Stephen Bosio: Bosio Biscuit Company
Father, first-time restaurant owner, buttermilk biscuit evangelist, and all-around darn good guy, Stephen Bosio shares his story with us. From finding his place in the kitchen at an early age to becoming a full-time chef, Stephen’s deep connection to simple ingredients and scratch cooking truly shines.
Stephen leaves no stone unturned when it comes to creating a laid-back, cozy, classic dining experience rooted in local ingredients and heartfelt preparation. His food feels familiar in the best way—thoughtful without being fussy, comforting without cutting corners, and grounded in the kind of honest cooking that brings people back to the table. From flaky buttermilk biscuits to homestyle fried chicken that celebrate the farms and producers around him, Stephen’s approach is all about warmth, craft, and making guests feel right at home.
Be sure to visit his restaurant: Bosio Biscuit Co and follow on Facebook and Instagram.
When did you start cooking and who taught you how to cook?
The earliest memories I have of cooking are around six years old. My mom got tired of me asking for oatmeal cookies all the time. She said “If you want them, you can make them. Here's the ingredients and here's how to do it.” From that point on, if we had the ingredients and there was a recipe in a cookbook I wanted to try, I’d make it. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't.
I remember cooking dinner for the family when I was around ten or twelve. My mom and my grandma on my mom’s side – those are the two people that really got me into cooking as a child. Later, during and after college, the restaurant I was a server and bartender at, made everything from scratch and I learned a lot from those chefs. I’d watch them doing prep and ask questions when I was setting up the bar for the day. I’d then try to replicate what I saw them doing at home.
Did they give you feedback?
Yeah, I mean, I was really good at following the recipe. The only real flop I remember was the first time I tried to make pizza dough. My dog wouldn’t even eat it. I would ask my mom if there was something I didn't understand or something I don't know how to do. We didn't have TV for most of my childhood and there was no Internet to go look up videos on how to do things.
They were they were pretty good at telling me if I did something wrong – usually little things like too much flour or too little flour. I learned a lot by trial by error.
What did you do before owning your restaurant?
I was director of sales for a finance company, so I handled nearly a thousand accounts across the US. I was with that company for about 13 years.
Where do you source your ingredients? Any local?
I try to get vegetables locally. Meat is harder because the quantities and specific cuts of things that I need. Vegetables come locally all summer long – everything that I can pick up at the farmers markets.
Then in winter, when there's no fresh tomatoes or things like that around, I try to focus as much as I can seasonally. My base menu doesn't have a lot of vegetables or greens. It’s a lot of potatoes and onions. When there's fresh vegetables, I expand to do salads every week.
Has owning a restaurant and being a chef always been a dream?
Not really, I'm pretty sure I told friends, “No I don't ever want to cook for a living” and “No I would never own a restaurant”. We all say things in our youth that we don't feel the same about later. A food truck was more what I wanted to do. When I was out West, I was looking into doing that because I could do it on the weekends.
Why biscuits?
During 2020 lockdown everybody tried making sourdough. I can make a regular loaf of bread without fail. I can't do sourdough. I just used my starter to make crepes all the time.
Now, I really like biscuits and gravy – it’s always been my comfort food go-to for breakfast. At the grocery store they were all sold out of milk – there was only buttermilk. I thought “Well I've never made a buttermilk biscuit, let's try it”. I had always made baking powder biscuits. They're fine, but I made the first batch of buttermilk biscuits and I was like “Holy crap these are like really good”. I started making more. It was easy because nobody was buying buttermilk. Everybody was buying out the regular flour, but nobody was buying this self-rising flour. It was perfect it – I had all the things that I needed. Buttermilk biscuits became my sourdough. I started boxing them up on the weekends and would pick a friend that I would bring a dozen. I used the first iteration of our logo on the boxes – it’s on the sign now.
Now that you've been open for a couple years, how has your restaurant changed?
