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Phantom Gourmet: PVDonuts In Providence

PROVIDENCE - PVDonuts is the latest craze to hit Providence, and with donuts like these, it is no wonder why the masses seem to swarm the place every single morning. But don't let the line alarm you.

"The line is constantly moving in and out. So people are grabbing their donuts, enjoying them, walking out, and it's just a constant flow," owner Lori Kettelle assured.

Every morning around 2 a.m., Lori and her team rise to make some of the best donuts in all of New England.

"On weekends, we sell up to 2,000 and we sell out. During the week, it varies from 1,200 to 1,600."

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With an ever-rotating menu, even regulars are surprised by the selection on a day-to-day basis, something that makes the early arrival time all the more worthwhile for this owner.

"Waking up at 2 o'clock in the morning is definitely way easier when you enjoy coming in to work. People get so excited when they walk up to the counter and see what donuts we have. They see the rack of donuts behind us; they get super excited knowing that we're right here pushing the new trays out."

These start of the day sweets come in two varieties, brioche or old fashioned.

"A brioche dough has a lot more fat in it," Lori explained. So we use a ton of butter, ton of eggs. It's really, really airy and has a nice dark crust. When you break up our brioche donut you should see a lot of air bubbles, which kind of signifies that it's really airy, really fluffy, kind of like you're biting into a cloud."

"Our old fashioned donut doesn't have any yeast," she said, "so it doesn't rise. It's definitely more dense, and it's really great for dipping in coffee."

It is a good thing these donuts they can be ordered by the dozen, because with flavors like these, it's tough to decide. There is the colorful Chocolate Birthday Cake, an old fashioned topped with chocolate glaze and rainbow sprinkles; or the eye popping, jaw dropping, Cereal Milk Donut spiked with nostalgia.

"It brings back people to their childhood. The kids love it," Lori said. "The colors are so bright and fun. We take the cereal, let it soak in the milk overnight, then we take that milk and make it into a glaze. Then we dip it in more cereal. So it's just jam-packed bowl of cereal in a better form."

Just as fun are the donut holes, served in rotating varieties, with an added punch of flavor provided by a pipette that customers squeeze themselves.

"It's something different, kind of shows we like to have fun with our customers, get the customers involved," Lori explained. "We always do a filling with the Munchkin, and the pipette is usually just an extra burst of flavor."

The inspiration for all of these donuts comes from far and wide.

There is everything from a Horchata donut, featuring a brioche dough dipped in a frosting inspired by the traditional cinnamon-vanilla drink, and drizzled with a rum glaze; to the Italian-Mexican fusion donut known as the Nutella Churro donut; to a Dulce De Leche Monkey Bread. There is even an homage to the Rhode Island state beverage: coffee milk. It comes in a creation called the PVD Cream.

"Rhode Island loves coffee milk, so instead of doing a Boston Cream, we decided to take a twist and do a PVD Cream," Lori stated. "We think Providence deserves its own donut. So instead of regular pastry crème, we added coffee milk to it, and people are going crazy for it."

Nothing beats the combination of sweet and salty, especially in PVDonuts's signature Maple Bacon.

"We make our own maple glaze, and then we bake bacon in the oven so it gets really, really crispy. And then we partnered with a local beer company, Revival, and we make a beer glaze to drizzle on top of it," Lori described.

"When you bite into the maple bacon donut you have a combination of sweet, salty, bitterness from the beer, it's just all these different flavor combinations that work so well together."

The only thing that could go wrong would be if you arrived at PVDonuts too late, because that is when the Sold Out sign goes up.

"There are so many sad faces when we put the sign up. We're constantly trying to figure out ways to produce more and keep our quality the way we want it," Lori said. "We're not going to sacrifice quality for quantity."

So get in line early, because chances are Lori and her team got there hours before you did, to make you something special.

"I work seven days a week, so it's really awesome to see people line up and appreciate the work that we all put in every single day… seeing that line just get longer and longer," she said. "It's just really great to see the support that the local community has."

You can find PVDonuts at 79 Ives Street in Providence, and online at pvdonuts.com.

Watch Phantom Gourmet on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 and 11 a.m. on myTV38.

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