When I travel, I always try to seek out the “best” donut each town has to offer. Most of the time it leads me to the super expensive “fancy” donuts (for example, I recently ate a 100-layer churro donut that cost $5). These “fancy” donuts usually end up being dry, bland, and covered in whatever overly sweet filling and toppings they could come up with by apparently googling “what shouldn’t be put on a donut.” Every time that I am disappointed with a donut, I find myself saying, “not as good as Mark’s.”
Mark’s Do-Nut Shop is an institution in North Little Rock. It is an old school donut shop that has been around since 1978. So old school, they only took cash until last year. There is nothing fancy about Mark’s Do-Nut Shop. At Mark’s they don’t have exotic flavors, instead they have basic donuts done exceptionally well. Their donuts are incredibly soft, yet still have a good bite to them. They are also almost always straight from the fryer warm because they keep them cooking all morning to serve the masses the freshest product.
My favorite item to order at Mark’s is as fancy as they get – Bavarian cream filled. The soft, yet chewy texture pairs excellently with sweet vanilla flavored cream inside. I am generally not a fan of filled donuts, instead preferring plain glazed, but this one just works. I was already a huge fan of their glazed when a few years ago a buddy suggested I give this one a shot and now I can’t leave Mark’s without getting one (or three) of these
I love this donut so much that I had a coworker bring some Mark’s to the office one day, but they were out of Bavarian cream, but making more. He knew that I was going to be miserable to put up with (well, more miserable than normal) if we had Mark’s and I didn’t get a Bavarian cream, so he waited over twenty minutes while they made some more.
So next time you are looking for a donut, make the drive to NLR for Mark’s and treat yourself to a Bavarian cream donut. You will thank me later. Also be sure to grab plenty of napkins because will need them when you can no longer resist the urge of a freshly cooked Bavarian cream donut and decide to eat it going down the road.
Mark’s Do-nut Shop
4015 Camp Robinson Rd, North Little Rock
Hours: Monday-Saturday 5:30am-11am; Closed Sunday
Phone: (501) 753-2017