Winter Park Biscuit Company coming to East End Market

A renowned Winter Park chef who has fed hungry musicians on the road is debuting a fresh, tasty pop-up concept in the area — and she hopes to see it come to the Winter Park Farmers’ Market.

The Winter Park Biscuit Company will be serving some flaky baked goodness at a pop-up event from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at East End Market in Audubon Park.

Founder and Executive Chef Mary Mattern said the menu will consist of a variety of biscuit-based bites — all with a vegan twist.

“The main part of our company is biscuits — that’s the base of it,” Mattern said. “We’ll be doing vegan chicken sandwiches that are soy based, sausage gravy and biscuits, and breakfast sandwiches, which will be tofu egg, vegan cheese and vegan sausage.

“We wanted to show people that you can eat Southern vegan food,” she said. “We’re just excited to bring that to Orlando and see how people perceive it. I wanted vegans to be able to have an option of something they could grab quickly in the morning before work, which isn’t necessarily readily available in Orlando.”

Mattern said even though Winter Park Biscuit Company is a vegan concept, that shouldn’t scare off anyone who doesn’t live that lifestyle. It tastes exactly the same, she said.

“I want people to question whether or not it’s vegan,” Mattern said. “I want people to realize that you can eat vegan food — it tastes exactly like a non-vegan chicken biscuit. Not just ‘It kind of tastes like it’ — it’s identical. I want people to really know that that’s an option.”

As the name of the concept suggests, Mattern said she hopes to bring her biscuit company mainly to the Winter Park Farmers’ Market.

“When I started cooking, I was living in Baltimore at the time, and I would grab a biscuit and walk around the farmers market,” Mattern said. “The Winter Park Farmers’ Market reminds me of that farmers market that I used to go to when I first started cooking. That’s where the idea came from — to take that concept of a nostalgic time in my life and bring it to Winter Park. (My fiance and I) live in Winter Park, and we love the community here.”

Before she pursued her biscuit company concept, Mattern wrote the vegan cookbook, “Nom Yourself,” which was published by Penguin Random House in September 2015. She went on to become a traveling personal chef for musicians like singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.

The recipe for the biscuits has been in the works for a couple years, Mattern said, adding she’s excited for people to try it.

“It is essentially a buttermilk biscuit — it’s flaky, the crust is crunchy and the chicken is a fried chicken fillet and on it will be thousand island dressing, lettuce and whatever local produce we can find,” Mattern said. “We want people to try it.”

Mattern added she hopes to eventually bring the concept to the Maitland Farmers’ Market as well, along with a separate deli concept somewhere in Orlando called Heirloom Deli.