May 29, 2026

Greetings from Carrboro,

The convection oven is set at 450 degrees. After rolling out the dough, we use the three-inch cutter and lay them out in a honeycomb pattern. Once in the oven, the temperature is lowered to 425. Generally, it takes 16 minutes—give or take. The bits of leftover dough are baked as snacks on a smaller pan for the kitchen team. The plan is to pull the hot biscuits from the oven two minutes after we open our doors. This has been the Acme brunch routine for nearly 1,500 Sundays. After all these years, I still love the smell of hot biscuits fresh from the oven.

My grandfather made what he called “left-handed” biscuits on Sunday mornings before going to church, pulling them out of the oven wearing suspenders and a bolo tie. In many ways, Acme’s brunch is a lengthy homage to those breakfasts. But brunch is also like a really, really great friend that, on rare occasions, makes you absolutely want to pull your hair out.

For whatever reason, there is an entire chunk of the human race that puts working on Sunday mornings on the same level as giving back rubs at a leprosy clinic. It’s the damnedest thing. Because the people who work Sunday brunch absolutely love it. No question. But whenever we mention brunch when interviewing a potential server, we lower our voices like we are discussing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in the Harry Potter books. It’s always thrilling when they don’t run screaming from the building.

And the morning meal somehow brings out a certain je ne sais quoi in guests that we don’t often see in the evening. A woman once kicked me because we didn’t have soy milk. It was a very Carrboro, Teva clod, karate side-kick to my shin. I had no idea what to say. And fairly recently, I had a woman call me out of the kitchen so that she could express her great disappointment that we no longer had our brunch buffet. I tried to explain that we’ve never had a buffet service for brunch, but she said that I was obviously a liar. She also wanted compensation for the betrayal and promised to let the world know all about it on Yelp. The second part happened. The first part – let me guarantee you – did not.

But rest assured, after the nearly 1500 Sundays, we still love brunch and all of its delicious quirks and traditions with the same passion as we did that first shift and it shows: malted doughnuts, coffee cake, and cinnamon rolls; cheese grits, bacon, and waffles; eggs Benedict, tomato pies, and fried chicken; and of course, great coffee, mimosas, and bloody marys. And, yes, glorious, hot left-handed biscuits with our strawberry butter. Because honestly, who doesn’t want to start the week so deliciously? The yardwork can wait.

Well, that’s all the news from Carrboro. The Staff at Acme look forward to serving you soon.

Cheers,

The Staff at Acme