(Photo: KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES)Sunday, January 13, 2008
By Marc Ramirez
Seattle Times staff reporter (Washington, USA)
If the proliferation of fancy-schmancy doughnut shops — and names such as Top Pot, Krispy Kreme and Mighty-O — have made your eyes glaze over in the last five years, don't blame Tony Oeung. He's been quietly producing many a regular's holey grail at North Seattle's Family Donut for the past 14 years.
From as far away as Queen Anne and Capitol Hill, they step into his breath-mint-sized shop in the Northgate neighborhood and ask: How's life?
Can't complain, he'll say with a smile. It wouldn't do any good. And anyway, it beats soldering printed-circuit boards for minimum wage, which was what he did when he first came to the U.S. from Cambodia in 1980.
Faithfully, they face down his armadas of jelly-filled, frosted or sugar-topped pastries, baked fresh every morning by his brother-in-law, who starts work at 1 a.m. "I'd like a dozen," they'll say.
"For here or to go?" he'll cackle, and that's Oeung: Amid a breakfast buffet of newfangled hipsters, a dependable taste of old-fashioned cheer.
Q: Ever fritter away your off-hours doing doughnuts in the parking lot?
A: Never. If I get away from here, I want to get away and not think about doughnuts.
Q: What makes a good doughnut?
A: You gotta know how much water to add. If the dough does not expand, it will look bad. And it will taste bad.
Q: Which doughnut is most popular?
A: I think they like maple bars. They'll say, give me two dozen — but I want at least two maple bars.
Q: Your personal favorite?
A: I like the bear claw, the five-fingered thing. Sometimes I take it home, leave it aside until the morning and then put it in the microwave, then I cut it and put ice cream inside. Those are killer.
Q: So why doughnuts? Why not flowers or shoes?
A: I remember when I first came to the U.S., people were like, oh, let's go have coffee and a doughnut. I always stopped by 7-Eleven and got the powdered doughnut in the plastic wrap. Then, one time, I stopped by Dunkin' Donuts and thought, wow, this is a pretty good business.
Q: Remember the famous Dunkin' Donuts commercial where the guy gets up 3 in the morning and says, "Time to make the doughnuts"?
A: Hmmm. (He frowns, as if in thought.) No. But I think that's not enough time to make the doughnuts.
Q: Do you cook at home?
A: No. (He busts up laughing.) That's funny.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Other businesses, like 7-Eleven, you have all the paperwork. Here we only have doughnuts and coffee, and that's it ... . The only problem is, you gotta get up early and make the doughnuts.
Marc Ramirez: 206-464-8102 or mramirez@seattletimes.com
From as far away as Queen Anne and Capitol Hill, they step into his breath-mint-sized shop in the Northgate neighborhood and ask: How's life?
Can't complain, he'll say with a smile. It wouldn't do any good. And anyway, it beats soldering printed-circuit boards for minimum wage, which was what he did when he first came to the U.S. from Cambodia in 1980.
Faithfully, they face down his armadas of jelly-filled, frosted or sugar-topped pastries, baked fresh every morning by his brother-in-law, who starts work at 1 a.m. "I'd like a dozen," they'll say.
"For here or to go?" he'll cackle, and that's Oeung: Amid a breakfast buffet of newfangled hipsters, a dependable taste of old-fashioned cheer.
Q: Ever fritter away your off-hours doing doughnuts in the parking lot?
A: Never. If I get away from here, I want to get away and not think about doughnuts.
Q: What makes a good doughnut?
A: You gotta know how much water to add. If the dough does not expand, it will look bad. And it will taste bad.
Q: Which doughnut is most popular?
A: I think they like maple bars. They'll say, give me two dozen — but I want at least two maple bars.
Q: Your personal favorite?
A: I like the bear claw, the five-fingered thing. Sometimes I take it home, leave it aside until the morning and then put it in the microwave, then I cut it and put ice cream inside. Those are killer.
Q: So why doughnuts? Why not flowers or shoes?
A: I remember when I first came to the U.S., people were like, oh, let's go have coffee and a doughnut. I always stopped by 7-Eleven and got the powdered doughnut in the plastic wrap. Then, one time, I stopped by Dunkin' Donuts and thought, wow, this is a pretty good business.
Q: Remember the famous Dunkin' Donuts commercial where the guy gets up 3 in the morning and says, "Time to make the doughnuts"?
A: Hmmm. (He frowns, as if in thought.) No. But I think that's not enough time to make the doughnuts.
Q: Do you cook at home?
A: No. (He busts up laughing.) That's funny.
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Other businesses, like 7-Eleven, you have all the paperwork. Here we only have doughnuts and coffee, and that's it ... . The only problem is, you gotta get up early and make the doughnuts.
Marc Ramirez: 206-464-8102 or mramirez@seattletimes.com
