New South End Shop Brings Gourmet Doughnuts To Boston

BOSTON (CBS) - The working man's pastry is getting a promotion. The much-anticipated Blackbird Doughnuts is open for business and some customers come back twice a day!

If the buzz is any indication, doughnut-lovers have been waiting for this! Blackbird is making about 2,000 doughnuts every day it's open. And they routinely sell out.

What may surprise you is that owner Rebecca Roth isn't a "doughnut person." Roth tells WBZ's Lisa Hughes, "We did not care about sweets."

Roth owns The Gallows restaurant and says her tastes tend to run toward more savory items. But when her general manager, Seth Jaffe called from Chicago, breathless about the gourmet doughnut he had tasted, he implored her to consider opening a similar shop in Boston.

Roth flew to Chicago with her family, tried the doughnuts and swooned, "It was life-changing," she said. "We had a lemon poppy seed old-fashioned. I'd never had a doughnut like that in my life. And it started this idea."

Customers file in, eyes wide, torn between the unique flavors. Will it be a Sesame Sriracha doughnut? What about a Salted Toffee? Lemon Honey Pistachio? Wait! There's blackberry lavender? Maybe we're understanding why repeat customers come back so frequently.

At $3.00 a doughnut, they're not cheap. But Roth (and several customers) insist, they are worth it. They are made from brioche dough that takes 24-hours to make. The ingredients are sourced from New England farms and purveyors. And the nine-person staff includes two pastry chefs.

Roth says, "It's a real collaborative effort and it also requires high-quality ingredients and people."

People aren't just flocking to Blackbird for the doughnuts or the coffee. There is a loyalty among South Enders that is turning neighbors into fans. "We love seeing small businesses like this come in," John Lafleur explained after ordering a Salted Toffee doughnut. "It's a boon to the neighborhood."

A neighborhood that just got a little sweeter.

Blackbird Doughnuts is located at 492 Tremont Street in Boston.