Big Biscuits and Vintage Charm at Buford’s in Leesburg

At Buford’s Biscuits in downtown Leesburg, a biscuit is not a small supporting player beside the eggs. The cathead-style biscuits arrive broad, tall and buttery, with a lightly browned or crisp exterior giving way to a fluffy, moist middle.

They are built for serious sandwiches, for gravy, and for the happy problem of deciding whether the last portion belongs in a to-go box. A full biscuit meal can be generous enough to share, especially if the table has also ordered starters, bacon or a flight to sample.

The setting keeps the whole affair from feeling overly precious. Buford’s occupies a quaint rowhouse-style downtown space, serving breakfast, brunch and lunch with the comfort of a country kitchen and a little visual mischief in nearly every direction.

The coffee routine is one of the restaurant’s nicest small rituals. Instead of being handed a standard diner cup, guests choose a mug from the assorted collection displayed on the wall, then help themselves from coffee urns.

It is a simple setup, but it gives the opening minutes of a meal a pleasantly unhurried rhythm. Pick a cup, pour the coffee, settle at the table and take a look at a menu that treats biscuits as a very flexible foundation.

Fresh coffee and sweet tea both fit naturally here. The former is an easy companion for breakfast; the latter makes sense once hot chicken, gravy and thick-cut bacon begin appearing around the table.

Buford’s signature sandwiches use those oversized biscuits without apologizing for the scale. Fried chicken, sausage, ham, cheddar, pimento cheese and egg all have room to work, and the biscuit stays central rather than becoming a mere bun.

The Cure is one of the marquee orders: a large biscuit layered with chicken and gravy. It can also be ordered with Nashville hot seasoning, bringing a welcome dose of heat to a dish already headed firmly into comfort-food territory.

The Nashville hot chicken biscuit is another substantial choice. It has been served with two chicken thighs and one of the restaurant’s big cathead biscuits, with crisp chicken outside, juicy meat within, and heat moderated by the richer elements around it.

Among other combinations that have appeared on the menu, Bless Your Heart brings spicy chicken, pickles and macaroni and cheese together in one ambitious biscuit. This is not a place where lunch has to be restrained.

For a table that prefers sampling to committing, the biscuit-and-gravy flight provides a useful route. Sausage gravy, chipped beef gravy and mushroom gravy have been among the choices, each offering a different direction for the same warm, buttery biscuit.

There is also a biscuit flight with spreads such as strawberry jam, blueberry jam and apple butter. The apple butter has the deep, cozy flavor of warm apple cider in spreadable form, which is a fine reason to keep a little extra biscuit within reach.

A plain biscuit with jelly or house-made jam should not be dismissed as the tame choice. It is one of the best ways to notice the biscuit itself: the browned top, the soft interior and the butter that runs through the whole thing.

The menu reaches beyond chicken biscuits. Ham and cheddar biscuits and sausage-and-egg biscuits keep things straightforward, while country-fried steak with a poached egg heads toward a fuller plated meal. Chipped beef over biscuit halves is another old-school, gravy-friendly option.

Fried green tomatoes recur as both an appetizer and a possible biscuit topping. They have been paired with pimento cheese and fig spread, a sweet-savory combination that gives the tart tomatoes more to do than simply crunch.

Deviled eggs make an easy starter before a larger biscuit order. A tangy version with smoky bacon has appeared on the menu, and it has the right salty richness for a group waiting on a plate of hot biscuits.

The kitchen also invites a bit of customization. Adding pimento cheese to a honey-hot chicken biscuit, for example, pushes the sweet heat toward something creamier and more substantial.

Meals are often served in small tin pie plates or cast-iron-style vessels, a presentation that suits the food without turning it into a costume. Gravy looks especially at home in this sort of tableware.

The dining rooms continue the homey theme with mismatched chairs, eclectic tables, family photographs, a displayed family tree and cast-iron skillets worked into the décor. It is intentionally collected rather than matched, more like a well-loved family room than a standardized brunch spot.

A book may arrive with the check, another small flourish that fits the restaurant’s playful domestic style. The details add up gradually: a favorite mug, an odd chair, a skillet on the wall, a pie tin holding breakfast.

The front room includes tables and a bar, so a meal can take on either a relaxed dining-room pace or a quicker perch at the counter. The bar is first come, first served, which can be useful when the table seating is occupied.

Additional high-ceilinged, vintage-style rooms extend beyond the front area, making the restaurant comfortable for small groups without losing the close-in character of the old rowhouse space. In warmer weather, patio seating adds another option.

Service has the friendly, attentive tone of a locally owned, family-operated restaurant, with visible pride in the food. Buford’s also places an emphasis on ingredients from nearby farmers and producers, a local-minded note that suits a downtown independent restaurant.

Buford’s is in downtown Leesburg, where street parking may be limited. A nearby garage has offered free parking for an initial two-hour period, subject to its posted terms.

Come hungry, or plan your order with leftovers in mind. The biscuits and sandwiches are genuinely large, and a flight, starter or side can turn one main dish into a very full table.

The self-serve coffee station is worth knowing about before you sit down: choose a mug from the wall, pour a cup and make yourself comfortable. It is a modest detail, but it sets the tone nicely.