Side Biscuit: For anyone looking for something unique
September 23, 2021
On the corner of Packard and Woodlawn in the Burns Park neighborhood of Ann Arbor lies the new chicken wing restaurant: Side Biscuit. This was once a popular pop up in Ann Arbor, but after lots of success and demand for a more permanent location, the brick and mortar location opened in March of 2021. The location itself is quaint, as the entire location inside is just the kitchen and a small area for placing orders. There actually was no real area to eat at, however during the summer there typically are some tables set up outside on the sidewalk. For this reason, I had to eat in my car this time around.
The options for food are limited, but at the same time they have some interesting variety, including lots of Asian-fusion sauces/rubs for their wings. For this review, I got the double (20 wings) with 4 different flavors: OG Buffalo, Gucci Gang (Gochujang), You’re A Jerk (Jamaican Jerk), and the Mission (Spicy Szechuan dry rub). These all came with various small sides, such as bleu cheese, carrot and celery, and pickled tomatoes. Lastly, I got 2 biscuits, which are different each week; this week the flavor was sea salt and caraway. Given the bizarre hours, which are typically quite short, there was a 30 minute wait for the order. Once I got the food, I started with the Jerk wings. They were fairly good, albeit very spice-heavy and quite spicy heat wise. Not too bad, but next were the buffalo wings. These were INCREDIBLY delicious, probably the best buffalo wings I’ve had in recent memory. The sauce was well distributed and flavorful, and not too overpowering. Easily a 10/10 for the buffalo wings. Next were the Gucci Gang, or the gochujang flavor. This once was also very good; the Asian-fusion taste was pulled off very well, and the spice was definitely present but not too strong. Lastly, and probably the weakest of the bunch, was the Mission dry rub, which has a Szechuan seasoning rub. While the flavor itself was there, the dryness of it was just way too overpowering and made it hard to enjoy. The sides provided included carrots and celery with house made bleu cheese, which were satisfactory, nothing notable to be said about them. The pickled tomatoes were strong and had an incredibly pungent smell and flavor; I wasn’t the biggest fan of them. The 2 biscuits I received were sea salt and caraway seed flavored. For such a simple flavor, it was actually quite good. They were savory and moist, and they complimented the wetness of the sauces well.
Overall, Side Biscuit was a very interesting experience. On the one hand, it was not a traditional dining experience given its tiny location and cold weather, but the wings were, for the most part, excellent. I have my gripes with it, but I think on most fronts, I could recommend this to anyone willing to try some unique (or classic) chicken wings in the Ann Arbor area. I give Side Biscuit a 4.4/5.