From Classic to Inventive: Doughnuts Are What's for Breakfast on the East End

While bagels may have the market cornered on the most popular breakfast item with a hole at its center, its sweet sister — the doughnut — has evolved from a tasty treat and police officer punchline into an Instagram-worthy dessert, with artisans and bakers cooking up crafty creations that tantalize more than just your taste buds.

On the East End, from classics like the Dressen’s doughnut to brioche doughnuts at Grindstone and more avant-garde varieties at the North Fork Doughnut Company, doughnuts are everywhere and ready to be enjoyed.

Grindstone Coffee and Doughnuts

Grindstone Coffee and Doughnuts yeast risen brioche doughnut is their “bread and butter” (pun 100 percent intended), owner Kyle Sanderson says. Grindstone opened in August 2016 on Main Street in Sag Harbor specializing in cake doughnuts, which have more of a “cult following,” Sanderson added, noting that Grindstone’s new “cake doughnut pops” have been a huge hit with the kids. Another big favorite with the summer crowd is Grindstone’s hazelnut S’mores doughnut. 

“We tried to do more interesting things the first few years, but people out here always gravitated toward the single traditional flavors,” Sanderson said. “Classic glaze is by far our best seller. We don’t do a ton of ‘wacky’ flavors like you might see on the West Coast in a more saturated doughnut market. Which is not to say it’s a boring doughnut. There’s a hint of orange oil in the glaze that goes really well with the rich buttery brioche dough.” 

Grindstone will be opening in East Hampton Village this summer, Sanderson said, adding that the space boasts outdoor seating that will allow them to do everything they can’t do at the Sag Harbor location, including more community events and pop-ups with other businesses.

“We’re also finally starting to talk to some folks about opening franchise locations in the other villages around the Hamptons,” Sanderson added.

Sanderson’s favorite is the old-fashioned, sour cream doughnut. “It’s a very traditional doughnut that has very little sugar, and it’s great with dark roast coffee. I first had one when I worked the graveyard shift at a doughnut shop in Cleveland’s Little Italy. It was their most popular doughnut. It’s become a staple here as well.”

Sanderson first worked with a couple in Cleveland who opened a French bakery. Just being around them as they started and developed their business was his inspiration, he said, adding that the doughnuts at Grindstone were kind of an afterthought at first.

“I was really opening a coffee shop,” he said. “I just wanted to do something that would help us stand out in the admittedly saturated Sag Harbor coffee market. I chose doughnuts because there’s no more iconic pairing for coffee. It’s got the traditional Americana feel that permeates Sag Harbor, and it’s a great grab-and-go item for the huge amount of walk-in traffic we get in the summer.” 

Beach Bakery and Grand Cafe

Rashid Sulehri took over Beach Bakery in Westhampton Beach in 2019. He’s been in the food business since graduating college and in the baking business since 2015.

“I love to serve delicious food and make people happy. Serving delicious sweets brings peace to me,” he said. 

Beach Bakery originally opened in 1988. Over the last 36 years, it has quickly become the heart of the village and a staple for locals and tourists alike, Sulehri explained.

“Our historical, warm and inviting atmosphere, coupled with welcoming staff delivers delicious breakfast, lunch, dinner and desserts,” he said.

Simon Jorna was the original owner of the Beach Bakery & Grand Cafe. He wanted to make sure Sulehri would keep the business as a bakery and restaurant. Sulehri also owns the Montauk Bake Shoppe in Montauk and Villa Italian Specialties in East Hampton. 

When it comes to doughnut styles, Sulehri said, Beach Bakery has everything you can imagine. Their jelly and custard cronut double punch tag team never fails to hit the spot, he said.

“Whether you’re craving a tart, classic, raspberry jelly flavor, or a rich, thick Bavarian cream with a soft and crispy croissant shell, we’ve got you covered,” he said.

But what sets Beach Bakery apart is the custom aspect of it. They may not make something as an inventory item in store, Sulehri explained, but they make a promise to their customers that if it’s not on the shelf, they can make it. Just call in and place a custom order.

“Chocolate dipped coconut macaroons, black & white cookies, cheesecake, chocolate chunk cookies, strawberry shortcake are very famous among our customers,” he added.

Suleri added that their “holy grail” is the raspberry jelly croissant. On a typical summer day, the bakery sells upwards of 1,200 a day. He sees regulars often driving from Manhattan to Westhampton Beach to pack up dozens and dozens of jelly croissants.

“They sell so rapidly,” he said, “that we reserve a staff member just to fry and fill croissants all throughout the day.”

Dreesen’s Famous Donuts

Plain, powdered sugar, and cinnamon sugar are the most popular Dreesen’s Famous Donuts, Rudy DeSanti, owner of the catering company, said in his kitchen on Lumber Lane in East Hampton Village.

