Photo courtesy of Catherine Sheffo
Ladies and gentlemen meet your newest comfort food obsession — doughnuts and fried chicken. This, part crispy breaded goodness and part creamy doughy pastry, all-out attack on your arteries is set to take D.C. by storm. This weekend I took a trip to Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken to taste for myself and trust me, it did not disappoint.
No one knows for sure if Astro is the first restaurant in the D.C. area to sell doughnuts and fried chicken together, but it’s safe to say that they’re doing it better than anyone else in the fried food game. A 13-week contest run by The Washington Post lauded Astro’s crème brûlée doughnut as the best doughnut in all of D.C. and the store itself sells nearly 4,000 doughnuts per week.
The bakery was opened in April by two childhood friends — one of whom, Jeff Halpern, used to play for the Washington Capitals (he’s now an unrestricted free agent). According to the restaurant’s website, the idea to open a doughnut shop came from the post-game treats the friends used to get as kids playing hockey together.
I went with my cousin, a connoisseur of all things deep fried, and split a four-piece order of chicken and two doughnuts. It came out to a little under $10 a person. Make no mistake, this is a lot of food. I had the crème brûlée doughnut and my cousin tried the Bourbon glazed. Both were amazing.
In fact, people passing by on their way from church gave us both weird looks as we stuffed our faces on a bench outside the storefront. Even though we were a messy public spectacle, the food was so good that we didn’t care.
The bakery itself is just a storefront so make sure to take lots of napkins before you leave. As tempting as it may be to lick your fingers, some pride is advised in the classy downtown location. Be sure to check out the full menu as well as hours and other information.
To get to Astro’s take the 104 Metro bus from Stamp to the College Park Metro Station and board a Green line train towards Branch Ave. Transfer to the Red line at Gallery Place/Chinatown and get off at the Metro Center station. The one-way trip should take about 40 minutes and cost $2.75 with a SmarTrip card. The bakery is only a three-minute walk down G St. from there.
