The doughnut takeover is intensifying. Last year, Y&H reported on a slew of upscale restaurants offering gourmet takes on sugary fried dough, but standalone doughnut shops haven’t caught on in the same way stand-alone cupcake shops have.
District Doughnut, a six-month-old doughnut catering business, is looking to change that with its first D.C. storefront. Co-founders Juan Pablo Segura and Greg Menna say they’ve been looking at spaces in Dupont and Chinatown and will close on a lease soon. They hope to open next May or June.
Segura and Menna say they want diners to be able to see the doughnuts being made in the shop. They’ll probably sell five staple flavors for $2.50 each as well as a weekly rotating flavor and another picked by fans online. (And let’s not forget coffee.)
Their pastry chef, Christine Schaefer, previously ran a gourmet bakery in Buffalo, N.Y., and studied at Le Cordon Bleu. Among her current flavor offerings: caramel apple streusel, cannoli, orange chocolate, and peanut butter and jelly. Schaefer, who currently cooks out of a kitchen in Bethesda, uses local ingredients when possible and makes everything from scratch, including any jam fillings.
Other doughnut-centric projects are also in the works: Neighborhood Restaurant Group recently announced it will be open a fried chicken and doughnut restaurant in Dupont (which upset Seasonal Pantry‘s owner, who had plans for the same concept). Meanwhile, the Ted’s Bulletin location coming to the 14th Street early next year will have an expanded bakery with a menu of gourmet doughnuts.
Photo by District Doughnut