Photography by Kathy Tran

The Salty Donut started five years ago as a pop-up in Miami. Husband-and-wife owners Andy Rodriguez and Amanda Pizarro opened their first permanent shop in a space so small that it didn’t have its own kitchen; the doughnuts were made offsite and delivered throughout the day. Their second Miami location does have a kitchen, but it’s small.

The company made a calculated expansion to Dallas, and they landed in a former mechanic’s shop in Bishop Arts. This was the company’s first opportunity to design and build a store the way they wanted it, and it represents their vision for the future.

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They created a charming patio breezeway that extends from Davis to Seventh, where neighbors catch up on Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons.

Inside, you can see into the kitchen to watch how the doughnuts are made. They’re made, by the way, with 24-hour brioche dough. The Bishop Arts store employs a full-time pastry chef, Audrey Scheib. “People always ask me if I get tired of doughnuts,” she says. “I eat them every day, and I never get tired of them.”

They’re not cheap. A glazed doughnut costs $2.75, and a specialty doughnut costs about $4.25. The best seller is the horchata doughnut, soaked in homemade horchata, crusted with chocolate and topped with cinnamon meringue.

It’s a take on the best seller in Miami, tres leches, says store manager Laura Lewallen. “We wanted to make it more Texan,” she says.

The Salty Donut also sells a few cake doughnuts, including two that are always on the menu: brown- butter and salt and Texas chocolate sheet cake. Other regulars are guava and cheese, and maple and bacon. Six slots on the menu are reserved for seasonal rotation, such as Oreo and almond cookie butter. There is always a vegan option and a gluten- free doughnut.

Besides that, the shop serves Intelligentsia coffee and a full menu of espresso drinks.

“I think our coffee program is as strong as our doughnuts,” Lewallen says. They also offer beer and wine and serve-yourself seltzer on tap.

The Salty Donut, 414 W. Davis St., 972.707.9889, saltydonut.com Hours: 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday- Sunday, closed Monday