At our Monday morning editorial meetings — after everybody has finished their morning workouts and returned sweaty from the gym — someone from the My Table team is usually in charge of bringing a box of donuts, while someone else grabs the coffee.
The team showed up empty-handed this past Monday, so the following day a couple of us went rogue and stopped at The Heights’ newest donut shop Hugs & Donuts — H-town strEATs food truck owners Matt Opaleski and Jason Hill‘s newest venture — to satisfy our weekly expectations.
At Hugs & Donuts, which opened in April, you’ll of course be able to get classic donuts like glazed and granulated sugar. But where this shop really shines is its menu of creative — and sometimes even bizarre — donuts.
Daily offerings include yeast donuts (i.e. glazed, chocolate and strawberry iced with sprinkles, maple bacon, strawberry shortcake) and cake donuts (cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, fruity pebble crunch, blueberry lemon glazed, birthday cake).
And depending on the day, you may also have the choice between items like the Elvis (banana cake donut with a peanut butter glaze topped with crushed peanuts and bacon), s’smores, blackberry jam with candied ginger or the tres leches with whipped cream and strawberries.
The yeast donuts won’t melt in your mouth, in a good way. They have a nice consistency and taste undoubtedly fresh, but they pack a bit more heft than the donuts you’ll pick up at Shipley Do-nuts. The Homer (strawberry iced with sprinkles, photo above) boasts real strawberry flavor, and just the smell of the maple bacon is satisfying enough. The salty bits of bacon scattered on top of the maple icing add more in terms of texture than flavor, which we preferred.
If you like donuts for dunking, go for the cake donuts. We sampled several, including the tried-and-true powdered sugar. The blueberry donut could easily fill in for your morning blueberry muffin, and the fruity pebble crunch (photo above) reminded us of a funfetti cake. It was definitely the sweetest of the bunch.
By contrast, the coffeecake donut topped with white chocolate (photo below) was light and airy. It’s made with Katz’s cold brew and has an aroma of sweet espresso. Order a cup of Katz coffee to go with your sweets or choose from the milks on tap. There’s plain, chocolate and strawberry.
It’s not part of the name, but there are also savory kolaches on offer, such as sausage and pepper jack, tomato pesto and mozzarella, and Willow’s Brisket BBQ. Check their social media for daily donut and kolache specials.
The shop is open everyday from 7 am until 3 pm — with happy hour buy-one-get-one-free starting around 1 pm.
Hugs & Donuts, 1901 N Shepherd, 713-485-6443, hugsanddonuts.com