beer with his passion for brisket in his new restaurant endeavor.
While Chris continues to operate the NC Beer Pride page, shouting out breweries and beers across the state, he decided that his new restaurant would buy and source craft beers from around the state – offering people in High Point the opportunity to try the state’s best beers.
“This way I can put my money where my mouth is and actually buy their beers,” he says. It’s not unusual for people to travel to other states and cities just to try a beer that’s in the craft scene, and Chris decided that his restaurant would be part of that destination for craft beer lovers.
“I want to not only be a destination for barbecue, but a destination for North Carolina craft beer as well.”
With two of three B’s secured, Chris knew there was something else that his restaurant needed. And that answer came from another set of his good friends in High Point, Chris and Katie Whitesell. After the Whitesells traveled to Denver, Colorado and went to a provocatively named biscuit spot, the Whitesells and Chris realized that biscuits were the missing piece to complete the restaurant.
“I can do Texas style all day long, but I need something that's going to kind of bring that home feel,” says Chris.
“I catch a lot of flak from some of my southern friends who were born here. Cause they're asking, ‘What's a northern boy know about making biscuits?’” Chris jokes. "Then I make them for them, and they're like, ‘Okay we'll let these slide. We'll give you the thumbs up.”
Now squarely situated in a niche market in the High Point area, Chris began to consider what the full menu of Biscuits Brisket & Beer would include. Smoked turkey, salads (topped with chopped, smoked meats), wings, chicken sausages, and more made their way onto the menu. But pork stayed off – making the restaurant friendly to a variety of dietary restrictions.
“It’s an easy menu done well,” Chris confirms.
It wasn’t long into his restaurant endeavor that Chris became connected with Stock+Grain and became one of its first tenants. He remembers first presenting the menu to the owners, one of whom claimed not to like turkey very much, and their response to his food.
“We don’t like turkey, but this is absolutely phenomenal,” they said to Chris. It confirmed what Chris was already sure of: his smoked meats were something special.
“People are really enjoying the food and they're not just lying,” he says, remembering his first test runs with his brisket to his friends. “Because you can see the light bulb kind of go off with people. They taste it, and they're like, ‘Wait a minute, pause. This is what this is supposed to taste like?’”
That kind of response is exactly what Chris was looking for. He even had Texans say that his brisket reminds them of their home state – a huge compliment in his book.
Now, Chris operates his stall, Biscuits Brisket & Beer out of Stock+Grain and is excited for what’s coming next in High Point. Although a transplant to the area, Chris and his family are firmly planted in High Point now (his family are frequenters of High Point Rockers games, the Nido & Mariana Qubein Children’s Museum, and more), and it’s his mission to make sure that his restaurant contributes to all the growth happening in our city.
“High Point’s actually on the cutting edge of something,” Chris says, referencing the food hall, the Social District, the stadium, and more development taking place in downtown High Point. “I’m very much looking forward to it, not just as a business owner, but as somebody who can say, ‘When's the last time you’ve been to High Point?’”
He especially appreciates the walkability the city is creating, as the food hall offers a lunch and after-hours option to community members who work in the Bedrock building, the hospital, and Congdon Yards.
“We can spend money here in our own town and help other businesses and to grow and succeed.”
Because after the meats are smoked and the beer is chugged, Chris cares about a lot more than just a cut of meat. He cares about making people feel at home in High Point. He cares about the places where we eat our favorite foods and enjoy our favorite beverages feeling less like a cattle farm and more like home.
“It’s like herding cows,” Chris teases about fast-casual and fast-food dining. Shuffling customers through as quickly as possible has never been Chris’ goal. And in fact, a self-proclaimed recipient of the “gift of gab,” Chris endeavors to make every customer feel like they’re known at Biscuits Brisket & Beer.
When Chris first moved to High Point, he was one of the general managers at beloved High Point brewery, Brown Truck Brewery.
“I always made a point to know the person who was coming in. Because I wanted them to feel like they were walking into Cheers – place where everybody knows your name,” he says. He recalls one of his good friends now who used to come into BTB, who would always order a #14 IPA. One day when he came in, Chris let him know his drink was already poured. The two formed a friendship after that – a common occurrence for the people Chris serves.
“If the people behind the counter know who you are, know your order, know your drink... That's a place you're probably going to want to go,” Chris says. “I want the restaurant to feel like, even though it isn't a sit-down place. I want to feel like it's one of those places that you can go. And while I'm sitting here slicing your food in front of you to order, I'm asking, 'Hey, how's it going? How's your kid doing? I heard he got his braces, how's he dealing with that?'"
Chris knows that “regulars” are what keep the lights on when it comes to the restaurant and beverage industry. That’s part of why he is a firm believer that all businesses that sell something to consume should be in the business of making not just profits but friends.
“The gift of conversation has really gone by the wayside as people,” Chris reflects. "I think that's what people are really craving nowadays: authenticity. So I want not only the food to be super authentic, but I also want the interactions with me and my staff to be super authentic.”
And Chris knows well that nothing pairs better with authenticity than a side of well-smoked brisket.
"I want not only the food to be super authentic, but I also want the interactions with me and my staff to be super authentic.”
Chris Ryker, Owner of Biscuits Brisket & Beer
Discover our High Points,
The HPD Team
Photography by Maria West Photography
Photography by Aura Marzouk Photography