The Buttered Biscuit

Where: 1014 North St. Suite 1000, Sumner, 253.826.6099

Hours: 5 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays with $5 dinner specials Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

Cuisine: Down-home cooking with international ingredients makes for some damn fine breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Scene: Solo diners reading the newspaper, families wrangling kids, senior citizens splitting meals, women enjoying post-shopping lunches without their kids. Casual, relaxed, family-friendly

Drinkies: Soda, coffee, juice, hot tea

Prices: $3.95-$12.95

ANNOUNCER: The Buttered Biscuit in Sumner provides what owner Tammy Haskins refers to as "gramma food." This must be a grandmother with international tastes. Breakfast, lunch and dinner deviate from typical diner fare to include kielbasa, avocado, jalapeños, house-made salsa, feta, marinated artichoke heart, tzatziki sauce, and pepperoncinis. Charming mismatched chairs and tables, warm earth tones, and wood beams celebrate an eclectic feel; a lack of kitschy clutter keeps it from feeling like your crazy aunt's house. Fireplace seating gives The Buttered Biscuit a mountain lodge vibe in cooler weather while double doors opening onto a patio give it a villa feel on warm afternoons.

JAKE: We felt that after driving all the way out to S-town from L-town we should be treated to something special. Though we'd both been told breakfast was the big reason to go, we wanted to see how the rest of the menu fared.

JASON: That's Sumner and Lakewood for those just logging on. We scoped out the Buttered Biscuit signature dishes and got to it. The Biscuit salad is oddly named, yes, but loaded with refreshingly crisp ingredients - razor thin white onion slices, green bell pepper, deep green zucchini, and cucumber mingled nicely with marinated artichoke hearts, tender yet not mushy kidney beans, mushroom slices, orangey red tomato, and avocado. All were piled in with romaine sliced to ribbons. Though the vinaigrette lacked zip. I took it as a moment to fully enjoy how the vegetables themselves tasted. Lightly salted, toasted pita bread made a perfect accompaniment.

JAKE: I liked the mason jars used to serve soda, water, and juice. Endless refills had me feeling like a bloated fat cat plunked down in a cushy, stuffed, black leather chair.

JASON: No one told you to have eight diet Pepsi refills. Sheesh. Fried green beans were a new experience. I loved having something other than the typical blah appetizers most places serve. These beans were long, lightly breaded and still tasted of green bean even after a dunk in the fryer - A+.

JAKE: Rolled in a giant, fried tortilla stuffed with onion, veggies, peppers, cheese, and meat, Chris's Chupacabras should include a serious warning on the menu: "Will burn the heck out of your mouth, and you will love it anyway"  - or something similar. The skin around my lips was on fire. I kept shoveling forkfuls of spiced taco meat style ground beef and fresh jalapeño into my mouth. My nose began running. I kept eating it, but tried cutting out the jalapeño seeds pre-bite. With eyes watering, I kept on. Sour cream provided minimal relief. Looking like a jackass, I know, I held my cold soda glass to my sweaty face.

JASON: Man, noshing on that pepper-laden beast was completely out of character for you, Jake. I was worried when your face got all splotchy and red. Big props, bro. I went with the triple-decker, 4-inch tall monster of a signature Reuben. Layered with provolone and Swiss, a sweet tangy Fuji apple and pineapple slaw that was surprising, tart kraut and sautéed onions, and thinly sliced quality brisket turned corn beef, how could this ingredient list be improved? Slather it with a spiced-up 1000 Island-style dressing and use an aromatic toasted rye bread, that's how. Bam, it was good. I licked my fingers.

JAKE: Our server had barely uttered "coconut" and I was sold on the Carolina pie. I'd never even heard of it, but that didn't stop me from using my fork like I was at an archaeological dig and a foreign government was on its way with a cease and desist order. Shredded coconut topped pie had pineapple and peach chunks mixed with a soft creamy filling. Even I had to say "whoa" at the size of the huge piece.