Taste Of The Town: Mojo Donuts and Fried Chicken serves up sweet & savory delights
MIAMI - If the dictionary had pictures, next to the word "mouthwatering" you'd see Mojo Donuts and Fried Chicken.
The charming and famous sweet and savory shop in Westchester is one of two brick-and-mortar locations. The donuts are everywhere.
"Somedays we'll have 20-30, some days we'll even have 40 flavors out," said co-owner Jimmy Piedrahita. "It's just a wide selection. We want you to be able to be here and say 'one of my kids like, my mom likes that,' so we like to give you a huge selection."
Back in 2018, Jimmy's Mojo Donuts and Fried Chicken got the attention of Guy Fieri and before he knew it his little shop was on the celebrity chef's hit Food Network show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives." He said after that, everything changed.
"People were coming in from all over the world. We've had people come in and do layovers with their suitcases," said Piedrahita. "And they're like I want to have the sandwich Guy had. It was just one of the biggest blessings we've ever had in this company."
Jennifer Lopez is also a fan. Her post show treat after her Super Bowl halftime performance was a Mojo donut.
Piedrahita said the celebrity attention is great, but it's the locals that mean the most.
"Mojo Donuts here in Miami means everything to the community," he said. "We never sell a day old donut, so everything gets donated at the end of the day to hospitals, first responders, police officers, fire stations, schools, and homeless shelters. We give back everything every single day."
For the third year, Mojo Donuts is back at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival at Guy Fieri's Diners Drive-ins and Dives event. This year, aside from donuts, he's adding mini fried marinated-to-perfection chicken tenderloin sandwiches. There's one's with maple bacon. The bun is a donut.
"The maple bacon with that crunch is so special and it's really fresh, tender crispy chicken. It's a bite of heaven," said Petrillo after sampling one.
A signature Mojo offering is the crispy Chicken Brulee sandwich with a runny egg and bacon. Many napkins are required.
"Every bite between the egg and then the maple bacon, the cheese, and the fried chicken is a whole lot of everything," said Petrillo.
Back to the donuts. One after the other is over the top decadent. One called "La Flaca" features whip cream, strawberries, and blueberries on a ring donut sprinkled with powdered sugar, everything that Petrillo loves.
"This should be called "The Lisa Petrillo," maybe going to change the name," said Piedrahita.
"I'm going with that," said Petrillo with a laugh.
"So the strawberries and blueberries with the really fluffy cream is insane, the donut itself is so soft and airy," said Petrillo.
Mojo Donuts and Fried Chicken is open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For more info: mojodonuts.com
