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Hot Diggity Donuts is set to open June 28 and bring boozy cocktails and sourdough doughnuts to Manchester. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Rhubarb-agave doughnut topped with candied pistachios and candied lime (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Window seats at Hot Diggity (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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The inside of Hot Diggity features a retro aesthetic. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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George Bagby makes his doughnut-crafting debut at Hot Diggity. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Maple-bourbon doughnut topped with salted peanuts from Hot Diggity (Photo by Dan Schroetter)
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Hot Diggity has a full-service espresso bar featuring Blanchard's coffee. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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The bathrooms of Hot Diggity pop with a brightly colored cherry-patterned wallpaper. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Butter Bean Market & Cafe is slated to open in September at 1204 Hull St. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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The menu at Butterbean Market (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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The inside of Dogtown Brewing, slated to open by early 2019. There are multiple levels, and the building will feature nine apartment units and a rooftop bar. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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A mockup of the menu for Dogtown Brewing (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Inside the forthcoming Manastoh Brewing, in the former Bank of Commerce & Trust building at 1128 Hull St. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Manastoh Brewing, slated to open by 2020, will feature a full-service bar, restaurant and a cold kitchen on the rooftop. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
In its heyday Manchester in Richmond's South Side was known for its many bustling businesses. Michael and Laura Hild, owners of the real estate company Church Hill Ventures, are hoping to add to area's activity as the first piece of their expansive Manchester business empire, Hot Diggity Donuts, makes its debut in the neighborhood June 28.
Swanky, lounge-like atmosphere and booze are probably not what come to mind when one thinks about a doughnut shop.
“If Ms. Yoder’s and Shyndigz hooked up and had a kid, that’s what we have in mind here,” says Michael Hild.
“It’s a bar with doughnuts,” jokes Church Hill Ventures Culinary Director Dan Scherotter, formerly a chef in San Francisco.
Scherotter relocated to Richmond almost a year ago to raise his children. He says he was hired to be a fresh set of eyes and offer a renewed culinary outlook.
“I think every town, including San Francisco, gets to be kind of an incestuous circle food-wise, and I’d say that’s true in RVA,” says Scherotter. “I look at things differently.”
And Hot Diggity is just that — atypical and different, even sexy. Its sleek, bubble gum-colored, slightly retro interior is a space Scherotter and the Hilds envision people flocking to for after-work drinks or date nights.
During my first visit to Hot Diggity, the house baker, George Bagby, 28, pulls a bottle of whiskey out of his bag.
“It’s 5 o’clock somewhere,” Bagby says, laughing. The whiskey is used in the shop's maple-bourbon doughnut topped with salted peanuts.
Bagby’s been baking since he was a child and attended Reynolds Community College for culinary arts, but this is his first time with doughnuts. Hot Diggity produces strictly sourdough doughnuts, a hybrid style extremely dependent on yeast.
It’s been a learning process for Bagby, but one he’s enjoyed.
“[Making doughnuts] didn’t click until I got here and was using an actual mixer and bringing yeast into the atmosphere; then the doughnut dough and recipes came together a lot faster,” he says.
Sourdough doughnuts are more airy, fluffy and light, offering a balance between cake and yeast style doughnuts, along with a sweet and tangy flavor.
The doughnuts are made on site and fried to order using sunflower oil. Bagby also uses Caputo baking flour, a light, fine flour imported from Naples, Italy, which he’s given a name of his own: "That’s Katrina,” Bagby says, pointing to the bag of flour as he kneads dough on the counter.
“Everything about it [the doughnuts] is premium in technique and ingredient quality,” says Scherotter.
The sourdough starter, the key to the flavor and delicate structure of the doughnut, takes three to four days to ferment. After the fermentation hits its peak, Bagby can start forming the doughnuts and adding the sweet finishing touches.
Essentially, Hot Diggity is a doughnut shop for an older crowd and folks who may want a nightcap in the form of a cocktail and a sweet treat. Although kids are allowed, a bittersweet mocha doughnut with a dark chocolate-espresso glaze and turbinado sugar or a rhubarb-agave variety topped with crushed pistachios and candied lime may not be the first choice for younger palates.
