10 Jul 2015

Dining:

District Doughnut: A Capital Doughnut

Greg Menna. Photo by María Helena Carey

Greg Menna. Photo by María Helena Carey

It’s Tuesday when District Doughnut co-owner and CEO Greg Menna and I sit down to talk about the shop’s first Fourth of July in the neighborhood; the awesome parade that will march by their window a couple of days later; the adorable and patriotic doughnut kebabs that co-owner and chef Christine Schaefer has created for the holiday; and how this little store that could has been open for several months in its bricks and mortar location on Barracks Row. Although the shop is closed the steady stream of people trying to come in is undeterred. A petite woman in workout gear is particularly vehement in her attempts and rattles the door. Menna is unfazed. “That door is busted,” he shrugs as another potential customer disregards the sign and tries to get a little pillow-shaped bite of heaven.

Nowhere in the beautiful, cozy space where District Doughnut is located –749 8th Street SE– is there a trace of the building’s former tenant: Sneed’s 8th and I Barbershop. The quiet, no-frills barbershop closed back in December of 2013 to little fanfare. A fixture on the Hill where heads were expertly tonsured by strong, silent types, the store closed after a couple of decades when Mr. Sneed decided to retire. That Greatest-Generation type of Americana has been replaced by something just as sweetly American: a doughnut shop.

Thanks to high-end doughnut joints such as Astro Chicken and Donuts and Golden Brown Delicious, the humble fried dough has been having its moment in the sun– just not in our neighborhood, until District Doughnut opened its doors in the fall of 2014. District Doughnut does not have the traditional restaurant group backing their venture: on the day we met, Greg had been fixing one of the kitchen machines and apologized for his grease-stained clothes. From the start, it has been an intense, hands-on endeavor for everyone involved. Menna’s childhood friend, Juan Pablo Segura, approached him to start a gourmet doughnut business. Menna –a philosophy major with an intense need to help others– agreed to be partners.

Adorable doughnut kebabs for America's birthday. Photo by Will Hand, courtesy of District Doughnut.

Adorable doughnut kebabs for America’s birthday. Photo by Will Hand, courtesy of District Doughnut.

District Doughnut specializes in serving the kind of doughnut that might stir Proust’s soul to write 1.2 million words on what it means to be American (or not). The dough, perfectly light and airy, holds delicious mysteries. The offerings come from the  imagination and hard work of Schaefer, who is a Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef and admirably hardworking. Not only is she the genius behind the cannoli doughnut, but she is also a graphic designer, responsible for the fresh identity of the place. Menna recalls their early days when Schaefer would put her health in jeopardy to perfect new recipes. Before they had a budget for a professional kitchen, Schaefer would cook batch after back in a small kitchen in Alexandria; after, they graduated to a larger space in Gaithersburg, Md. The Union Kitchen space, most centrally located, allowed them to claim the “District” title fully.

During those early days, orders for their product sent Menna driving all over the DC metro area: he became familiarized with all kinds of neighborhoods. It wasn’t until a real estate agent asked him to give a certain Barracks Row property a second look, however, that he gave a thought to settling on Capitol Hill. The neighborhood charmed him right away, and we in turn, are utterly captivated.

Happy (belated) first Fourth of July on the Hill to District Doughnut: thanks for becoming a delicious Hill tradition.


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