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Over the past two years, homestyle ice cream shop Lolly’s Creamery has gone from a humble beachfront shack to stabs at a butterfat empire.
You can now get their delicious double-folded vanilla — judged the best out of a new wave of premier ice cream shops in a 2019 taste test by The Pilot — or neon-blue Cookie Monster cones at two locations in Virginia Beach. A Norfolk spot is opening this year at 5107 Colley Ave.
Now, co-founder Joey Launi has another piece of sweetness on his mind: artisan doughnuts.
This month, the Okie Doughkie Donuts trailer will begin serving sweetly glazed and raised yeast donuts out of the original ViBe District Lolly’s parking lot in Virginia Beach — alongside a decadent half-doughnut, half-croissant “Holy Fryer” treat inspired by New York pastry legend Dominique Ansel.
“So this is a dream I have with one of my best friends and my now business partner,” Launi said. “We’ve been talking about doing a doughnut company for four or five years.”
Hunter Hanger, a real estate lawyer with offices in Virginia Beach and Newport News, was Launi’s old roommate at James Madison University. After years of taking his children out for doughnuts, he’s also a fried-dough obsessive.
Launi and Hanger, along with lead baker Justin Urich, looked around to their biggest competitor to find inspiration for the style of doughnuts they’d serve.
“I did the same thing with Lolly’s,” Launi said. “I asked people their favorite ice cream flavors to get a feel for the ones that I wanted to carry all the time. And when I asked people what their favorite doughnuts were, 7 out of 10 would say Krispy Kreme. And so I knew that was who we were up against.”
But they didn’t want to mimic Krispy Kreme: They wanted to one-up it and make an elevated version of airy yeast doughnut using only ingredients you’d find in your pantry. They tested out recipe after recipe, going through seven or eight variations.
“And unanimously, all of us landed on the recipe that we’re going to be serving to the people,” Launi said.
Each will be handmade and hand-dipped, he said.
“The customer is going to be able to tell that every doughnut has interacted with humans, not just a machine,” he said. “So all of our doughnuts are unique looking. We also — for whatever reason — part of our quirky brand is we will be doing square doughnuts.”
The doughnuts will go for a little under $2 apiece, with $18 dozens, and Launi anticipates making a new batch every half hour so that whenever you get them, they’re still warm from the fryer.
But if the yeast doughnuts are the standby, the attraction will be the Holy Fryer — inspired by Ansel’s famous many-layered cronut, still attracting lines eight years after its creation in New York. (Note that Ansel closely guards his trademark on the cronut name, so Okie Doughkie will call their fryer a “croissant doughnut.”)
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Ansel’s version is a delicate ring, sprinkled with rose sugar. But the Holy Fryer is the size of a tabernacle — a bear claw-big pastry of leavened and sheeted dough that will arrive filled with a “decadent mousse” Launi describes as “absurdly delicious.”
Atop it will be Okie Doughkie’s glaze, plus a house mix of seasonings called “The Goods” that Launi refuses to describe in any detail.
“We’re talking a unique combination of baking spices that are familiar and go well together. But there’s also a little bit of mystery,” Launi said. “Like in the second bite, you’re going to want to figure it out: ‘What are the components?’ ”
The Holy Fryer took much longer than the original yeast doughnuts to figure out — months and months of trying and testing.
“It’s an exquisite, elite product for a reason,” Launi said. “It’s really difficult to do. But I think we hacked it.”
And that’s it. That’s the menu. Two doughnuts. Okey dokey.
Launi doesn’t rule out rotating special flavors, but if they ever add another style of doughnut to their permanent roster, they’ll do the same thing again: Find the best maker of that style in the country. Then try to make something just as good.
If a blueberry cake wouldn’t be as good as the ones in Maine, or if a Boston creme can’t stack up against the ones at Kane’s in its namesake city, there’s no point to it.
“Why would we even serve it?” Launi said.
Whatever their perfectionism, he describes the vibe of the trailer as laid back.
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“We’re ’90s kids,” he said. “So I think this is gonna feel like a fun ’90s surfing brand that just happens to sell donuts.”
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Eventually, he said, they do plan a third item themed after his old nickname while working at an Italian-style deli: Joey’s Bag o’ Donut Holes. Other than that, it’ll be coffee from Canvas Coffee House in Newport News — and if you want it sweetened, they’ll do it for you with doughnut glaze.
Starting June 25, Okie Doughkie Donuts will be open in the mornings only. That means no overlap with the onsite ice cream shop for those who planned to make their own impromptu doughnut sundaes, though Lani doesn’t rule out crossover flavors in the future.
Customers during the grand-opening weekend will get a chance to win a boatload of doughnuts.
“Each day we’re going to pick one customer who comes and purchases our doughnuts,” Launi said. “And each day someone will have the chance to win free donuts for a year.”
Okie Doughkie Doughnuts trailer will hold its grand opening June 25 at 414 Virginia Beach Blvd, Virginia Beach, okiedoughkiedonuts.com. Hours will be 7 a.m. to noon, Wednesday to Sunday. Follow their progress at instagram.com/okiedoughkiedonut. The Norfolk location of Lolly’s Creamery is planned for late 2021 at 5107 Colley Ave., across from Elation Brewing.
Matthew Korfhage, 757-446-2318, matthew.korfhage@pilotonline.com