Hot Diggity’s taps feature Isley Brewing's Choosy Mother peanut butter porter, Hardywood Pilsner and Bold Rock IPA hard cider, along with a kombucha, three white wines — two of which are sparkling — two rosés and four reds, one of which is sangria. The real fun is revealed on the cocktail menu, home to 18 signature concoctions and shooters including a Rum Lassi with Gosling’s 151, mango, yogurt and cardamom.
“There’s nowhere else you can enjoy doughnuts with booze,” says Scherotter.
So why doughnuts?
“The doughnut theme was fun and something cool for the neighborhood,” says Michael Hild. “We wanted it to be whimsical and hope it’s something that gives people a reason to drive across the bridge and check out the area.”
Hot Diggity's menu also features salads, breakfast sandwiches and specialty desserts including Thalhimer's original 6-layer chocolate cake, cannolis and "Big George's Bag O' Sweets" (five cookies and a brownie).
Hot Diggity is just one of many projects in the works for Church Hill Ventures. The Hilds have invested $50 million into about 60 properties and various projects throughout Manchester, some of which have not been revealed. Michael Hild says they viewed Manchester as an area of Richmond that needed love in comparison to Scott’s Addition and Church Hill, which were already "off to the races."
Butterbean Market & Cafe at 1204 Hull St. is slated to open across the street from Hot Diggity in September. The market, including an outdoor patio, will feature local goods, artisanal sandwiches and salads, and online ordering. Michael Hild envisions it being the “Union Market” of Manchester.
“I see this area being a node where you have density and foot traffic and that it starts to spread along the Hull Street corridor,” he says. “It was intentional you saw [all these projects] in one block.”
Another property in the works is the former Siegel's Supermarket, a 20,000-square-foot building on West 20th Street between Bainbridge and Hull streets.
The vacant property will be transformed into a food and beverage hall, mimicking a city market. Richmonders can experience a blast from the past as retro products including Valentine’s Meat Juice, a tonic and secret ingredient for the Commonwealth Club’s bloody marys; Climax Beverage Company, a soda purveyor; and Pin Money Pickles, a popular woman-owned pickle business, are resurrected.
“We want to keep Richmond kind of true to its roots,” Michael Hild says. “RVA has stories in food and beverage history, and I feel we’ve forgotten it. We have to tell the story and bring it back and do it in an authentic way.”
The Manchester expansion doesn't stop there — the Hilds have set their eyes on something cool and frothy that's booming in RVA and nationwide: beer. Dogtown Brewing at 1209 Hull St. is scheduled to open in early 2019, and Manastoh Brewing, a 3,100-square-foot operation in the former Bank of Commerce & Trust building at 1128 Hull St., is set to open by 2020 — both steps away from Hot Diggity and Butterbean.
Manastoh Brewing will offer 20 taps, a full-service bar, restaurant and rooftop space with a cold kitchen (oysters, sushi, charcuterie), and the original walk-in safe from the bank will house fine tequilas and bourbons.
“Manastoh is more of a step-up than Dogtown, a little more date-friendly and formal,” says Scherotter.
Dogtown will focus on elevated “hand foods” inspired by seasonal ingredients, with creations including queso and scallion pupusas; Anderson Neck oysters (another company owned by the Hilds); a variety of hot dogs and meats including a Salvadoran corn dog, dry-rubbed wings and Belgian ale-braised beef ribs; and almost 20 different sauces such as mango jalapeno and horseradish cream. There will be dim sum carts on the upper level of the brewery. Dogtown will also be dog-friendly, with a back patio for furry friends.
One aspect both spots have in common is a rooftop space and head brewer Ben Spencer, a Richmond native who has returned to the area after living in San Francisco. Spencer plans to serve as beverage manager at Butterbean Market while waiting for the breweries to open.
“By bringing back this commercial corridor, you can turn this place around,” says Scherotter. “By putting in restaurants, we hope to draw it together so it can be a vibrant community again.”
Hot Diggity Donuts will be open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and reopen from 5 to 10 p.m. On Thursday and Friday, evening hours will be extended to midnight. Weekend hours are Saturday from 8 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
