Photo: Cassandra Day / Hearst Connecticut Media
Scott Gordon, 42, who launched the Rolling Doughnut gourmet food truck Saturday on Old Church Street in Middletown, counts the Boston cream as his absolute favorite — no matter if it’s baked by a chain or gourmet chef. “To me, that’s the benchmark. If you make a good Boston cream, everything should be there.”
lessScott Gordon, 42, who launched the Rolling Doughnut gourmet food truck Saturday on Old Church Street in Middletown, counts the Boston cream as his absolute favorite — no matter if it’s baked by a chain or
... more
Maple-glazed Rolling Doughnuts will soon be accompanied by maple bacon and maple walnut styles in the near future. Owner Scott Gordon loves to experiment, and will post the weekend’s flavors on his website and Facebook page so customers will know what to anticipate.
lessMaple-glazed Rolling Doughnuts will soon be accompanied by maple bacon and maple walnut styles in the near future. Owner Scott Gordon loves to experiment, and will post the weekend’s flavors on his website
... more
Rolling Doughnut SMores are filled with vanilla cream, marshmallow fluff and topped with chocolate and graham cracker crumbles.
Rolling Doughnut SMores are filled with vanilla cream, marshmallow fluff and topped with chocolate and graham cracker crumbles.
Photo: Contributed Photo
The title of his new gourmet dessert business is a bit of a play on words, Gordon admitted. He chose to use the original spelling of the confection because his product is made from scratch — a yeast-raised dough. “Everyone thinks it’s spelled that way because Dunkin Donuts made it that way.” Gordon has even created the Cardinal with a nod to the Wesleyan University athletics mascot: a doughnut filled with raspberry jam and frosted with a chocolate glaze.
lessThe title of his new gourmet dessert business is a bit of a play on words, Gordon admitted. He chose to use the original spelling of the confection because his product is made from scratch — a yeast-raised
... more
"Doughnuts are such a great medium to be creative with because you can do anything with them," said Middletown's Scott Gordon, owner of the Rolling Doughnut food truck, which launched Saturday on Old Church Street. The title of his new gourmet dessert business is a bit of a play on words, Gordon admitted. He chose to use the original spelling of the confection because his product is made from scratch - a yeast-raised dough. "Everyone thinks it's spelled that way because Dunkin Donuts made it that way." Gordon has even created the Cardinal with a nod to the Wesleyan University athletics mascot: a doughnut filled with raspberry jam and frosted with a chocolate glaze.
less"Doughnuts are such a great medium to be creative with because you can do anything with them," said Middletown's Scott Gordon, owner of the Rolling Doughnut food truck, which launched Saturday on Old Church
... more
“Doughnuts are such a great medium to be creative with because you can do anything with them,” said Middletown’s Scott Gordon, owner of the Rolling Doughnut food truck, which launched Saturday on Old Church Street.
less“Doughnuts are such a great medium to be creative with because you can do anything with them,” said Middletown’s Scott Gordon, owner of the Rolling Doughnut food truck, which launched Saturday on Old
... more
All of Rolling Doughnut food truck’s pastries are larger than life, including these Boston creams.
All of Rolling Doughnut food truck’s pastries are larger than life, including these Boston creams.
Photo: Contributed Photo
"Doughnuts are such a great medium to be creative with because you can do anything with them," said Middletown's Scott Gordon, owner of the Rolling Doughnut food truck, which launched Saturday on Old Church Street. The title of his new gourmet dessert business is a bit of a play on words, Gordon admitted. He chose to use the original spelling of the confection because his product is made from scratch - a yeast-raised dough. "Everyone thinks it's spelled that way because Dunkin Donuts made it that way." Gordon has even created the Cardinal with a nod to the Wesleyan University athletics mascot: a doughnut filled with raspberry jam and frosted with a chocolate glaze.
less"Doughnuts are such a great medium to be creative with because you can do anything with them," said Middletown's Scott Gordon, owner of the Rolling Doughnut food truck, which launched Saturday on Old Church
... more
"Doughnuts are such a great medium to be creative with because you can do anything with them," said Middletown's Scott Gordon, owner of the Rolling Doughnut food truck, which launched Saturday on Old Church Street. The title of his new gourmet dessert business is a bit of a play on words, Gordon admitted. He chose to use the original spelling of the confection because his product is made from scratch - a yeast-raised dough. "Everyone thinks it's spelled that way because Dunkin Donuts made it that way." Gordon has even created the Cardinal with a nod to the Wesleyan University athletics mascot: a doughnut filled with raspberry jam and frosted with a chocolate glaze.
less"Doughnuts are such a great medium to be creative with because you can do anything with them," said Middletown's Scott Gordon, owner of the Rolling Doughnut food truck, which launched Saturday on Old Church
... more
"Doughnuts are such a great medium to be creative with because you can do anything with them," said Middletown's Scott Gordon, owner of the Rolling Doughnut food truck, which launched Saturday on Old Church Street. The title of his new gourmet dessert business is a bit of a play on words, Gordon admitted. He chose to use the original spelling of the confection because his product is made from scratch - a yeast-raised dough. "Everyone thinks it's spelled that way because Dunkin Donuts made it that way." Gordon has even created the Cardinal with a nod to the Wesleyan University athletics mascot: a doughnut filled with raspberry jam and frosted with a chocolate glaze.
less"Doughnuts are such a great medium to be creative with because you can do anything with them," said Middletown's Scott Gordon, owner of the Rolling Doughnut food truck, which launched Saturday on Old Church
... more
Connecticut chef launches ‘The Rolling Doughnut’ food truck
MIDDLETOWN — Sleep is an elusive ideal these days for Scott Gordon, but not only because he’s a father with 8-month-old twin girls.
