Review: Westlake Donuts
Published 5:50 am Thursday, February 9, 2017
According to the Internet, Westlake Donuts doesn’t exist.
The bakery boasts no website, no Facebook page, no Yelp listing. It doesn’t even appear on Google Maps.
But it’s there, situated between Payday Loans and a Valero gas station along Westlake’s bustling Sampson Street.
A towering doughnut-shaped sign points the way.
The bright, stand-alone shop opened in April 2015 and is the sister shop of Sulphur’s Snowflake Donuts, which opened in 2010.
Both bakeries crank out 16 kinds of doughnuts and various savory offerings —croissant sandwiches, breakfast burritos, biscuit sandwiches and regular- and “king-sized” kolaches.
Westlake Donuts’ baked goods and sandwiches are lined up in a glass display case at the back of its airy yellow waiting area.
On our first trip, Devin and I homed in on the sweets, ordering a glazed doughnut, a cinnamon twist and glazed doughnut holes.
I started with the glazed doughnut, the treat whose simplicity often provides a quick gauge of a bakery’s quality. Mine was average in size for similar bakeries, and the first bite pulled away easily, revealing fresh, still-moist bread inside. The thick glaze coated every angle generously and gave that satisfying, just-made “crunch” as I dove in.
Off to a hopeful start, I moved to the glazed doughnut holes, a similar experience but even sweeter, since the greater surface area provided more room for glaze.
The cinnamon twist was the largest of the bunch, a long strip of dough coated with a healthy portion of cinnamon and sugar. Again, the freshness of the dough shone through as I plucked off tender strands.
By then, my stomach let out that stop-with-the-sugar-already groan, so I waited until the next day to try some more savory offerings.
I picked a croissant sandwich stuffed with bacon, egg and cheese, which was premade and microwaved on order. Just picking up the yellowy croissant left my fingers shiny with butter. Biting into the sandwich, butter remained a major flavor — that, and complementary salt from the thick-cut crinkles of bacon.
The sandwich was surprisingly sweet, too, either by design or through prolonged exposure to the bakery’s other sugary treats in the display case. The egg and cheese played subtle but important roles in the overall taste.
Westlake Donuts’ prices are reasonable: Most doughnuts cost less than a dollar, and sandwiches clock in at under $3. All of my food combined came to less than $9.
And though there’s no online evidence for the shop, it does exist, at 1625 Sampson St. in Westlake, across from Westwood Elementary. Stop in seven days a week between 4 a.m. and 1 p.m. and slide into one of its wooden booths or pull up to its drive-thru.
As you drive down Sampson Street, look for a sky-high sign shaped like a doughnut.