Lyric Donuts is a start-up operation that sells its wares out of Impero Coffee in the Short North. For those in the central city, Lyric also delivers donuts. Truly, about the only thing in the world better than donuts is delivered donuts.
Let’s start with the baseline donut. It’s more bready than sweet, and that fried bread comes with little caverns of crispy crunchiness. It’s the sort of thing that makes you appreciate a tender crumb in a donut, without sending you directly into a diabetic coma.
To be sure, there’s stuff from Lyric Donuts for the coma crew. Case in point: The Velvet Underground. Inside a plain-looking glazed pillow are pockets of sweet pudding with the distinct flavor of real bananas.
For chocolate fans, the S’more Donut is a good choice: it’s crowned with a roasted marshmallow, and stuffed with an old-fashioned chocolate filling with the addictive features of nutella. Even better, though, is Ozzy’s Bat Head. Sure, $2 might seem steep for something described as a “donut hole”, but it’s dense, and it provides three layers of flavor. At first, it’s dark chocolate, that melts away into black coffee, before a spicy cayenne heat hits. Willy Wonka would be especially proud.
More colorful are the Lime in the Coconut and the Purple Glaze donuts. The latter guilds the baseline cake donut with drizzles of bright purple glaze infused with detectable lavender. The former uses the drizzle approach again, this time with a lime-coconut combo that offers the appealing gustatory brightness of pop rocks.
It’s all good, and as long as you’re doing delivery, you might as well try them all. The prices run from $1.50 to $2.50 each. You can find contact information for Lyric Donuts at www.facebook.com/lyricdonuts. You can stop in and test drive the flavors at Impero Coffee at 849 N. High Street.
Want to sample some Lyric Donuts in person? Join us on February 9th for Best Bites: Sweet Treats — a unique opportunity to sample 30 of the city’s best desserts all in one night! CLICK HERE for tickets and details!
Photos by Miriam Bowers Abbott.