Lawrence Shipley started frying doughnuts in Houston in 1936, selling hand-cut rings wholesale from a bakery on Crockett Street for a nickel a dozen before opening retail shops in the 1940s. The company grew into a chain of hundreds of stores across the South, but it is still headquartered on North Main, and this store up the road is the one Houstonians point to. It is a plain, no-fuss counter that never closes, and at busy hours the trays turn over fast enough that the glazed are often still warm. Get a dozen glazed first, since that light, yeasty ring is the whole point. Then add a chocolate iced, an apple fritter, and a sausage kolache for the road.
What to expect
- Order online ahead and your boxes are ready when you arrive.
- Beyond drip coffee there are lattes, cold brew and nitro cold brew on tap.
What to order
- Glazed doughnuts by the dozen
- Chocolate iced doughnut
- Apple fritter
- Sausage and cheese kolache
- 1936Since
- Lawrence ShipleyFounder
- 5200 N Main, HoustonHeadquarters