It may be a dreary Monday, but there’s light—in the form of fried dough—at the end of this tunnel. District Doughnut announces it’s officially opening its Barracks Row shop on Friday, followed by a weekend of live music, games, specials, and more.
The cheery, white-and-Tiffany-blue shop is small, and the focus specific: doughnuts and coffee, here in the form of small-batch blends from Compass Coffee (the company, founded by two former Marines, pays homage to the eatery’s location across from the barracks). If all goes according to plan, you may see more locations in the future. Co-owners Greg Menna and pastry chef Christine Schaefer have already made inroads into the DC doughnut scene, offering delivery and keeping soft-opening hours prior to the shop’s official debut. Besides creative flavors such as cannoli and brown butter, what differs most in these sweet rounds are the doughs. Instead of relying on a single recipe, Schaefer whips up a specific base for nearly every doughnut; citrus zest infuses the dough for the lemon meringue pie, while cinnamon spikes the version for caramel-apple streusel. The team is also working on gluten-free options for the future.
The shop will open on Friday at 8, and then 9 throughout the weekend until doughnuts sell out. Drop by for music, games, and more festivities on Saturday and Sunday.
District Doughnut. 749 Eighth St., SE. Regular hours: open Wednesday through Sunday from 8 until the sweets are gone.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
