Dough Boy Donuts
Looking back at my past food adventures, I can honestly say I’ve taken many a food risk flavor-wise over the years. During my early teens, my cousin Johnathan and I would dare each other to mix things like chocolate milk with hot sauce and pickles just to see if we could gross each other out. In my college days, my friends and I would try to eat the hottest foods, combining several hot sauces with pepper flakes and jalapenos smooshed between some crackers as a dare. It’s no wonder I have terrible bouts of heartburn to this day, even if I haven’t eaten anything spicy. Over the years my food adventures have taken me to places that serve everything from calf fries to fried bat wings. Some were surprisingly good and others — well — I keep a bottle of antacids at my desk as a backup.
So, it was a no-brainer to try what Dough Boy Donuts located at 291 W Hidden Creek Parkway in Burleson, hail as their signature doughnut last weekend. Dough Boy Donuts, originally located on Camp Bowie Blvd., set up shop at a 1,400 square foot shop in Burleson in the fall of 2020. Since then, the parking lot has been hopping with smiling customers holding boxes of what I could only imagine were filled with made-to-order fresh doughnuts.
After passing this shop for months, my wife and I decided it was time to stop in and see what the fuss was all about. The first thing I noticed was owner Melvin Roberson’s signature fresh-squeezed orange juice machine in full swing. It was like watching a show that supplies you with the added bonus of some juice when it’s done. But what really grabbed my attention was a $5 doughnut topped with a strip of sriracha candied bacon placed on maple glaze (enter mind blown emoji here). Of course, I had to try it, the ingredients danced off of the menu like a mini food dare before noon.
As I picked up this sizable confection, drops of maple glaze began to plop on my plate like a sweet lava. My first bite was one of amazement as I purposefully bit into the sriracha candied bacon to experience this flavor profile head on. A tinge of saltiness mixed with the twang of sriracha were noticeable at first. This savory taste was complemented near the end of the bite, which finished with a sweetness that mixed well with the toppings. By my second and third bites, the mixture of flavors weren’t as intense but still very well balanced. The bacon was cooked perfectly, with just enough crispiness to have a slight crunch, but not overcooked or rubbery. I even thought about adding more siracha to the last two bites that were, by this point, devoid of any toppings at all.
With my curiosity quelled, I lived to mark off another food challenge that, unlike many from the past, didn’t come with any heat-induced side effects. The concept of this doughnut is solid flavor-wise, which begs the question, how did this pairing come to be? Whatever its impetus, I’m glad it exists. Now I know what those customers were smiling about, boxes in hand. They found a unique spot that serves more than a hip ambiance and fresh-squeezed orange juice; Dough Boy Donuts has unorthodox flavor profiling down pat.