Cinnamon sugar is by far the most popular.

DeSanti first began catering in the family business started by his grandfather, Dreesen’s Excelsior Market, a full-service grocery and butcher shop that became as famous for their homemade Dreesen’s doughnuts as they were for their prime meats and homestyle food. When the family closed Dreesen’s Market in 2004, DeSanti and his wife, Christina, started Dreesen’s Catering, a full-service catering company located in a brand-new commercial kitchen facility that DeSanti designed himself.

In the early 1950s, DeSantis’s grandfather, Rudolph DeSanti, bought Dreesen’s on Newtown Lane from Joe Dressen, with his partner at the time. His grandfather had a doughnut machine, and a mix and people would line up for Dressen’s doughnuts. In the early 1980s DeSantis’ father tweaked the recipe and came up with the product they’re still using today, which is sold at several businesses locally and at other retailers across the East Coast.

Dreesen’s doughnuts can be found in M&R Deli in East Hampton, where they make them fresh every morning. Dreesen’s doughnuts are also sold at R&D Foods in Brooklyn, Balthazar’s Restaurant and Bakery in Manhattan, and at one point they were in the Empire State Building.

“We have a new place with our doughnuts in Aberdeen, Maryland, called ‘Say Delicious’,” DeSanti added.

The Milk Pail in Water Mill uses their own apple cider, and Dreesen’s doughnut mix for their famous apple cider doughnuts. There are a few places on the North Fork that also carry them, including Woodside Farms in Jamesport and Breeze Hill Farm in Peconic. Recently, DeSanti has been working with Dave Rutkowski, the owner of John’s Drive-In in Montauk, which features a signature Dressen’s Cinnamon Donut Coffee Ice Cream.

“We’ve done s’mores, white chocolate with coconut shavings, strawberry shortcake. No one’s ever unhappy to see the doughnut truck,” he chuckled.

“We’ve experimented with different toppings and this and that, but people all want the original three,” he said, adding that a warm cinnamon sugar doughnut will always be his favorite.

DeSanti has a mill in Auburn, in upstate New York, where they make the cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, and original mix.

Dreesen’s Catering provides support to East Hampton Meals on Wheels, as well as many local charities and organizations, including Project Most, East Hampton Food Pantry, East Hampton Junior Lifeguard Program, Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, East Hampton Rotary, Katie’s Courage, the East Hampton Union Free School District, local churches, LVIS, and more. 

For the DeSanti family, doughnuts may be the core of their business, but the community that made them famous always comes first.

North Fork Doughnut Company

One day, Jimmy Lyons and his wife, Kelly Briguccia, decided to quit their jobs, roll the dice, and start making doughnuts. Briguccia was a lifelong hobby baker, and Lyons came from the craft beer brewing world. Working for a brewery in California and traveling there for meetings, he would see tons of mom-and-pop doughnut shops with lines out the door. 

“I realized no one was doing this and doing it well on Long Island. I saw an opportunity, so my wife and I started working on a business plan and recipes,” Lyons said of the North Fork Doughnut Company — NoFoDoCo for short — located in Mattituck. “And we found a beautiful spot on the North Fork.”

The couple opened the Mattituck location in 2018. Since then, they’ve opened two more locations on Long Island, on Main Street in Bay Shore, and this past October, in Massapequa Park.

“We are going on six years this June,” Lyons added.

“All the flavors we make sell very well, but our best seller has been our caramel coffee cake doughnut, which is our house made cinnamon streusel on a yeast doughnut with vanilla icing and a caramel drizzle,” Lyons explained. “It’s been my favorite as well. I feel that if you don’t have a good glaze doughnut, then the rest won’t work.”

Other delicious favorites include cookies ’n cream, Boston cream, black raspberry jelly, old fashioned sour cream cake, churro and Samoa. to name a few.

The couple offers a “Flavor Forecast” on NoFoDoCo.com to see which doughnuts will be freshly baked that day.

Their shop at 100 Love Lane in Mattituck is open from 6 a.m. to. 5 p.m. daily, or until they run out of treats for the day, which are all freshly baked on the premises. The couple typically starts their mix at around 3 a.m.

Other than the caramel coffee cake, the napoleon doughnut is another huge seller.

“My wife Kelly and I decided to take things from our childhood that we loved, like the Drake’s coffee cakes, and make doughnut flavors with them,” he said. “We continue to do this today, and I think it works very well. It evokes some nostalgia in our customers and people seem to love our flavors.”

NoFoDoCo is looking to grow more and currently does not sell doughnuts wholesale to preserve brand integrity.

“Our doughnuts are meant to be served fresh on the day they are made. So, we do not currently sell wholesale, but we are looking into possibly doing so in the future with the right planning,” he explained.