Now we know why that skinny old barber-shop storefront along the north side of the plaza got a fresh coat of bright-orange paint last month. The owners of a super-fancy California donut shop called Dutch Door Donuts, located down in Monterey tourist town Carmel-by-the-Sea — a beachy parallel universe three hours south! — say they’re planning to open a second location here in Healdsburg, come Spring 2025. (And for being so dang fancy, their color scheme doesn’t look too far off from Dunkin’ Donuts. Just sayin’!)
Before this railroad-style storefront at 109A Plaza St. belonged to Dutch Door, it previously housed Burdock Bar, which according to Sonoma Magazine was the “sister eatery to Duke’s Spirited Cocktails” next door — aka, “Healdsburg’s version of Harry Potter’s Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, existing only to a self-selecting crowd.” Burdock Bar reportedly opened in 2021 and barely lasted a year-and-a-half before petering out with a few final popups in 2023.
Here are more details on the space’s transition to donuts in 2025, via Sonoma Mag:
These aren’t Dunkin’ style but made-to-order masterpieces of fried dough that come in seasonal flavors like passion fruit and hibiscus, miso caramel, salted brown butter and almond sesame cinnamon. For purists, there’s also vanilla, chocolate and cinnamon.
Co-owner and chef Tucker Bunch founded a chain of fresh beignet shops in the Houston area and is a former instructor at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. Bunch has worked with a local team to bring Dutch Door to Healdsburg, which he thinks will be a good fit for his artisan doughnuts.
“We don’t have racks of doughnuts cooked in the middle of the night before,” Bunch said. “We use a long-fermented dough process and roll and hand-shape the doughnuts.”
Then, they’re quickly fried and flavored with various glazes, nuts and toppings. Bunch said each will cost between $4.50 and $5, in line with other gourmet doughnut shops like Johnny Doughnuts in Santa Rosa.
“We get to sell joy every day,” he said.
FWIW, last I checked, that’s around five times the cost of buying a donut a few blocks north at the storied Flakey Cream donut shop and diner in the CVS shopping center, which has been in business for more than half a century now. And if we turn our gaze a few blocks south, it’s worth noting that New Orleans cafe The Parish along the roundabout won’t be the only place in town serving beignets anymore, if Dutch Door Donuts ends up bringing over that menu item from their flagship Carmel location.
You can check out the Carmel shop’s full menu here — you know, to explore all the ways you might end up blowing your sweet-treat budget, come springtime. And peep the new donut-orange paint job at 109A Plaza in this Instagram reel posted by Shop Local Healdsburg.
