Beloved Fort Myers Beach breakfast, lunch joint washed away by Ian makes heavenly return

If you’re one of Heavenly Biscuits' many loyal fans, you may want to thank Tyler Lukesic.

He’s the driving force behind the new food truck, Heavenly Biscuit on Wheels, which opens Saturday, Aug. 12, on Fort Myers Beach.

“After the hurricane, it looked like that was the end,” Lukesic said of the beloved Fort Myers Beach eatery. “I knew I couldn’t let that happen. So I decided to do it myself. I took a leap of faith to get it back.”

Heavenly Biscuit (the "s" on Biscuits has been dropped from the original name) will be parked in the restaurant’s old spot on Mango Street beginning Saturday. For now, it'll be open from 7:30 a.m. daily until 2:30 p.m. or whenever they sell out.

The breakfast and lunch joint's original building was destroyed during Hurricane Ian.

“Nothing was left,” Lukesic said. “There were just foundation blocks. We had a trailer in the back, but we don’t know where it is. Everything was just gone. One coffee mug was not broken. I kept that for myself.”

Grandma and grandson working together

Lukesic is the perfect person to keep the popular food truck going.

“When my mom passed away, my grandmother worked at Heavenly Biscuits,” said Lukesic, whose father died when he was 11. “It wasn’t in my plans to move, but my grandmother brought me here from the other coast. I was 19. I put my head down and went to work. Turns out it was something I was good at. I’ve been cooking there for 13 years.”

Many customers never realized it was Lukesic’s buttermilk biscuits and cinnamon rolls they would line up and patiently wait for.

“I hide behind the scenes,” he said. “I’m good at talking, but I’m the cook who hides in the corner. It’s been a change to show my face. But I think it’s going to be great to put a face to the food.”

And it's that food local residents and visitors have clamored for since Heavenly Biscuits first opened in 2001.

“The menu is a bit simplified,” he said. “And it’s been revamped with new names. It’s the same concept. On a food truck, you just can’t do everything you can do in a full restaurant. But we will have what everyone always came for.”

Everything is made-from-scratch

That includes those buttermilk biscuits served in all their glorious forms, including with sausage gravy and eggs; with country fried steak, egg and cheese; or with ham or sausage and eggs, cheese and tomato. The Special is the most popular way and it consists of buttermilk biscuits with bacon, eggs, cheese and tomato for $6.

Cinnamon rolls ($5) are another crowd-pleaser.

“They’re also a from-scratch product,” Lukesic said. “It’s a simple recipe honestly, but it’s done the correct way. It reminds you of grandma’s cooking. It’s heartwarming. And it’s a meal in itself. I was surprised when someone would eat breakfast and finish it off with a cinnamon roll.”

Sandwiches (a mega BLT, bacon cheeseburger and grilled cheese with bacon and tomato) with home fries, pecan rolls, banana bread and a handful of sides round out the menu.

Without the restaurant and with limited cooking equipment in the food truck (which was purchased from Cajun Gringos), Lukesic is working out of a commissary in Fort Myers.

“We bake everything fresh every morning, and I’m bringing everything with me that I can,” he said.

And grandma?

“She’s still helping,” he said. “She’s coming with me to cut up onions.”

Lukesic began working the breakfast shift at an assisted living facility and doing catering on the side right after the hurricane.

Now open: Popular waterfront Fort Myers Beach restaurant 'wiped out' by Hurricane Ian set to reopen

Will the restaurant be rebuilt?

He’s excited to be able to focus solely on Heavenly Biscuit.

“We were in the process of getting it turned over to me when the hurricane hit,” he said, noting that the former owner is like family to him. “Literally two weeks later, as soon as I got internet access, I locked in the LLC.  We just want to get back running again. We did some minimal things to the truck. It was pretty much ready to go. I painted it myself, left it silver and put our logo there. Heavenly Biscuits had a weirdness to it that worked. It wasn’t glamorous. This isn’t. We will let the food speak for itself.”

And down the road?

“Maybe we will expand on the food truck with another trailer,” he said. “Add some seating and picnic tables. In the future, there will be talks about getting the building rebuilt there. But that’s not in the near future.”

Opening Saturday is the first big step and judging by the community support he’s getting, it’s the right one.

“Over 1,000 people have reached out to us,” said Tyler’s wife, Kayla Lukesic, who runs Heavenly Biscuit’s social media page.

“We are so appreciative of everyone,” added Tyler. “It means more than any words I can put together. It put fuel to my fire to make sure I got this going again. And so did Kayla. She pushed me every day to get it back.”

Fans of Heavenly Biscuits may want to thank her too.

Heavenly Biscuit, 110 Mango St., Fort Myers Beach; (239) 333-7713; [email protected]; follow along on Facebook

Robyn George is a food and dining writer for The Fort Myers News-Press. Send news to [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Heavenly Biscuit food truck returns baked goodness to Fort Myers Beach