FOOD & DRINK
Starlight Doughnut Lab just opened a brick-and-mortar in Norwood. P H OTO : ST E P H A N I E S CA R B RO U G H
Sweet Success Norwood’s new Starlight Doughnut Lab sells out of its creatively flavored baked goods in less than two hours on opening day BY M A I JA Z U M M O
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f opening weekends are any indication of success, Starlight Doughnut Lab’s future is glaringly bright. On Jan. 15, Starlight opened up shop at 4603 Carter Ave. in Norwood, the first brick-and-mortar for the popular pop-up. “On opening day we had a line out the door and around the block from when we opened at 9 a.m. until we sold out at 10:45 a.m.,” owner/baker Ben Greiwe tells CityBeat. “My co-owner Jack Nowlin and I scrambled to make free donut cards to give to the people
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that waited in line but missed out on donuts. We wanted to make sure people knew we appreciated them coming out and supporting us.” Starlight has been in operation since the start of January 2019, when Greiwe made some donuts for a New Year’s Eve party at Nine Giant Brewpub in Pleasant Ridge. After positive feedback, he began selling them weekly at the brewery. Since then, Greiwe’s smallbatch baked goods have been available at destinations including Nine Giant and its Fermentorium, Apricot Coffee
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House in Pleasant Ridge, Proud Hound in Silverton, Copper & Flame in Overthe-Rhine and more. He even made donuts for CityBeat’s annual Brunched event — a raspberry mimosa donut featuring a champagne glaze with “dry ice to carbonate the raspberries to give the donut that bubbly, mimosa feeling,” Greiwe says. Starlight’s treats are made a little differently than your average donut. Greiwe uses mashed potatoes in the dough, which “boosts moisture, sweetness, flavor and adds a crispy outside layer thanks to the potato’s natural sugars caramelizing in the fryer,” he says. He says the flavor combos and that unique texture set Starlight apart from other local donut purveyors. The Norwood storefront offers both cake donuts and 48-hour brioche donuts. Greiwe hopes to eventually expand the menu to include cinnamon rolls, fritters and more pastries. But
for now, guests can look forward to six “staple” flavors and six unique monthly flavors. The always-on-themenu options are a churro donut, a vanilla-glazed donut with sprinkles, a chocolate-glazed donut with sprinkles, a double-chocolate donut with sprinkles, a raspberry-lemonade donut and an everything bagel donut with garlic-herb goat cheese. “My favorite flavor we’ve ever done is our everything bagel with garlic-herb goat cheese filling,” Greiwe says. “This is made with our 48-hour brioche and is a late addition to our staples. I made them for my family’s Christmas Eve party this year, and after I tried them, I knew we had to have these in the store every day.” For January, patrons can also try donuts in the following flavors: carrot cake, dreamsicle, lemon poppyseed, maple butternut squash, brownie batter and raspberry-jam-filled (this
