Emily Parker and her husband, Garland, are biscuit connoisseurs.
“We have traveled all over North Carolina and eaten a lot of biscuits,” she says, “and Byrd’s blows everyone else out of the water!” The restaurant itself is not exactly modest about its signature item: “Home of the Million Dollar Biscuit,” the sign reads.
The Parkers favor two in particular: the tenderloin biscuit, with a slice of cheese and a fried egg, and the link-sausage biscuit, also overstuffed with cheese and a fried egg.
The white cinder-block building may be nondescript, but the food and service make up for it. “Everything is made that morning and is fresh as can be,” Parker says. “Served by people that have been there for years and welcome you like you are family.”
How’s this for service? “One time we went in, and it was close to closing time, and they were nearly out of eggs,” Parker says. “After we said we had driven out of our way to get there, they immediately went to the back and fried the last two eggs they had for us.”
Byrd’s Restaurant
196 N.C. Highway 58 South, Kinston
(252) 523-3422
Don’t miss:
The tenderloin biscuit with cheese and fried egg.
In North Carolina, spring brings the scent of fresh-cut grass and memories of helping Dad mow the lawn.
Nostalgic burger joints are like time machines, delivering something extra special that keeps us coming back.
This tiny city block in downtown Greensboro once had a gigantic reputation. Not so much for its charbroiled beef patties — though they, too, were plentiful — but for its colorful characters and their wild shenanigans.
In the 1950s, as Americans hit freshly paved roads in shiny new cars during the postwar boom, a new kind of restaurant took shape: the drive-in. From those first thin patties to the elaborate gourmet hamburgers of today, North Carolina has spent the past 80 years making burger history.
