Will Wake for Donuts

Christy's Donuts Kolaches
1103 West Gray Street, Houston

On Saturday mornings, Hubby frequently wakes before the sun and heads out for an insanely long run. Meanwhile, I keep the home fires burning. This means forgoing a Saturday sleep fest and waking up whenever the kiddos do, which is usually also before the sun. Since I like to sleep in, I'm usually less than enthusiastic about this plan. But, I'm much less grumpy if I'm rewarded with some sort of breakfast treat upon Hubby's return.

Since arriving in Houston, we've been searching for good kolache places within the city limits. Kolaches, as you may recall from previous posts, are Czech pastries that are stuffed with either fruit filling or a variety of meats (technically, the meat variety are known as klobasnek, but most folks in Texas don't distinguish between the two and call all Czech pastries kolaches). So far, the best kolaches we've found have been on roadtrips in the Hill Country. But, we always remain hopeful that there might be a hidden kolache gem somewhere in H-town. This past week, I learned about Christy's Donuts Kolaches in Houston's Montrose neighborhood. The reviews of the kolaches looked promising. Plus, Christy's also features donuts. I love donuts. So, on Friday night, Hubby promised to return home Saturday morning with donuts and kolaches from Christy's. He also agreed to snap a few photos for blog purposes. Thanks, Hubby.

Christy's is your quintessential old-school donut shop -- formica tabletops, yellow and brown color scheme, and a menu board where the offerings are displayed using those little individual black letters. Hubby arrived early and ordered 3 varieties of kolaches - ham and cheese, sausage, and boudin.  Boudin is a Cajun thing -- essentially a sausage made of pork, onions, and rice. He also ordered a few crumb donuts. As is custom at Christy's, they included a few complimentary donut holes in the bag.

By the time Hubby arrived home, I'd been up for a while managing the early morning kid chaos. I'd coaxed our black lab off of an Ethan Allen chair where she was curled up sleeping contently. I'd built a pretend campfire for the kids and mediated when my 3 year old son opened my 4 year old daughter's doll closet and started removing the clothing. I'd suffered through the horrendous Caillou Musical Christmas Special for at least the seventeenth time this holiday season. I'd located markers and paper so that my daughter could create invitations to the performance she was planning for later this weekend. I'd also had a fair amount of coffee and no food. I was more than ready for the arrival of breakfast.

Crumb donut. Delish.

As is always the case when we try kolaches in Houston, I was somewhat disappointed in the kolache quality.  The ham and cheese tasted like it may have been made yesterday. Hubby confessed the workers had to go in the back to get the ham variety. They hadn't been displayed in the bakery case -- a tell tale sign that they were yesterday's offerings. I also wasn't a huge fan of the boudin, but that's not Christy's fault. Boudin just isn't my thing. Hubby, on the other hand, thought it was good. What I did enjoy, however, was the crumb donut. It was like eating a combination of coffee cake and donut -- how can you go wrong? The kids enjoyed the donut holes. But, in our short time in Houston, they've become Shipley's fans. They were sad that Hubby hadn't brought home their favorite Shipley's varieties.

I'm glad we tried Christy's and I would consider doing so again. I've heard the blueberry cake donut is good, so I would like to try it out. And, I would happily eat the crumb donut again. But, as for kolaches, our quest continues. I'm starting to think this just isn't a kolache town. Hmmm...maybe I need to quit my day job and start a kolache business.

Texas forever.