Breakfast, Dessert, Dining Out, East Harlem, Lower East Harlem, Manhattan, Quick PostKerry Alaric CheeseboroOctober 03, 2013baked, banana, blueberry, Breakfast, coffee, Corey Cova, curry, Dessert, Dining Out, Dough Loco, doughnut, doughnuts, East Harlem, Harlemburg, lime, Lower East Harlem, Manhattan, maple, miso, morning, pastries, pastry, Quick Post, rosemary, sweets, unique1 Comment

"Loco" Motive

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COFFEE. DOUGHNUTS. SO BASIC AND ubiquitous a staple of Americana. And chains like Dunkin' Donuts (and the struggling Krispy Kreme) have long given that perfect morning marriage a home at a shop in pretty much every neighborhood in this country.

And as has happened to many other "staple" foods and meals, the doughnut enjoyed/suffered a variety of new, outré incarnations throughout the '00s, the only remaining popular iteration—beyond the Boston Cremes and added chocolate sprinkles of the 80s—are versions that include, no surprise, bacon.

Yet somewhere on the thin strip of real estate that bridges the culinarily homogenous Upper East Side and the culinarily traditionalist East Harlem, young restaurateur Cory Cova has been carving a nice niche of new nosh: first with immediate hit EARL'S BEER & CHEESE, then opening the likewise popular ABV, and now Dough Loco, recently opened on the same block as his original endeavor, on Park Avenue and 97th.

Dough Loco

Yes, low-fi décor, but he and his kitchen manage to successfully pull off some high-concept doughnuts. In other words, my kind of menu.

I opt to try three of them: one banana curry, one blueberry-rosemary-lime, and one maple miso. I admittedly have a more adventurous palate than most, so I enthusiastically indulged and enjoyed each bite of each.

If you forget that the sweetness of coconut better informs the taste of most curries—or how a tasty mango lassi has long been those dishes' perfect compliment—the notion of banana and curry together might seem oddly extreme. Once you taste those flavors together, though, they seem that much more of a natural match.

Likewise, the woodsy florality and slight bitterness of rosemary lifts up the charm of the blueberreis' flavor, while a little lime brightens it and helps cut the "cloyingnes" of the berries' rich sugars.

And the natural umami essence and slight saltiness of miso make a pleasant counter to the almost verdant sweetness of maple.

All of this custom-create frostings sit atop a skillfully executed doughnut, cakey without being spongey, light and airy yet hearty enough to stand up to the hottest of coffees without falling apart or completely disintegrating.

Blueberry Raspberry Doughnut

Maple Miso Doughnut

Somehow, smack in between a neighborhood long known for neutral cuisines (having let go of the character and great foods of Hungary and Germany that used to define that area) and a neighborhood that has chicken, fish, and chicharrones always frying somewhere on every block, the man who confidently (and tastily) put foie gras on an Eggo waffle (with coffee-cured bacon and Cabot cheddar) is now making a splash and a name for himself, in the newly yet unofficially minted area I am still calling "Harlemburg".

Yes, his food ideology skews on the "unusual". Maybe "crazy" to some. But between two cultures where "tried and true" seems trite to me, "loco" is the kind of thing that not only makes me more excited about the food scene in these parts, but gives me more incentive to explore it.

Bun Apple Tea!

KACnyc

PS Although I myself am not a coffee drinker, I hear the coffee here at Dough Loco also "kicks ass"...!

Kerry Alaric Cheeseboro