Dallas bakery Doughmonkey to close

luniz, says:

hard to believe. May have been my favorite place in Dallas to take out of towners. Irreplaceable.

bobdon000, says:

Totally replaceable. Obviously the owners had zero committment to their "passion" or business. Instead of thinking $$$ and opening their shop in the high rent district of Snider Plaza, they should have been more modest and located in a low-rent district and turned out a great product. It's the old "build it and they will come" philosphy of business. Instead these guys went for the big bucks and fell flat on their arsses.

You gotta admire the hard working doughnut shop owner who gets up early every day just to sell a couple of dozen of fresh made ringers - not making the big bucks, but turning out somthing people enjoy. Good riddence to a company whose buisness plan was short sighted and was thinking "up-scale franchise bonzanza" instead of focusing on just making a good product.

bobdon000, says:

Unforntunately, the people who did the daily toil are the most affected by the closing. The finaincal partners behind the venture will write the loss off on their 2008-2009 tax return, and move on to the next deal, hence the term, doughmonkey!

luniz, says:

have you ever been there, bob?

Scott, says:

Totally replaceable, bobdon000?

Please list the bakeries in Dallas that you believe are entirely "from scratch," as opposed to relying on commercial mixes, frozen, and even pre-baked goods. (You do know that "the hard working doughnut shop owner" you so admire is shaking out 50 lb. bags of doughnut mix and topping the doughnuts with pre-made glaze mixes, don't you?)

Of those, tell me which ones make their baked goods fresh daily, throwing out whatever they don't sell at the end of the day, because they're not sacrificing quality for shelf life. (Can you recognize the difference between butter and shortening in a tart crust? The difference between buttercream and bucket icing?)

Of those, tell me which ones use only premium ingredients of the sort one would hope (but often be disappointed not) to find in the pastries of a five-star restaurant.

Assuming there's a name left on your list, I'm happy to go try the place, since--though I'm familiar with most of the better known bakeries in Dallas--I know of none that fit that bill.

You don't seem to be aware of the fact that "the people who did the daily toil" were the owners of the bakery, Rhonda Ruckman and Michael Lima. From time to time, they've had a sous pastry chef, a cleaning person, and a cashier. But, on any given day, Ruckman was there from the wee hours of the morning until after the 5-6 PM closing time (i.e., longer hours than most of your heroic doughnut makers), bags under her eyes, coated in flour and chocolate. Doughmonkey was a classic chef-owned business with no aspiration to franchising. This is obvious to anyone who has frequented the shop (which you clearly haven't). It would be obvious to anyone who bothered to read some of the articles and reviews about the place before opining.

Happy trolling, bobdon000, and take every joy that those fungible doughnuts may bring you.

jerryt, says:

and then there are those of us who have never heard of Doughmonkeys, and yet, after clicking on the Dallasfood.org link, already miss them. Quality, it seems to me, doesn't seem to be as important in todays society...shame on us for just settling!

Bad_Ike, says:

if bobdon-zero ever gets tired of his/her own voice, I suppose he/she can just roll over and speak from his/her mouth. I thought the previous ignorant criticism of DonnaCooks was dumb, but these comments here take the HFCS-glazed pasty greasy doughnuts. Ditto the stupid and nonsensical attempted play on the word "monkey".

Good job taking ill-informed, pompous pontificating to a level nearly matching the heights of where Rhonda and Michael--the very people who did the daily toil--had taken their passion and craft. Certainly, I will reminisce the wonderful bites offered by Doughmonkey, but I will also miss the friendly, cheerful store clerks whom I witnessed, time after time, welcome every customer as if he/she were a long-time friend.

I look forward to Rhonda and Michael's next culinary venture.