Indy’s first craft doughnut shop to open

The doughnuts are infused with craft beer. They are flavored with maple and topped with bacon. They are filled with fresh raspberries and lemon tart.

Let’s just say these aren’t your run-of-the-mill holed confections. These are craft doughnuts.

When General American Donut Co. opens this summer at 827 S. East St., Indy will get its first taste of this sweet but newfound craze that is popping up in places like Chicago and New York.

The craft doughnut is different, very different from its predecessors, said Adam Perry, who owns the shop with his wife, Kari Nickander.

“A craft doughnut is a more gourmet, made-from-scratch doughnut,” he said. They’re bigger, they’re better and they have more interesting flavor combinations.”

That’s for sure. GADCO, which is what the couple will call the shop for short, is partnering with Sun King Brewing Co. to create Pale Ale, Cream Ale and Osiris doughnuts. It is buying up bacon from Smoking Goose to sprinkle atop its maple-flavored variety.

You can opt for an ice cream doughnut sandwich, creme brulee with crackled brown sugar on top or you can order a doughnut shish kabob, a skewer loaded wtih doughnut holes.

But what Perry likes to call the “Holy Grail” of his craft doughnut shop is a raised glazed yeast doughnut done right. It will be honey glazed.

“It’s as big as your outstretched hand,” he said. “When you bite into it and pull it apart, it has a lot more in common with a pastry or really fine bread.”

It’s sweet but not as sweet as your typcial glazed yeast.

The idea for craft doughnuts came after Perry and Nickander visited Chicago, scouting shops there. Perry isn’t new to the food business as owner of food truck Taco Lassi, which he is taking a break from for this venture.

One that stood out was the Doughnut Vault that serves up flavors like dreamsicle, red velvet and pistachio doughnuts.

Most doughnuts at GADCO will cost between $1.25 and $3. Specialty items like ice cream sandwiches and Bennies (the shop’s version of the Cronut) will be more.

To go with the doughnuts, GADCO is bringing a new coffee to Indy, too: Stumptown Coffee Roasters, based in Portland, Ore. Among the offferings will be intense espressos as well as a cold brew that is on tap or served in “stubbies” that look like mini beer bottles.

GADCO will also operate a food truck at events and be inside the Eli Lilly and Co. cafeteria. It plans to be open mornings starting June 6 and, if the interest is there, stay open in the evenings.

And this may not be the only craft doughnut shop Indy gets this year. Rocket 88 Doughnuts recently launched a campaign on Kickstarter to raise money for a craft doughnut shop. Its Facebook page, however, says it has yet to determine a location.