You know how much I love coffee and donuts, right? Well, imagine how excited I was to hear that there was a new donut and coffee shop in town. I mean, how can you go wrong with two of my favorite things? My daughter and I decided to have a little donut date to check out Craft Donuts + Coffee in West Dundee. We had a great time, and I envision plenty more donut dates in the future.
Highlights:
- Such a cool vibe. The building dates back to around 1900, and one of the walls they uncovered even older. I loved that the owners have kept some of the original aspects including the brick and beams. I’m such a sucker for brick face walls!
Oh, and this cool mural. Love!
- Unique choices. New flavors are always being added to the rotation to keep it fresh. In addition to their sweet options, they also offer savory. How about a bacon and jalapeno donut? Or an everything donut? They also offer vegan and gluten-free options.
I wanted to keep things a little safe, so I stuck with the vanilla glazed old-fashioned. My daughter, lover of anything pink (can you tell?), of course, picked the raspberry old-fashioned. It was so cute watching her carry her little tray!
- Huge. The donuts are pretty big, so next time I’ll get the smaller donut holes for her.
- Not your typical donut. With the help of their pastry chefs, they have perfected a different kind of donut. It’s all about the dough and the yeast. The end product is a denser donut that is more cake-like that in a way balances the sweetness of the toppings. Everything was pretty good!
- Coffee is locally sourced. They get their coffee from Metric Coffee, a small batch coffee shop in the city. Metric was recently awarded best coffee in Illinois by Food + Wine. I opted for a raspberry latte, but it was a tad too sweet for me. I’ll try something a little plainer next time.
- Get ’em early. Their scratch bakery makes small-batch handcrafted donuts. In order to make a quality that they strive for they can’t make too much or rush the process. Their four pastry chefs only make so much, so when it’s gone it’s gone.
- Watch them in action. My daughter was mesmerized watching the bakers make the donuts. Stop by before noon as that’s when they usually wrap up.
Bottom Line:
Craft Donuts + Coffee is a welcome addition to the neighborhood, and we’re lucky to have them. Can’t wait to visit our old ‘hood and try their other unique flavors. I see a cinnamon roll and a vegan donut in my future.
Tip:
- Come early to get your choice of donuts. If you can’t come early, place an online order to make sure you get the specific donuts that you’re craving.
- Best time to visit? If you can swing it, weekdays are definitely better than weekends, and anytime weekdays after 12:00 pm is their least busy time in general.
- Bringing a stroller? The front is the only stroller-friendly entrance. From the parking lot, it’s just a short walk around Emmett’s to the front.
Nitty Gritty:
Website: https://www.craftdonutscoffee.com/
Location: 124 West Main Street, West Dundee, IL. Located in downtown Dundee.
Hours: 6:00am to 3:00pm every day
Parking: Parking lot located at the back of the building. Enter through the back entrance.
Meet the Owners:
I had a little chat with the owners, Allison and John. Here are a few fun facts about them.
- They moved from Texas to Illinois. The parents now live with their daughter in Algonquin.
- They initially started thinking about opening up a donut shop since their donut lovin’ daughter kept asking for donuts. That then sparked the idea.
- Some of their favorite things to do is biking, exercising, visiting the Chicago Botanic Gardens, and checking out the Algonquin Library.
- One of their favorite restaurants is Cucina Bella in Algonquin. They were excited that a Chuy’s Tex-Mex had come to Illinois. We are definite fans too.
- They are still looking for a really good burger joint. Do you have a favorite to share with them?
I don’t where all the negativity and pessimism that’s getting directed at our county teams is coming from. This is shaping up to be a good year so far, its nearly August and we still have three county teams still in the running for top honours. No matter what happens next day out, this has been a good year for Mayo football, so I’m saying just get behind the teams in green and red and roar them on, we are Mayo!