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The joke writes itself. To enter the new retail storefront for Pharaoh’s Donuts, you have to walk through the door of an adjacent business, St. Louis Pain Management. We don’t know about you, but if we want instant pain relief, donuts will do nicely, thank you very much.
Amon Aziz, daughter Syeeda Aziz-Morris (below) and staff are Pharaoh’s Donuts, a bakery that’s been providing donuts to 40 gas stations and corner stores in Missouri and Illinois for the last 20 years. Along the way, they’ve opened and closed various storefronts (their last one, on South Broadway, closed in November of 2012). After using a space Downtown at Seventh and Pine streets as a commissary for a year, they decided to hang a retail shingle outside of it, too. This is their first week of business-to-the-public there.
Their selection of old-school faves includes glazed donuts, glazed twists, buttermilk cake, blueberry cake, vanilla- and chocolate-iced long johns, vanilla and chocolate cake, strawberry-jelly filled Bismarcks, cinnamon rolls, apple fritters, custard- and lemon-filled donuts, and donut holes. On occasion, Pharaoh’s will do a caramel-topped apple fritter and a cinnamon roll with vanilla icing, too, said Aziz, and plans are in the works to do banana-iced long johns and jumbo-sized glazed “Super Twists.”
The shop also sells Chauvin Coffee.
Aziz, who explained that he named the shop after himself, added that he has plans to offer lunch items like hot dogs, turkey legs, and French fries by the Cardinals’ home opener (April 7).
In the meantime, on a recent morning at Pharaoh’s, one grateful customer announced, “I’ve been smelling donuts at this corner for so long, I’m so glad you’re finally open.”
The best advice we ever got re: donut shops was to ask what’s still hot from the fryer, and order that – that’s the direct route to donut ambrosia.
Pharaoh’s Donuts 200 N. Seventh (Seventh & Pine) Downtown 6 a.m. - 5 p.m. Mon - Fri 6 a.m. - 3 p.m. Sat Closed Sun. 314-351-0285
