ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 16, 1997 TAG: 9704160026
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: BETH GARDINER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Among Krispy Kreme fans in deepest New York, none are happier than Southern transplants who taste a bit of home in every sugary bite.|
The first bite is like a smooth, gooey mouthful of pure sugar. With the second taste of a Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnut, you feel the impossibly fluffy confection begin to dissolve, and with one more chomp the whole thing is just a memory.
It's hard to believe anything could be this sweet - especially here in hard-bitten New York City.
``I'm so pleased that they're here,'' says Queens musician Brendan Milburn, 25, licking the sugary glaze from his fingers.
Krispy Kreme, the doughnut chain that is an institution in the South, has brought its crown jewel, the Original Glazed, to the land of bagels and lox.
Some New Yorkers are falling hard for a dessert that's even sweeter than their dispositions.
``They're light and airy,'' says retiree Jack Farese, wolfing down his first Krispy Kreme in the chain's New York flagship, an unassuming white-and-green storefront in hip, downtown Chelsea. ``The only thing is, the size could be a little bigger. But we're in Manhattan, so I can understand.''
Actually, Chelsea's Krispy Kremes - and those fried up at the chain's second Manhattan store, in Harlem - are identical to the ones served in 116 shops across the South. That's where Upper East Sider Mel Lev ate the doughnut two years ago that changed his life - and maybe fellow New Yorkers' waistlines.
Lev, a shirt manufacturer, was visiting relatives in Jackson, Miss., who decided his trip to Dixie wouldn't be complete without a taste of one of the region's favorite desserts.
``They wound up buying like four dozen and eating a dozen on the way home,'' explains Lev's son Howard.
Thus was an idea born: Lev returned home eager to convert Dunkin' Donuts-munching New Yorkers to the cult of Krispy Kreme. With sons Howard and Russell, he soon became the chain's exclusive franchisee for New York and New Jersey.
The Levs opened their Chelsea store in June, and six months later opened the second outlet, on 125th Street.
``We were there at 8 o'clock the first day,'' said filmmaker Nora Ephron, who recently penned a euphoric ode to the Original Glazed for The New Yorker magazine. ``All sorts of people are fanatics about these doughnuts.''
But true to New York's cantankerous image, the doughnuts are not without their detractors.
Neighbors in Chelsea complain about round-the-clock noise and fryer fumes, and the city's Department of Environmental Protection has fined the Levs more than $1,000.
Free-lance architect Edward Dew, 41, was so fed up with Krispy Kreme next door that he sold the Chelsea co-op he'd lived in for 16 years and moved to a temporary sublet, where he plans to stay while hunting for a permanent home.
``I'm very happy to be out of there, which is unfortunate because it was such a pleasant place to live for 16 years,'' he said.
With three more stores set to open by summer - at Penn Station, Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side - the Levs hope no New Yorker's doughnut cravings will go unsatisfied. The family plans to open 30 to 50 stores in New York City, Long Island and New Jersey by 2005.
The Original Glazed has even become part of the weekend brunch menu at the swank Four Seasons Hotel. ``They're sort of the rage,'' explains hotel spokeswoman Rebecca Werner.
Inside the Chelsea store, hungry downtowners lose their attitudes and happily stand in line when manager Jon Faber lights up the ``Hot Doughnuts Now'' sign.
Krispy Kreme fries up 15 doughnut varieties daily, but the Original Glazed is far and away the biggest seller.
Partisans say it's the yeast. Unlike many northern doughnuts, which are denser and more cake-like, Krispy Kremes are allowed to rise for half an hour before they're fried.
Carried by conveyor belt through a vat of boiling oil, they are then doused in glaze. Salespeople pluck them off a cooling tray and straight onto the plates of customers smart enough to stop by while the ``Hot'' sign is lit.
Among fans, no one is happier than Southern transplants who taste a bit of home in every sugary bite.
``I used to live in Atlanta, and after going to the clubs we'd always stop at Krispy Kreme,'' said Luke Rawls, 43, eyeing an Original Glazed. ``When the `Hot' light's on and they're fresh out of the fryer, they have all the flavors of sin. ... New York'll be a better place.''
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. The Krispy Kreme Original Glazed isby CNBrolling up big sales in the Big Apple. color.