In Hickory, Main Chick Jammin' Biscuits has turned the humble Southern biscuit into a destination meal.

Producer Teresa Litsky takes us to this breakfast brunch spot where classic comfort food meets creative twists.

(upbeat music) - So we want something buttery, flaky.

- Light, airy, dense, fluffy.

- Easy to pull apart without breaking.

- Here, that's how they describe the perfect biscuit.

- My daughter, Brandon, she got some recommendation from work.

Somebody brought in some biscuits that looked really good.

She decided we should come and try.

- Yep, they were from Main Chick.

- We are a vibrant, fun, quirky breakfast joint.

- Chef-driven, over-the-top biscuits, making everything fresh in-house.

- And it all begins with those biscuits.

Thanks to the owners, the Cranford brothers, Jack and Tucker, and executive chef, Ben Sullivan.

- Nice and fluffy.

Secret is not to work it too much, so they stay tender.

- And they don't complicate things.

- That's just good flour, some nice buttermilk, butter, a little bit of salt, and a little bit of baking powder, that's it.

We don't hide behind anything.

We just let the ingredients shine.

- With those biscuits, chicken is the featured protein, and thighs are the preferred cut.

- Dark meat is just more flavorful, more juicy, and you get a more elevated product at the end by using that.

- And we put this into a Cajun batter of rice flour and cornstarch.

This makes for a nice, crispy batter.

- It's not spicy, it just makes it more flavorful.

- The biscuits and chicken may be simple, but what they add to them is anything but.

- Our most popular dish is our hot chick sandwich, which is chicken dipped in hot honey, pimento cheese, and chow chow pickles.

- The Southern influence is everywhere, with collards, cheddar, bacon, and gravy on the thick chick.

Same goes for the side chick biscuit.

- And I've never been a side chick, but I thought I would try the side chick, and it was amazing.

- That comes with bacon, onion jam, fried green tomato, and special sauce.

Plus, there's a biscuit with a nod to North Carolina barbecue.

- La Q or something?

- Oh, the QT.

- QT.

- The barbecue, I think.

- There's barbecue on it, egg, cheese, some kind of jam.

I mean, it's like a whole meal on a biscuit.

It's absolutely incredible.

- And that's just their biscuits.

- Other items we offer, other than biscuits, would be our homemade tater tots.

- Yeah, our tater tots are fresh potatoes poached in lard, and then we add a little bit of starch to that, and then we save them overnight, and then we cut them and deep fry 'em again, so that when we cook 'em, that lard just melts away, so they're crispy, crunchy on the outside, and soft, melty on the inside.

- We load those tots.

We call it a Bubba Tot, where it's topped with pepper jelly and pimento cheese, so it kind of reminisces that old-school loaded fry in a chef-driven breakfast way.

- They also have non-biscuit plates and platters like shrimp and grits.

- So we kinda - that we didn't have a shrimp and grits on the menu.

- We're doing that kind of Cajun gravy, sautéing it with the Tasso ham, collard greens.

- Plenty of chicken and waffles.

- Chicken and waffles is a fried chicken on a nice malted waffle, and we get a hot honey and maple syrup with that.

- And on the sweeter side, bo-nnuts.

- These are fried biscuit dough and cinnamon sugar.

- They're like a little crunchy, but they're super fluffy.

- How should I explain that?

- Oh my God.

- Just great.

- People definitely come to Main Chick for the unique take on Southern breakfast and lunch foods, but their location on the City Walk also means you never have to feel guilty eating all that good food.

- We brought the bikes, and we're gonna ride up and down a little bit where it's flat, and enjoy Hickory.

And I'm really loving seeing it grow like this.

Yeah, City Walk's part of that.

- Love downtown, love sitting outside.

I mean, that was my draw to it.

And then finding out that the food was awesome.

(upbeat music) - Main Chick Jammin' Biscuits is located at 205 Main Avenue, Northeast in Hickory.

They're open from 7 a.m.

to 2 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 8 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

on Sundays.

To find out more information, go to jamminbiscuits.com.