Boston to
Bentonville: Time for Olde Tyme Donuts
One of the
first places we stopped for coffee and something to eat after we landed in Bentonville,
Arkansas was Olde Tyme Espresso & Donuts.
My idea as I am a bit of a veteran donut journalist. I’d reported for the Boston Globe on mom and
pop donut shops in 2001 with an article entitled “Early Risers.” It was a dream piece for someone who likes to
eat sweet. I’d meet with bakers at 4am
and bringing back the story and a box of fresh hot donuts that I would wave
under my still sleeping, to-be husband, George’s nose. No wonder he married me. We also had a ferocious ant problem at the
time. Go figure. I liked Olde Tyme right
away because of the gratuitous use of old English. Here, on corner of Highway 102 and 1101 S. Sam
Walton Boulevard, their signage stood out: the first “O” in Donuts done in
sprinkled donut font. Their motto: Donuts “fresh as mountain air.” Inside, you’ll find it pleasantly sparse with
an overwhelmingly friendly smell of sugar and java. A few tables covered with plain white paper
and bistro chairs offer a place for you and your donuts and coffee. Where it gets confusing is at the counter: so
much baked goodness going on. Bear
claws, crullers, twists, bizmarks, glazed, old fashioned cake (my husband loves
those), dipped, holes, long johns, rolls…. I felt like my dental hygienist was
about to call.
But it wasn’t the donuts that got my interest that morning,
it was the kolaches. Pronounced
ko-lah-chee, these 8 inch, skinless, pork sausages are cozily wrapped in a thin
sheet of leftover donut dough: remains of the day turned into savory breakfast
fare. Two kinds are feature here at OTD:
regular (which means with cheese) and jalapeno. Possibly of Czech (some think Polish)
origin, the proto type of the kolache is perhaps the klobasniky, cousin to cocktail
party staple, pigs-in-a-blanket. Our North Shore Massachusetts friend, Priscilla
and her family go on a “pepperoni roll tour” whenever they visit back home in West
Virginia. It’s all related. The Urban Dictionary has kolache as a form of
spooning or snuggling with someone. Perhaps
while eating kolaches. (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kolache
The kolaches in the Ozarks are a best seller: real-sized
sausage (not some rinky dink link) sealed in baked yeast dough, easy to handle,
bread doesn’t overwhelm; good heat/sweet ratio on the sausage; cheese in there
makes it a meal. My son loves the
jalapeno version, says it isn’t too spicy.
Eat two, don’t be embarrassed, they’re really good. You’ll get some
exercise today, I’m sure.
Olde Tyme goes way back, sort of. We get the story from now owner David
Rushing. His uncle, original owner, Bill
Wright left his Mississippi home on account of high crime and too many mosquitos
and opened Olde Tyme Donuts 25 years ago in nearby Springdale, with his brother. His uncle brought with him a delicious hearty
breakfast sausage sandwich from the old neighborhood. Now, David and his brother, Ken Rushing have
time to make the doughnuts (and kolaches).
Located on what was once a used car lot, the highly visible, red roofed,
white aluminum sided, small single story building on the main drag here in
Bentonville has plenty of parking. (There
is more parking here in the Midwest than anyone in Boston can imagine in their
wildest all access unlimited rock star parking dreams. You can come here and park your car faster
than finding a spot in the North End.)
Olde Tyme’s kitchen and second location (with drive-thru) is
tucked at the end of a little corner strip mall (2502 SW 14th Street) about a
mile away. A store front, casual donut
shop, the slightly floured, smiling Rushing family members are happy to see
you. A big red stencil of the donut
logo and motto is about all the decoration there is, if you don’t count the
display shelves filled with mouth-watering pastries. Behind the counter, the baking facilities,
you can see the sugar glazer from the window.
If you check the FaceBook status (Olde Tyme Donuts “Bentonville”), you’re
likely to see a post of “just finishing cooking up a batch of Hot Donuts!” If you’ve never had a fresh hot donut, you
haven’t really lived. As for the
kolaches, Rushing notes, “Folks around here will get mad when we’re out.” Sure.
Rushing recalls his Uncle Bill training and teaching him the
business, “The way he did it, it was a very exact science, he had step-by step-methods.”
Now, every 2:30am he and Ken start in
to make what I had him estimate would be a couple hundred dozen donuts and
specialty items from approximately 200 pounds of flour. Locals watch for the neon HOT and OPEN signs
to illuminate the pre-sunrise dark, 5am, sustaining early Midwest risers with intoxicating
bakery treats and brews, bottled juices, whatever you need to open your eyes.
So, what about the rumors Dunkin Donuts is coming to town? The east coast mega breakfast and beyond franchise
already put out their shingle in nearby Fort Smith and according to the
Fayetteville Flyer in an August 2013 article, DD tweeted plans to start construction
on their new site at 2306 14th Street. (http://www.fayettevilleflyer.com/2013/08/26/spotted-dunkin-donuts-dunkinnwa-twitter-account/). The rest of the country may run on Dunkin
Donuts, but it isn’t running Olde Tyme D’s off the road around here. Rushing shrugs, “I’m not worried. They’ll be far enough away from us. People might try them out but they’ll come
back. We’re fresher and hotter and
charge less.”
Olde Tyme has already withstood the Krispy Kreme invasion. One of their logos features the slogan “Krispy
Who? – Our donuts cream the competition.”
It’s true: prices start at 69
cents a donut. (kolaches, $1.75) Sixty-nine
cents won’t even buy you the hole in Boston.
OTD also serves not just coffee but espresso, cappuccinos, mochas, just
to stay competitive. Dunkin Donuts is
big, but I don’t think they can hold a kolache to Olde Tyme Donuts of
Bentonville, Arkansas.
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