{"id":10622,"date":"2023-07-25T15:02:34","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T21:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmblc.org\/?p=10622"},"modified":"2024-01-22T10:25:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T17:25:36","slug":"biscuit-boy-brings-people-together-for-albuquerques-greater-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmblc.org\/old-site\/biscuit-boy-brings-people-together-for-albuquerques-greater-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Biscuit Boy Brings People Together for Albuquerque’s Greater Good"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Biscuit Boy’s food spot at the Albuquerque Rail Yards market brings in the crowds with a dash of Southernness.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This week on the blog, NMBLC spotlights a local, Black owned business, Biscuit Boy.<\/a> The profile \u201cCommitment to Community\u201d first appeared in the July 2023 edition<\/a> of NMBLC\u2019s monthly newspaper, the UpLift Chronicles<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more great articles about the people, places, and happenings of Albuquerque\u2019s Black communities, subscribe to the UpLift Chronicles<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following piece was written by Sean Cardinalli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commitment to Community \u2014 Biscuit Boy’s owner brings people together for the city’s greater good<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Deonte \u201cDee\u201d Halsey is all about community; he\u2019s a \u201cpeople person.\u201d He\u2019s taught grade school for 23 years and loves his students; he\u2019s gotten mad notoriety for his burgeoning food spot called Biscuit Boy<\/a>; he\u2019s president of the Rail Yards<\/a> Board of Directors; and he\u2019s a member of the South Valley Economic Development Center. Things are going this brother\u2019s way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Deonte
Deonte Halsey, owner of Biscuit Boy<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When we interviewed, Dee had just come from his fifth-grade students\u2019 promotion ceremony at A. Montoya School in the East Mountains. He loves attending because it means so much to the parents and students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dee\u2019s kindly demeanor and big, easy grin have served him well; he\u2019s approachable and invested. He\u2019s lived in Albuquerque since 2015 but he\u2019s seen a lot of the States. He was born in Tennessee and raised in Inglewood outside Los Angeles; then he graduated from Tennessee State and assisted in the National Youth Sports Program. Dee got his master\u2019s in physics from Loyola University in Maryland, veered back to teaching, and\u2014after stints in Atlanta, Baltimore, and Houston\u2014arrived in Albuquerque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back when, Dee realized he was \u201ca pretty good cook,\u201d and wanted to run a bed and breakfast some day; something like Cecilia\u2019s Caf\u00e9 on Sixth. So, he started simple with a mobile food service and soon held Biscuit Boy\u2019s spot<\/a> down at the Rail Yards<\/a>. He practiced a lot to get his buttermilk biscuit recipe just right; he dashed in some Southernness, added a bit of science, and was sure to use local flour, flavors, and, of course, green chile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Biscuit
Biscuit Boy’s biscuit sandwich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Biscuit
Biscuit Boy’s The Triple B<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Biscuit
Biscuit Boy’s biscuits and gravy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the pandemic, Dee switched to a delivery-based model and landed in local coffee shops and high-profile places like Tamaya Resort and Los Poblanos. He has a commercial kitchen in the South Valley but is frank about the food biz\u2019s challenges: the profit margins are slim and the work is very labor-intensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get his buttermilk biscuit recipe just right, he dashed in some Southernness, added a bit of science, and was sure to use local flour, flavors, and, of course, green chile.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The kinds of hurdles Dee faces with his Biscuit Boy<\/a> crew are the kinds he knows a lot of entrepreneurs face. Which is why he took the Rail Yards Board chair after a second thought. \u201cI was thinking, why [do they want me?] And then I was like, oh, I know exactly why. Because I like the community. I like the Rail Yards. I like Barelas.\u201d The board specifically keeps a \u201clow barrier of entry fees\u201d compared to places like Expo New Mexico or Balloon Fiesta Park and it\u2019s helpful in getting smaller businesses, artisans, growers, and restaurateurs established. Dee believes the Rail Yards will continue to \u201chelp our economy grow in lots of different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, he sees the community space expanding\u2014not only with the New Mexico Media Academy\u2014but with the Wheels Museum and multi-use, multifamily housing leading to Avenida Cesar Chavez. It\u2019s a plan he hopes benefits everyone in Albuquerque; a site that attracts families and tourists like Union Market in D.C. and Pike Place Market in Seattle. \u201cWhen we\u2019re doing things for the Rail Yards<\/a>, we\u2019re doing it more for the people in the city, not just for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit Biscuit Boy at https:\/\/www.biscuitboynm.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n