Designer Doughnuts in the North

Doughnut fever spreads to McKinney with new Voodoo-style shop

Designer doughnuts are on the menu at the Donut Kitchen in McKinney.

Photo courtesy of Donut Kitchen

We have designer doughnuts in the south (well, Deep Ellum) via Glazed Donut Works. We have designer doughnuts to the east via Hypnotic Donuts. Now there are designer doughnuts in the north, thanks to The Donut Kitchen, newly opened in McKinney.

This mom-and-pop shop in McKinney's Stonebridge Ranch serves breakfast, lunch, coffee and, best of all, gourmet doughnuts in the "extreme" style first popularized by Voodoo Doughnut (who know how to spell the word!) in Portland, Oregon.

The Donut Kitchen features 14 flavors every day, including a dozen standard and two that rotate. Though less extreme than Voodoo — no sour gummies, at least not yet — Donut Kitchen still features unusual flavors and toppings.

Texas sheet cake is a chocolate doughnut with chocolate frosting and chopped walnuts. There's a doughnut with strawberry glaze, raspberries, pecans and chocolate chips; a chocolate doughnut with crumbled Oreos; a chocolate doughnut with mint icing and chocolate chips; and a chocolate peanut butter doughnut topped with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and a drizzle of raspberry.

The Donut Kitchen comes from Michael and Leslie Davis, 14-year residents of McKinney and doughnut fans who wanted to bring gourmet goods to their town. Leslie is a former hairdresser, and Michael is a contractor.

"Michael loves doughnuts, and we didn't want to have to drive to Hypnotic every time we wanted to get something different," Leslie says. "It seems like most doughnuts all taste the same way."

Once they began experimenting with flavors and icing, they got hooked. They do cake doughnuts only, no yeast/raised, and they use two flavor bases: regular and chocolate. The variations come from all the toppings and icings, which they make themselves.

"We've been keeping it small because we wanted to get it right," Leslie says. "We were hoping to bring in a red velvet doughnut, but we've been overwhelmed with business since we opened."

There are mini doughnuts, rolled in cinnamon or powdered sugar. There are breakfast sandwiches, kolaches and blueberry strudel. There are also soups such as butternut squash and sandwiches such as grilled cheese.

"We found a great location on the west side of McKinney, and it had more space, so that allowed us to do lunch, as well, with soups, salads and sandwiches," she says. "The west side of McKinney needs it. It's a lot of bigger chains.

"We wanted a place where families can come and sit and eat together. We already have regulars who come in once or twice a week."

All we need now is a gourmet shop for the west. Fort Worth, we're looking at you.

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Uptown News

Canadian upscale restaurant Joey to open location in Uptown Dallas

Joey Dallas

Steak and sushi at Joey Dallas

An upscale restaurant chain from Canada is coming to Uptown Dallas. Joey, the chain known for its global food and art-lined walls, is opening a location at 2508 Maple Ave., next door to the Old Warsaw.

According to a spokesperson, the restaurant will open in September. If all goes according to plan, they will soft-open with limited hours over Labor Day weekend, then celebrate a grand opening on September 10.

"Joey Maple will offer a unique culinary journey and exceptional mixology, led by Executive Chef and Top Chef Canada winner Matthew Stowe; Bar Development Leader Jay Jones, a Restaurant Hall of Fame inductee; and Group Sommelier Jason Yamasaki," their statement says.

Joey Restaurants is a "premium casual" restaurant group founded in 1992 in Calgary by Jeff Fuller, who came from a restaurant family. He started Joey out as a pasta place but the concept has since evolved into a globally-themed concept with fusion dishes such as truffle udon carbonara.

There are now 36 locations in various Canadian cities plus Seattle, California, Miami, and Houston, where it opened at the Galleria in 2021. Joey Restaurant Group also encompasses a sports bar-gastropub concept called Local Public Eatery, which opened a location in Dallas at 2323 Henderson Ave. in 2024.

Food
The menu at Joey features "a fusion of flavors," including fire-torched sushi, steak, bowls, tacos, and burgers. Signature dishes include top sirloin steak with their "famous" fully loaded crispy mashed potatoes (which are actually mashed potatoes with garlic, cheese, and green onions wrapped in a spring roll and fried); plus hummus, seared salmon sushi, and sake-glazed sea bass.

Joey crispy mashed potatoes Crispy mashed potatoes at Joey.Photo courtesy of Joey

There are: Japanese pork dumplings, Korean fried cauliflower, fajitas, and lobster spaghetti with prawns, shallots, and cherry tomatoes in a lobster-lemon butter sauce. There's a tuna poke bowl and a tofu bowl with Korean chili spiced tofu, wontons, coconut jasmine rice, and green papaya slaw in carrot miso dressing. There's sushi including a sushi cone with tempura shrimp.

The bar menu has beer on tap and a wine list featuring notable by-the-glass selections such as Taittinger Champagne and Pahlmeyer Chardonnay from Napa Valley ($50 per glass, but it's an iconic wine). Cocktails include not one but three spritzes — Aperol, Rosé, and Hugo with St. Germain — plus martinis, margaritas, and slush cocktails like frozen Irish coffee.

Location
This will be the second Joey in Dallas and will be a stand-alone location; the first opened at NorthPark Center, in the former Seasons 52 space, in January 2024. According to their statement, the warm reception they've received in Dallas convinced them to expand.

Every Joey is custom built to match its surroundings, often from the ground up, and no two restaurants are alike. The restaurant is going into a space that was previously home to a restaurant called Crab House, and before that Sisu, a bar with the pool, and before that, Matthew Trent Jewelry. It'll feature a "thoughtfully curated" art collection — a Joey trademark — as well as a private dining space. Other details on the space are still to come.

Is it deliberate or merely kismet that they landed on Maple Avenue, given the fact that the maple is Canada's national tree, and that Canada is frequently called "The Land of Maple," and the maple leaf is their national symbol as well as the central image on their national flag?

It'll be neighbors with another Canadian import: Moxie's, the casual concept founded in Canada and co-owned by Dallas Stars proprietor Tom Gaglardi, which opened across the street at 100 Crescent Court in 2016.

Maple Avenue is becoming Dallas' buzziest street, with openings such as Elephanté, the Italian restaurant opening at the 23Springs office tower in September, joining already-buzzy restaurants such as Catch Dallas, the Houston seafood chain which opened at the Maple Terrace development in 2024, and Uchi Dallas, a Maple Avenue pioneer that opened in 2015 — all teed up to feed the traders at The New York Stock Exchange Texas opening at 3819 Maple Ave. just a mile down the road.

uptown openings