Rise Biscuits and Donuts
Coffee
Fried Chicken Biscuit
Virginia Ham Biscuit
King Cake Donut
Crème Brulee Donut
Apple Fritter
Coconut Cream Snowball
Pomegranate and Vanilla Pastry Cream Cronie
Making up for lost time, and moreso lost meals, thanks to the previous day’s snow it was after an early alarm followed by a long run that we left for Durham and arriving at the small stripmall housing Rise just after 7am we were greeted with smiling faces, lovely smells, and even a small crowd of folks gathered around the restaurant’s small bar already indulging in items both savory and sweet.
Cited by some resources as the best biscuits in town, and by others as The Triangle’s best spot for donuts, it was to a full assortment of both that we arrived and more than happy to give into temptation five donuts were selected with freely refillable house-blend coffee serving to warm us up while waiting for hot biscuits fresh from the small kitchen in back.
Decorated with pictures, shirts, and items from landmark doughnutteries around the United States, with a kids play area close to the restroom it back, it was just five minutes before biscuits were delivered and paying an extra 50-cents for honey it would be hard to argue with any of the exaltations as both fluffy buttermilk rounds were absolute masterworks while both the crispy chicken and smoky ham were sizable in portion and well matched to the fluffy base.
Moving next to pastry, and beginning light before moving to heavier tastes, it was in the glistening-topped crème brûlée that the tasting began and with creamy insides substantial in portion the same would be found in the cream-pie harkening snowball, an extremely subtle take on the Hostess favorite that was all the better for showing such restraint.
Onward to the Mardi Gras themed option, a toothsome cake donut topped with colorful frosting that tasted of sweetened cream cheese, it was next in the ‘cronie’ croissant-donut that we partook and with my dining buddy having never experienced the hybrid dish before her amusement was warranted, the pomegranate and cream version well laminated and light while the large, sugar-slathered apple fritter was anything but – the stewed apples amidst a soft crumb entirely greaseless, though unfortunately lacking in the pastry’s expected exterior crunch.
http://risebiscuitsdonuts.com/
