Suzanne Vizethann built one of Atlanta's most beloved breakfast restaurants from scratch – lines out the door in Buckhead, a James Beard fellowship, two cookbooks, and a Food Network win.
Then she fell in love with Maine on an anniversary trip and bought an 82-year-old diner in Camden.
And what she found when she put grits on a menu in New England reminded her just how different America still is – and why that's worth celebrating.
The American Breakfast Divide Goes Back 400 Years
The breakfast table is where regional identity runs deepest in America.
Southern breakfast – grits, biscuits, gravy, country ham, eggs – traces directly to the Native American corn traditions early settlers adopted when European wheat withered in the Southern heat and humidity.
New England breakfast was shaped by a completely different set of forces: Puritan Sabbath laws that made Saturday night baked beans the only hot thing on the table until Monday, coastal fishing communities that put fish cakes and haddock front and center, and French-Canadian and Irish immigrant waves that brought corned beef hash and buckwheat ployes to the table.
The two traditions evolved for 400 years in parallel – and a Southern chef crossing that line gets a crash course fast.
"They don't like things as sweet as in the South," Vizethann told Fox News Digital, describing her Camden customers.
Less syrup, less jam, lighter seasoning – and a preference for rye bread and English muffins over the biscuits Southerners treat like a religion.
The Part That Surprised Her
Vizethann didn't expect grits to become one of her biggest sellers in Maine.
"To my surprise, the grits have been really well received," she said.
Every reason existed to predict failure – Maine diners don't do heavy, buttery Southern staples, and bringing pimento cheese grits and fried chicken to a coastal fishing town looked like a gamble.
The grits sell out regularly.
Her Southern staples – the ones she was most nervous about – turned into the restaurant's biggest draws.
Buttermilk Kitchen at Marriner's draws regulars who make the trip from Atlanta just to eat there – and Camden regulars now show up at the Atlanta location when they travel south.
What connects the two regions isn't the recipes – it's what sits behind them.
"Atlanta is totally different from Camden, Maine," Vizethann said, "but everyone shares a love for a great quality breakfast."
Maine is blueberry country – and blueberries show up at every Southern brunch table too.
Maine runs on potatoes – and so does every Southern diner from Nashville to Savannah.
Shrimp and grits in South Carolina, fried haddock in Camden – both built around what the local land and water provide.
What She Got Right That the Food Critics Missed
Vizethann didn't move to Maine to replace its traditions with Southern ones.
She took over Marriner's – a restaurant that fed Camden for 82 years – and treated it with the same care she'd want someone to show Buttermilk Kitchen.
The Maine menu includes haddock fish cakes, chowder, and blueberry pancakes with wild Maine blueberries folded into the batter – not just used as a topping the way Atlanta does it.
The Southern menu in Camden includes things you won't find north of the Mason-Dixon line at most restaurants: pimento cheese grits, drop biscuits with house-made jam, fried green tomato melts with pickled tomatoes and house-made hot sauce.
"We're doing food that's relatable – more country comfort-style dishes that translate well no matter where you are," Vizethann said.
Great breakfast food was never a regional accident – it's local sourcing, scratch cooking, and generous portions, built by people who understood that feeding your community well is its own kind of American tradition.
Sources:
- Andrea Margolis, "Grits shock Maine diners as Southern chef spotlights regional breakfast divide," Fox News Digital, March 1, 2026.
- "Buttermilk Kitchen Brings Hearty, Down-Home Fare to Camden," Down East Magazine, January 10, 2025.
- Ligaya Mishan, "Buttermilk Kitchen founder shares brunch favorites to re-create at home," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 21, 2025.
- "Buttermilk Kitchen at Marriner's in downtown Camden celebrates grand opening," PenBay Pilot, 2024.
- "Cuisine of New England," Wikipedia.
- "Cuisine of the Southern United States," Wikipedia.