Julie Darling Donuts

Julie Darling Donuts are to pastries what MMA is to pugilism: extreme. Here you can sink your teeth into a pancakes-and-bacon donut, a banana pudding donut, a granny’s apple pie donut, or a chocolate cheesecake donut. All are unabashedly sweet; and even the more ordinary sinkers, both cake and yeast-raised, are unsubtle. That’s not necessarily a bad thing if you or your children crave a sugary snack at supermarket prices. There is no faulting their freshness; indeed, in the morning you might get still-warm ones.

Should a hefty donut itself not satisfy that rapacious sweet tooth, Julie Darling also offers donut sundaes and an over-the-top item called a doscuit. That’s a breakfast sandwich of egg, cheese and bacon or sausage piled inside a sideways-sliced glazed donut rather than in the more typical biscuit.

At the end of the Walnut Street Bridge, which is the pedestrian walk across the Tennessee River, Julie Darling is a cute storefront with upholstered mid-20th century furniture for lounging inside and picnic tables outside.