WHAT IS A California-style DOUGHNUT, EXACTLY?

It's hard to explain it, but once you've had one, you'll get it,' says pizzeria owner who introduced the sweet addition to Toronto's pastry scene

- KARON LIU

At the back of The Fourth Man in the Fire Pizzeria, a full-scale doughnut production kitchen churns out thousands of glazed, filled and sprinkle doughnuts daily.

There’s no shortage of independent doughnut shops in the city that have gotten sweet-seekers salivating over the years: Glory Hole Doughnuts had over-the-top, bacon-coated creations more than a decade ago; Dough got on the pickle train early with a dill-flavoured creation; mochi doughnut makers like Isabella’s came out with flowery shaped rings; and Bloomers and Tori’s Bakeshop churn out delightful vegan and gluten-free takes, respectively, on classic flavours.

Recently I heard about a pandemic-era addition to the doughnut scene that I must have missed somehow, specifically something described as “California-style” doughnuts from a local doughnut maker called Harry & Heels Donuts. But what is a California-style doughnut, exactly?

“You should just try one,” Shant Mardirosian says when I meet him at his restaurant, The Fourth Man in the Fire Pizzeria (832 Dundas St. W.), which serves as the headquarters of the doughnut brand that launched in December 2020.

Mardirosian is an LA-born, Toronto-based restaurateur perhaps best known as the founder of The Burger’s Priest, the smashed burger joint that started as a tiny operation in the Beach and is now a chain with 30 locations in Ontario and Alberta.

The doughnut display case is the first thing you see when you enter the pizzeria that’s decked out in checkerboard floors, olive-green walls and dozens of random celebrity headshots. A quintessential decor element in many restaurants is the wall of famous clientele, but here it’s more of a joke from Mardirosian, as none of the Hollywood icons pictured, like Richard Gere, have ever stepped foot inside.