Inside Jelly’s Calgary location
Calgary-based Jelly Modern Doughnut is continuing the donutification of the city, opening the first Toronto location of their gourmet doughnut bakery and café at 376 College Street (formerly home to Vinny Massimo’s Pizza and Pasta) this April. Started by sisters Rita and Rosanne Tripathy in 2011, Jelly’s serves fresh artisan doughnuts from locally-sourced organic ingredients in an eco-friendly space. Its Calgary chefs are known for creating a weekly treat based on current events, customer suggestions and social media chatter, and Toronto doughnut aficionados have already taken to Twitter to request locally themed goodies, like the SCTV (“a sweet and enjoyable donut with an awkward, hairy Eugene Levy unibrow”) and the Maple Leaf (“tastes like delicious Canadian maple syrup and despair”). We think they should start with these Canadian-themed sweets from the National Post’s Steve Murray. Justin Beaver Tailer, anyone?
Ashley Jacot De Boinod’s doughnut journey began about a year ago. Having worked as a pastry chef in some of the best spots in the city (including Buca and Scaramouche), Jacot De Boinod began selling her Glory Hole Doughnuts wholesale to shops like Thor Espresso Bar, Burger Bar and 416 Snack Bar to quite some acclaim. But “the eventual goal was to open a retail space,” she tells us. Despite setbacks in securing a location and finding startup capital for the project (
Fried chicken and doughnuts, the ultimate savoury-sweet-trashy combo, have come to Leslieville courtesy of siblings Devin and Luke Connell and chef Graham Bower, the team behind the midtown lunch stop Delica. The tiny takeout shop is a pocket of nostalgia, with cheery staff sporting pointed caps and bow ties and the room decked out in mint-green paint. The free-run chicken is brined and double-deep-fried until tender and golden but surprisingly greaseless (add a squirt of mustard seed–laced honey or tandoori barbecue sauce for kick). The rotating doughnut menu lists seven flavours, such as eye-poppingly citrusy mango-yuzu and white peach–maple. The dense, cakey rings make Timmies treats seem like sad doughnut simulacra. There are only a few seats, so it’s best to hit nearby Jimmie Simpson Park for a retro picnic.
Devin Connell (Delica Kitchen) was torn between two loves: a really good, artisanal doughnut and super-crunchy fried chicken. “I knew I wanted to open a place that focused on one thing, did one thing only, and did it really well, but I couldn’t decide,” she told us. “Then, one night I woke up and thought, ‘I don’t have to choose! Why not do both?’” And so, with Paulette’s Original Donuts and Chicken, Connell—of the Ace Bakery Connells—along with brother Luke and chef Graham Bower (Pangaea, Globe, Delica), is bringing her idea of a very happy meal to Leslieville. “We don’t shy away from what our food is: it’s not healthy food. It’s happy food. And it’s made with wholesome ingredients.” 
