The Dessert Item That Many People Avoid Ordering At Cracker Barrel

The Southern-themed comfort food restaurant with the very nostalgic name, Cracker Barrel is certainly steeped in the food and culture of the South — particularly that of the bayou. But even for a chain as widespread as Cracker Barrel, you can't hit on every menu item you create — you're bound to whiff on some from time to time. But for you the customer, it pays to know which menu items to avoid, which is why Chowhound created a list of eight dishes to avoid at Cracker Barrel.

You don't want your meal to end on a down note, which is why you should avoid ordering Cracker Barrel's biscuit beignets. We know, we know — beignets are a staple of bayou cuisine (they're even one of the most quintessential regional foods in America). But all this can't stop the fact that Cracker Barrel's rendition of the classic New Orleans dish simply fails to live up to the beignet's lofty reputation. Noted as being overly dry (possibly due to being made from biscuit dough) and criticized for not tasting quite right with the oil that they're fried in, it's safe to say that you could do yourself some good by ordering another dessert besides these.

According to a survey of 585 people conducted by Mashed, more than 36% of people marked Cracker Barrel's biscuit beignets as the worst dessert item offered by the restaurant chain. The dry texture and confused flavor profile left many feeling underwhelmed, and you can look at the composition of this dessert to find out why that may be the case. Traditional beignets, a holdover from French cuisine in the American South, are supposed to be light and fluffy on account of the type of dough being used. Biscuits, meanwhile, while still being flaky, are certainly meant to be denser than beignets by a good margin. 

Cracker Barrel's biscuit beignets, then, represent a clash of two iconic Southern dishes. And when it comes to taste, this same clash is on display. Beignets are fried in oil, and this is no different at Cracker Barrel. But the chain's biscuit beignets are made with buttermilk, which will doubtless react differently to the frying oil than regular beignets. If you ask us, we'd rather see some discontinued Cracker Barrel items make a comeback in place of this disappointing dessert.

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