Coming to Sixth Avenue: Legendary Doughnuts, a novelty bakery
Sixth Avenue, it looks like you’re going to get your novelty doughnut shop after all. Legendary Doughnuts is expected to open around Nov. 1.
Back up a year when word splattered on Sixth like a dough bomb dropped into hot grease - a doughnut shop something like Portland’s Voodoo Doughnuts was rumored on its way to the corner of Sixth and South Fife Streets. Pastry lovers and foodies buzzed about Buck Naked Donuts, but it never came to be.
Enter Legendary Doughnuts, an established bakery in Auburn. Owner Shannon Patten told me by phone she’s signed the lease for that space and intends to order the kitchen equipment and submit plans to the health department in the next few weeks. The storefront has been empty for some time, but previously housed Herban Cafe and Pinwheel Catering.
Patten has operated her doughnut bakery in the Lakeland Hills Shopping Center near Lake Tapps since May 2010. Shannon and Ken Patten - longtime Lake Tapps area residents - operate the bakery with their two sons - the oldest is a bakery employee and the youngest is a chief doughnut taster. Before opening Legendary Doughnuts, Shannon worked as a cheese company representative. Ken’s career is slightly smirk-worthy in the context of owning a doughnut shop - he’s a police officer.
As I wrote in this review earlier this year, Legendary Doughnuts is like a soccer mom’s translation of Portland’s slightly more gritty Voodoo Doughnuts, which gained national attention years ago with its bacon-topped maple bars and questionably weird flavor combinations.
Think of Legendary as funky with a cute sense of humor - vibrant colors on the walls, bejeweled chandeliers and an impressive cold coffee press that could double as art.
The Legendary theme comes in the form of nods to famous people or fictional characters - the Scarlet O’Hara (red velvet with a chocolate cigarette), Pigpen (cookie crumbs and gummy worms), Girl Scout (made with Thin Mints), Albert Einstein (coconut topped) and Oprah (maple bacon bar) are among the doughnuts that cycle through a frequently changing menu. Patten also has a penchant for unusual flavor combinations - like the Guinness beer doughnut Patten just created this week and the peanut butter pancake - a maple-chocolate monstrosity with a peanut butter cream topping.
Will the Tacoma bakery have the same theme? “We are going to keep it exactly the same, we’ll have all the traditional doughnuts, we’ll have the fun, new doughnuts we do,” said Patten. For now, they’re planning at least to keep similar hours to the Lakeland Hills location - open early morning until 7-8 p.m. However, Patten said if weekend evening traffic proves solid enough to stay open, she might cater to Sixth Avenue's late-night diners.
Legendary DoughnutsComing to: 2602 Sixth Ave., TacomaOpening: Approximately Nov. 1Lakeland Hills location: 1410 Lake Tapps Parkway E., AuburnContact: 253-736-0036, legendarydoughnuts.com or on Facebook
This story was originally published August 28, 2012 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Coming to Sixth Avenue: Legendary Doughnuts, a novelty bakery ."