What to do when you have already had your breakfast parfait, yet it is not an appropriate time of day to chow down on Tex-Mex? Why, check out the new neighborhood donut shop.
After a morning interview elsewhere, My Table stopped by the newly opened River Oaks Donuts on Westheimer across from River Oaks Park to check our their donuts, kolaches and, of course, prices.
Owners of the Southwest Equestrian Center, Jeff and Mindy Hildebrand opened River Oaks Donuts because they felt their part of town needed a neighborhood donut shop. As Mindy told CultureMap in a recent interview, “I wanted to provide the neighborhood with donuts. It is as simple as that. There was a need, so we are providing a service.”
While the name River Oaks Donuts may suggest an expensive donut, in actuality, you won’t spend much dough for this dough. Most of the donuts can be bought for less than one dollar.
The shop offers glazed donuts, iced cake donuts, cream-filled donuts and donut holes. The menu also includes apple fritters, long johns and cinnamon twists. Any donut aficionado will be pleased with the selection.
When we walked into the shop, Mindy was there to greet us and even bag up our donuts herself. It seems the Hildebrand children are showing their support for the familiy business, too. Mindy said that daughter Brittany comes through the drive-through every morning for her daily kolache fix before going to work at the Equestrian Center.
I thought the chocolate glazed with espresso cream was a clever way to class up a donut. It was sweet and flakey like a glazed donut should be, and the espresso cream added just a touch of richness.
Unlike most other donut shops, River Oaks Donuts takes the donut hole seriously. The shop offers glazed, cake and filled donut holes, which can even be purchased individually for less than 30 cents each. Like most girls, I appreciate an assortment of options at a good price, whether it be shoes or bite-sized donuts.
We tasted regular glazed, chocolate glazed with chocolate cream filling, cinnamon sugar cake and glazed chocolate cake. The regular glazed was light and airy, practically disappearing in your mouth. For my taste, I would have preferred a bit more glaze to coat the outside. The chocolate glazed with cream filling was enjoyable, both texturally and flavorfully. It was chocolaty, creamy and the perfect bite size. The cinnamon sugar cake was dense like the cake donuts, but the glazed chocolate cake was much more moist. It seems there were some inconsistencies in the baking, maybe at different times and for different lengths.
A reason to venture back: the kolaches. For less than two bucks, you can order their plain kolache made with Prasek’s sausage or any of the other combinations of cheese and jalapeño. The sausage-to-cheese to bread ratio was ideal, and since they slit the top of the dough before baking, the sausage was thoroughly cooked.
While we enjoyed some donuts and wondered about others, we began our afternoon with a serious sugar buzz. As a new business, River Oaks Donuts will get another chance from me. But next time I will test out the drive-through.
River Oaks Donuts, 3601 Westheimer near Edloe, 713-961.9458, Facebook page