Description
The name Fonuts implies "faux," but there's nothing ersatz, derivative or watered down about pastry chef's Waylynn Lucas' upscale doughnut shop. Opened in late August of 2011 on West Third Street, the minimalist shop is nearly bare, except where it counts: the doughnut selection.
There is the standard American fast-food doughnut: light, airy and raised or thick and cakey, but deep-fried in either case. Fonuts are another species altogether. These are closer to miniature cakes pressed into doughnut form: Soft and moist, they crumble apart in large, tender chunks. Taxonomy notwithstanding, Lucas brings all the artistry and precision of the pastry chef's craft to bear on this, the traditional snack of cops, students and carb-crazed, sugar-starved Americans.
The faux donuts at Fonuts are never too sweet or too dense, and they're made with good stuff. The zing of fresh fruit comes through in the lemon doughnut, glazed in a slightly tart white icing flecked with lemon zest, and in the subtle strawberry buttermilk. It's hard to go wrong with banana and chocolate, perhaps one of the best flavor combos known to humanity, but Fonuts goes very, very right with gooey chunks of banana and ample nuggets of chocolate.
They bear no resemblance to anything you'd find at Winchell's, but standouts among the 16 flavors include rum, chocolate hazelnut and, finally, the fresh, chewy, savory-sweet bacon maple doughnut this city deserves. The peanut butter and jelly, a golf ball-sized nugget dusted with powdered sugar and filled with a thick, sweet paste of PBJ, is a thing of beauty. Arrive early. Lucas often sells out of the most popular flavors by noon.
Whether or not Fonuts ca can make a go of it in the high-rent West Third Street corridor -- a baker's dozen will set you back $38 – Fonuts offers up a very real treat.
