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Crystal Wise
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Crystal Wise
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Crystal Wise
For most of us, foodies or not, there’s a certain food in our lives that conjures nostalgia: your first Happy Meal, your first chicken-fried steak, your first piece of sushi.
For Fort Worth-based chef Parker Howard, a doughnut is what triggers fond, sepia-tone memories of his childhood. “My dad would take me on the weekends to our local doughnut shop,” he says. “I grew up in Springfield, Illinois, and we’d go to this little place called Mellow Cream Doughnuts. We went in the ’90s, and it hadn’t changed from the ’70s — it was all wood paneling, stains from when people used to smoke, a real down-home place. They were all sweet, sweet people who knew what doughnut I was going to order. I’d like to think of it as the “Cheers” of doughnut shops.”
The 34-year-old chef is hoping others nostalgic for these sweet stalwarts will dig Dreamboat Donuts & Scoops, the city’s first all-vegan doughnut shop. Slated to open this spring at 1204 Sixth Ave., as part of the new PS1200 mixed-use development, Dreamboat is one of three new vegan concepts coming this year from Amy McNutt, the founder of vegan restaurant and bakery, Spiral Diner. In addition to Dreamboat, she’s opening a fine dining concept called Maiden: Fine Plants & Spirits and an Arlington location of Spiral Diner.
“I think the time is right for this many vegan concepts,” says Howard, a vegan himself. “Look how far we’ve come. Ten years ago, you had very few vegan or even vegetarian options. Today, you can walk into Walmart and get a pack of Beyond Meat.”
Howard will lead Dreamboat’s kitchen. For the past several months, he and McNutt’s husband, James Johnston, have been working on recipes for cake and yeast-raised doughnuts. The menu isn’t finalized yet, but Howard name-dropped several potential flavors: peanut butter and Oreo crumble, matcha ginger, lemon poppyseed, strawberry chocolate, cookie butter, Boston crème, and Earl Grey lavender.
Other menu items will include soft-serve, soy-based ice cream; doughnut ice cream sundaes; and various pastries.
Like Spiral Diner, Dreamboat will have a midcentury vibe, with pink Formica countertops and white tile floors. It’ll mostly be a to-go store but with an outdoor patio and seating area.
Howard has been a part of the Spiral Diner family for 11 years. “I started out as a dishwasher there,” he says. “Everyone starts out washing dishes. That’s your first day of training. I worked my way up through management and was eventually named executive chef.”
He was a good fit for Spiral Diner, having flipped from being a carnivore to vegan. That transformation took place while Howard was a student at the University of North Texas.
"This guy made a bet with me that I couldn’t last a week as a vegetarian,” says Howard, who is also a musician who has played in several local punk bands. “Not only did I win the bet, I made a choice to change my life. I felt better. I had more energy. Over time, my health improved. It was the best decision I ever made.”
Dreamboat Donuts & Scoops, 1204 Sixth Ave., dreamboatdonuts.com. Opening this spring.
