Have you ever taken a bite of something really delicious for the first time and said, “I’m in trouble?” I did when I bit into a coconut-glazed donut from Tasty Daylight Donuts. Being more of a cake than a glazed fan, I thought I was safe sinking my teeth into the sweet, doughy confection from the new shop on the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Chestnut Street. But the moment I started to chew, well, I knew I was in trouble.
You’re probably thinking, “What’s the big deal? Chattanooga has a lot of donut shops. What’s special about this one?” When it comes to the cake donuts and apple fritters, you’d be right. They’re good, like those at other donut shops in Chattanooga, but they don’t stand head and shoulders above the rest. The glazed donuts, however, are worth a few extra column inches in this newspaper, if not a billboard off Highway 27 saying, “Wow!”
How good are they? If I had a choice between eating a Krispy Kreme or a Tasty Daylight, I wouldn’t even notice the Krispy Kremes were in the room.
Despite my enthusiasm, glazed goodness is not what sets Tasty Daylight apart; variety is. I made the mistake of asking the co-owner Tony McInnis about the variety his store offers without checking my watch. When he was done, I’d already decided not to list them in this column because no one would read the entire list. Suffice to say, on any given day, Tony and company have at least 80 kinds of glazed donuts, cake donuts, topped donuts, filled donuts and pastries behind their glass counter.
All of these confections are made daily at Tasty Daylight’s East Brainerd store and then brought downtown, where the crew tops and fills the product.
But the madness doesn’t end there. Once you make your purchase, you can slide to the right to the toppings bar and personalize it with one of 12 frostings and 80 toppings. McInnis said he likes chocolate frosting with a dollop of Bavarian Crème and toffee crumbles. Someone who likes strawberries might want to go for a Strawberry Squared, which is a strawberry cake donut topped with strawberry icing.
For many people, the donut is only half of the breakfast or snack time equation. The other half involves a good cup of coffee. To that end, Tasty Daylight offers several brews, including a smooth, full-bodied Kona from Hawaii, a more intense French roast, a Euro blend and more. Serving sizes range from small to 96-ounces for meetings.
Tasty Daylight appears to be more geared toward foot traffic than drive-by business. Parking spaces might be easier to come by during their weekend hours, but when I stopped by at 10 on a Thursday morning, I had to drive around the block three times before I was finally able to claim a parking space. You could park in the garage above Tasty Daylight, but that’s not a cost effective option.
Speaking of cost, McInnis said his donuts aren’t the cheapest in town, but they’re not the most expensive, either. I only spent slightly more than I usually do at a donut shop for the same number of pastries, and the quality of the product made the additional cost worth every penny. Really, cost is a non-factor at Tasty Daylight.
So is seating. I visited Tasty Daylight twice that Thursday, and each time, plenty of customers were coming through their doors, but not all of them were immediately going back out. No one had to wait for a table, though, because Tasty Daylight has plenty both inside and outside in a pleasant cordoned patio area.
Tasty Daylight is part of Project Popup, a retail incubator for downtown Chattanooga. Launched by River City Company and Berry & Hunt, the program is designed to attract new retail opportunities to downtown Chattanooga’s City Center district. On the basis of the superb coconut-glazed donut available at Tasty Daylight, I’m declaring the program a success.
Tasty Daylight sounds like “tasty delight,” which is a good description of what you’ll find when you walk through the door of Chattanooga’s newest donut shop. Just don’t ask McInnis how many varieties he sells, especially if you’re on break.
Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.