This edition of Exciting about Eating takes us to Joe’s Doughs, a small family bakery making hand crafted artisan donuts in the NoDa neighborhood of Charlotte.

Dora here. I rarely like to go out for breakfast because why pay for cereal? But it was Ernie’s birthday, and he enjoys breakfast out. So there you have it. 🙂

This doughnut place is not like most, where they have the same types of doughnuts every day. Joe’s Doughs offers a limited variety and the selection changes every 45 minutes or so, so you’re guaranteed a fresh bite.

Dora here. Because I’d scoped out the menu beforehand, I expected to drool over Espresso Cake and Candied Lemon, but they weren’t there! OH NO! That’s okay. My initial disappointment didn’t last long. lol.

In order to get a true taste, we chose 4 different selections and shared. Dora here. Yep, straight down the middle. No cheating.

The Sea Salt Chocolate Caramel doughnut was outstanding, a yeast doughnut that was sweet and salty, but I could not pick up the chocolate. Dora here. I have to disagree with hubby here. This doughnut was my least favorite because the chocolate and caramel flavors were so light, I couldn’t taste either over the salt. Not that I left any of my half, mind you. haha

The PB&J was  great, but everything is always better with peanut butter. This yeast doughnut was primed with strawberry filling and covered with creamy peanut butter. If you closed your eyes, you would think that you were eating a PB&J sandwich. Dora here. The PB&J was another surprise, mainly because I’m not a huge PB fan. But it wasn’t overly heavy on the PB taste and the thick strawberry jam filling oozed out. The texture was such that we couldn’t decide whether the doughnut was yeast or cake. A staff member verified that it was indeed yeast.

The Goat Cheese Strawberry Balsamic, although good, was my least favorite. It was also a yeast doughnut covered in goat cheese and drizzled with strawberry and balsamic. The doughnut was really fruity and only had a hint of cheese. Dora here. My second fave — surprise, surprise –was the Goat Cheese Strawberry Balsamic. I so wasn’t expecting that. Sweet, but not sugary. Light and delish!

The final selection was the Coconut Banana Caramel Cake. Outstanding! It was the only cake doughnut we tried and it did not disappoint, full of favor and almost tasted like a piece of cake. Dora here. My favorite was the Banana Coconut Caramel Cake, and it represented its name well. The only cake doughnut here, it reminded me of a thick, generous slice of banana bread. Yum! 

Overall the doughnuts were not as I expected, in a good way. You know how you dread that heavy, bloated feeling or the sugar rush that comes from eating doughnuts? That didn’t happen. Maybe because we snacked on a few cheese curds before we left home? If they upped their number of selections and offered more coffee choices (like lattes), I might be convinced to go out for breakfast more often. Oh, you might want to check out their Instagram photos, but be prepared to drool. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 🙂

What’s your favorite doughnut? And do you prefer yeast or cake?

We rate this establishment 4 forks out of 5 for a family friendly place serving great food.