We have a winner: This donut shop was voted Readers’ Choice for Fort Worth’s favorite

After weeks of collecting more than 39,000 total votes, the Star-Telegram has a Readers’ Choice winner for Fort Worth’s favorite donut shop — but this Near Southside bakery is not your traditional donut place.

Dusty Biscuit Beignets is known for its unusual take on sweet and savory beignets.

And loyal customers on social media say it’s the beignets’ unique taste that keeps them coming back.

“The beignets are nothing short of perfection,” wrote one fan.

Another joked: “My thighs need those delicious beignets.”

Best sellers at the shop at 411 S. Main St. range from classic French Quarter-style beignets to a maple bacon Cowtown King Cake to beignet sliders with strawberry jalapeno jam.

The beignet shop got the most votes in the final of four rounds of reader voting. The Star-Telegram’s Readers’ Choice polls aim to celebrate Fort Worth’s small businesses and learn about people’s favorite places to visit across the city. We started with 34 donut shops in Tarrant County that were nominated by readers.

Here are the four other finalists in the last round of voting. Keep reading for the full list of nominated bakeries.

• K-Donuts, 4605 Benbrook Blvd. in Benbrook;

• Lim’s Donuts, 9078 Camp Bowie West Blvd., Fort Worth;

• Happy Donut Shop, 109 Roberts Cut Off Road, Fort Worth;

• FunkyTown Donuts & Drafts, 132 E. Fourth St., Fort Worth.

No matter how tasty and popular Dusty Biscuit Beignets may be, running a small business isn’t always easy, owner Trey Smith told the Star-Telegram.

Smith launched the business out of a stationary food trailer on the corner of South Main Street and Vickery Boulevard just weeks before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While his beignet concept weathered the pandemic, what was supposed to be a four month build out on a brick and mortar storefront turned into a 14 month process due to supply chain and inflation issues.

“When we finally got around to opening our brick and mortar in November of 2021, we were cash strapped just trying to get to that point,” Smith said.

After struggling to keep the doors open and multiple rounds of community fundraising, Smith realized he was going to have to close the shop in August.

“It was super to the point that we needed to either close up or at least have some sort of hard reset,” Smith said.

But when Smith made the announcement on social media, loyal customers and fans of his beignets came together.

“That was going to be our last week. That’s what it looked like for us,” Smith said. “But we have a pretty faithful social media following. Between our followers and also local accounts like Fort Worth Love List and a couple others, they put out videos in support of us, and we got this massive viral response to it.”

One social media user said: “Thank you for giving us what we craved.”

Another commented: “This place is so good! Everyone should try them at least once!!”

Members of the community showed up in a line out the door despite temperatures over 100 degrees to support the business, Smith said. The restaurateur hit record sales each day and “slung more beignets” that week than he thought was possible.

“We’ve made it to our two year anniversary in our shop, which was not in the cards for us just a few months ago,” Smith said.

Before opening Dusty Biscuit Beignets, Smith taught high school science in Crowley ISD for a decade, but he always loved cooking. Growing up in Cajun country in Southeast Texas, then living in New Orleans through college, he always had a desire to one day open a restaurant with Southern Cajun food.

He began creating his own beignet recipes that combined a sweet and savory approach.

“I thought, ‘What if we could do all of those flavors, but do it on beignets?’” Smith said. “I jumped into trying to figure out what I wanted to do with a concept and figuring out what I liked in a beignet.”

Dusty Biscuit Beignets has about six employees, but Smith joked that his wife and five children between the ages of 5 and 15 are his “quality control team.” His oldest son also helps out in the shop sometimes.

In the future, Smith hopes to add additional revenue streams to the business by opening a food truck that can travel to different events across the city.

Angela Vu, an employee at the shop for two years and long-time friend of Smith’s, said she remembers working open to close for four days straight the week Smith announced the restaurant’s closing.

“People freaked out and started coming in and buying,” Vu said. “Orders were nonstop and we hit record sales. It helped him pay the bills to get us caught up and keep the doors open.”

To keep the business alive, Smith operates Dusty Biscuit Beignets on weekends and weeknights only. The shop is currently open Tuesday to Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Vu said she got two other part-time jobs to stay on with Smith on the weekends.

“Whatever it takes to keep Trey open, I’m going to be there,” Vu said. “I have rarely met anyone who didn’t like (his beignets) at all.”

Vu said she thinks people enjoy the beignets because they satisfy both sweet and salty cravings.

“You don’t necessarily have to come to us because you want sugar,” Vu said. “You can also do one of our sliders or we do a play on the everything bagel. It’s an everything beignet with cream cheese and everything seasoning on it.”

Teresa Escobal, an employee for three years, said she enjoys the atmosphere of the shop and the quality of the dough they use.

When customers place their orders, all of the dough is freshly made and hand rolled, cut, fried, and dressed to order.

“A lot of people enjoy seeing the different options on the menu,” Escobal said. “We have really different beignets that people wouldn’t expect.”

Dusty Biscuit Beignets has previously participated in the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival, State Fair chef demos and hosted a pop-up stand at TCU’s Amon Carter Stadium.

Here’s the full list of popular Fort Worth-area donut shops that were nominated for the Star-Telegram Readers’ Choice poll:

• A&H Donuts, 3412 W. Seventh St., Fort Worth

• Beach Donuts, 7451 N. Beach St., Fort Worth

• Best Donuts, 1201 Longhorn Road, Fort Worth

• Busy B’s Bakery, 5613 McCart Ave., Fort Worth

• Cosmic Donuts, 3514 Roberts Cut Off Road, Fort Worth

• Dale’s Donuts, 5515 S. Hulen St., Fort Worth

• Dale’s Donuts #9, 4455 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth

• Donna’s Donuts, 5801 Golden Triangle Blvd., Fort Worth

• Donut Palace, 3300 Western Center Blvd., Fort Worth

• Donut Wheel, 1200 W. Pipeline Road, Hurst

• Dreamboat Donuts & Scoops, 1204 Sixth Ave., Fort Worth

• First Donut, 2918 Brown Trail, Bedford

• Fort Worth Donuts, 1612 South Freeway, Fort Worth

• Five AM Donuts, 8907 Benbrook Blvd., Benbrook

• Golden Crown Signature Cookies & Mochi Donuts, 8700 N. Tarrant Parkway, North Richland Hills

• Gourmet Donuts-N-Such, 4001 W. Green Oaks Blvd., Arlington

• JP Donuts & Coffee, 7225 Boulevard 26, North Richland Hills

• K Donut, 2013 Eighth Ave., Fort Worth

• Keller Donuts, 901 Keller Parkway, Keller

• M Donuts, 2270 Matlock Road, Mansfield

• Mousa Donut, 201 W. Rosedale St., Fort Worth

• Nate’s Donuts & Coffee, 5910 Azle Ave., Fort Worth

• OMG Donuts, 2501 W. Division St., Arlington

• Parlor Doughnuts, 6547 Lake Worth Blvd., Lake Worth

• Paul’s Donuts & Subs, 1324 Hemphill St., Fort Worth

• Pioneer Donuts, 8455 Boat Club Road, Fort Worth

• Sara Donuts, 1301 W. Glade Road, Euless

• Starwood Donuts and Coffee, 6508 Meadowbrook Drive, Fort Worth

• Yoko Donuts, 5936 Geddes Ave., Fort Worth

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