Gordon, the former owner of Red Spice and Blues BBQ in Durham, launched The Rolling Doughnut food truck on the South Green Saturday to rave reviews.
Forty winks is therefore about all he’s afforded lately. Most mornings, he rises at 3:30 a.m. when it’s time to make the doughnuts.
And although he made sure everything was ready at home beforehand — from the frostings, fillings and risen dough, to the interior of his food truck being laid out to maximum advantage — he couldn’t have anticipated that his fryer would get clogged, forcing him to open hours later than expected.
“It was just my luck,” he said earlier this week.
Then, as he was heading toward Old Church Street in the trailer, a friend told him the road was blocked off for a funeral at Doolittle across the street.
“I should have known about that because my father passed away a year and a half ago and that’s where we had his funeral,” he said.
But he eventually got where he needed to go.
“Finally everything came together,” said the 42-year-old, who has been in the food business for 27 years.
The name of his new gourmet dessert business is a bit of a play on words as his business is on wheels, Gordon said. He chose to use the original spelling of the confection because his product is made from scratch — a yeast-raised dough.
These handheld desserts are perfect for experimentation, Gordon said.
“Doughnuts are such a great medium to be creative with because you can do anything with them.”
“You can fill them, you can top them, you can hollow them out. There’s so much you can do,” said Gordon, who hopes, once he works the kinks out, to begin experimenting by serving grilled egg sandwiches and burgers, using the doughnut shell as a bun.
He created one called the “Cardinal” with a nod to the Wesleyan University athletics mascot: a doughnut filled with raspberry jam and frosted with a chocolate glaze.
Gordon counts the Boston cream as his absolute favorite — no matter if it’s baked by a chain or gourmet chef.
“To me, that’s the benchmark,” he said. “If you make a good Boston cream, everything should be there.”
There’s much more to The Rolling Doughnuts beyond cake-style classics: S’Mores are filled with vanilla cream, marshmallow fluff and topped with chocolate and graham cracker crumbles, maple-glazed will soon be accompanied by maple bacon and maple walnut styles.
Gordon’s first job was at Fratelli’s Italian Restaurant in Southington, where he started out washing dishes at 15 and, after 12 years, he learned everything he needed to know.
From 2002 to 2006, he ran Red Spice and Blues across from Durham Dari Serve, making traditional Southern barbecue dishes.
“My thing has always been do one thing and do it really, really well. I’ve never been a fan of places that try to be all things to all people because you lose control: You lose quality, you lose consistency,” said Gordon, who graduated from Wilcox Tech in Meriden.
Gordon, who never intended to go into the food business, started off working in a tool and die shop during the day and washing dishes in the evening.
“There would be all these old guys there and they’d go about their business,” Gordon said. “And then at night, I’d go to the restaurant, and there were all these people running around — chaos, but it was organized chaos.”
“You got to see all this beautiful food and people really passionate about what they were doing. And I really love that aspect of it.”
When he was 17, the sous chef quit in the middle of the dinner hour on a Friday night.
“The owner was like, ‘Hey, kid. Get over here. I need help.’ And I was always doing prep work and watching. So I kind of knew what he did. I’m sure I just fumbled my way through it, but I really liked it.”
Gordon moved on to become an executive chef at Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont and later, director of food and beverage at Stowe Green Mountain Inn.
He moved back to Connecticut and worked for River Valley Provisions and other markets on the Shoreline, then, after experimenting with yeast-raised doughnuts to rave reviews, he decided to take the leap into business for himself.
Gordon grew up eating the best gourmet confections at Bonazingas in South Meriden and Quality Bakery in Meriden, so he knew exactly what he’d be creating: classic doughnuts such as Boston cream, sugar, lemon-glazed and cinnamon-sugar: “Your everyday known doughnut, but I make them really, really good.
“I make the cream, I make the filling, I make the chocolate topping. Everything is made from scratch,” Gordon said.
Then there are the deluxe ones, such as Nutella Bombs filled with the popular hazelnut spread, covered with chocolate frosting and powdered sugar.
Scott and his wife have been together 11 years. Lynnea Gordon, who admitted to having a “very bad” sweet tooth, said her husband had talked about opening a food truck for while, but she thought he was thinking barbecue.
“When he said doughnuts, I was excited,” she said. “There aren’t any doughnut shops around. And who doesn’t love doughnuts?”
The epitome of the perfect doughnut for both was always the award-winning Neil’s Donuts in the Yalesville section of Wallingford.
Lynnea Gordon said her husband’s recipe rivals Neil’s.
“When I had his doughnuts for the first time, I was amazed at how good doughnuts can be,” she said, pointing to her favorites: the Nutella Bomb, plain sugar, simple glazed, and Fluffernutters with the classic combination of peanut butter and marshmallow filling.
Scott Gordon catered his cousin Krysta Dodenhoff’s Jack-and-Jill party, but she had never tasted his desserts, so she was eager to try them Saturday.
“We bought eight and my husband finished them all in two days. I went to go look for them and they were all gone,” she said, laughing. “He saved me a crumb, so I was able to try it. It’s not too overwhelming and not too sweet.”
“They’re a lot thicker, a lot fluffier, larger, and seem to have a stronger taste to them then your typical doughnut, and the flavors and varieties he offers are much different. They really pop when you take that first bite.”
For information, see The Real Rolling Doughnut on Facebook, The Rolling Doughnut on Instagram or visit therollingdoughnut.com.
Managing Editor Cassandra Day can be reached at cassandra.day@hearstmediact.com.
