Rising Star Chef Serves Creative Doughnuts in Harlem

Chef Corey Cova, who was featured on Zagat's list of 30 culinary starts under 30 years old, is the mind behind the unusual creations at his East Harlem shop Dough Loco. "Dough Loco is a neighborhood coffee doughnut shop. A lot of the doughnuts up here are from major chains, so they're all a bit smaller, have tons of ingredients like stabilizers, fillers," Cova said. "Ours are just all natural, really simple."It's a small operation, with Cova making hundreds of doughnuts by hand in the minuscule kitchen. On some days, supply can't keep up with demand and guests have to wait for a fresh batch to be put on the shelves. "Sometimes, we'll sell out by like 9 o'clock, and people have to wait an hour for us to kind of catch up," Cova said.The wait is worth it, though, especially for varieties like miso maple and raspberry sriracha. Cova's background in savory cooking inspires flavors you won't find anywhere else. "I think about a lot of different kind of food because I have to go back and run a restaurant as well. The raspberry one today I just kind of was thinking about the last few days," Cova said. "Raspberry and sriracha seemed like they kind of shared, something in there was kind of similar."Even though it just opened, the tiny shop may be ready to grow beyond its East Harlem storefront. Don't be surprised if you see Dough Loco expand its footprint or open new stores elsewhere in New York City.