I started out working with another buddy, unfortunately that didn't work out. It’s been a big change being the sole cook.
I had never really worked back of the house besides in pizza places. It's not quite the same cooking an entire menu. Thankfully, I was able to learn a lot from him. He helped me out a lot with getting everything going. Taking the reins completely has been a little scary, but I’ve gained a lot of confidence in my abilities and feel comfortable doing it now.
What were some challenges you had to overcome and owning and operating a restaurant?
I think the condition of things was the biggest issue that still pops back up. The building is over 100 years old, and it wasn’t taken care of as well as it could have been. Besides learning the ins and outs of the business side of things, the to fix list never seems to get much smaller as there’s always something new popping up. I’ve learned a lot of new things about plumbing, electrical, and furnace repair since owning this building.
Pick one: sweet or savory?
I’m a savory boy, I grew up eating asking my mom for liver and onions. I like Brussels sprouts – I love the bitter the savory that element. That's my happy place. I will make an exception for donuts and pie – those are my two sweet weaknesses.
How has raising kids affected the way you cook?
It's helped me with being able to make multiple things at the same time. My oldest son is vegetarian, my former youngest – we have a baby now – he once told me sesame seeds were spicy. That hurt but I still love him.
It's a lot of being able to find things that work for everybody and being creative. I think it’s helped me expand my skill set as a cook. They're my hardest critics too. Sometimes I can't please everybody, and they'll tell me if it's bad. My son once told me, after trying my meatloaf, that he can understand how other people would like it but it’s not for them.
What it's one of your favorite restaurants?
I've traveled a lot and seen most of the country at this point, have eaten in so many different restaurants in every level of dining experience. Honestly, I think my favorite is any good taco truck in LA. There’s a few that I would love to grab some food from again.
What is an uncommon ingredient you cannot live without?
I need my buttermilk. I always keep I always keep some Tapatio on hand. I also try to keep a pretty full spice rack that’s got everything from Chinese 5 spice to saffron to allspice berries.
What would you tell someone interested in opening a restaurant?
I would definitely not tell them that most restaurants fail in their first year. That gets really disheartening to hear from your family and friends constantly.
Make sure you have a good plan. Have a menu set on simplicity. It's way too easy to want to do everything, I have to edit myself too, because you might not have the space. I've got 3 feet of flat top to work with and need to be careful with what I'm doing. I have to make sure that the ingredients I use have multiple purposes.
I knew that coming into this space, with it having been a country diner, that if I do American breakfast and lunch people will be familiar. I do have a bit of a southern influence from my mom's family living in the South.
Not everything I wanted to do I did right out the gate. Some things I took time before adding, some things I’ve adapted as I moved forward.
I don't think there's a place anymore to open a new restaurant and serve pre-cooked food. That’s fine if it's a bar, but I think you owe it to the clientele to use good ingredients and to try to build the connections with the local farmers too, if you have that available.
My customers can tell my food is from scratch. Even the breakfast sausage I mix up here. The only thing left to really make myself would be ketchup and mayonnaise, but I feel ok with those two condiments not being made in house. For now.
You need to have that knowledge on the actual business side. It's such an important part and it’s probably my biggest weakness. Thankfully, because of my previous job, I did bring some experience with that.
I think that's what gets people stuck. I only want to charge so much for foodit because that's what I feel is fair, but I also have to pay the electric bill, the fuel oil bill, the firewood, my employees, I have to charge a certain amount to cover everything. If you can't do the business side yourself, surround yourself with people that can do that part for you.
What is one of the loveliest compliments you've ever received from customer?
A guy from Texas that came up, shook my hand, and said “that was the best damn biscuit and gravy I've ever had.” Or when someone says my food reminds them of their grandma, or their mom’s cooking, I absolutely love that.
Do you have any heirloom tools?
I have my grandma’s old Pyrex bread pan and a pre–World War II cast iron skillet. It means a lot to me, and I try to carry on the cooking tradition that’s been passed down.
