Janky Donuts Set to Open in the Financial District [Updated]

Artwork courtesy of Janky Donuts/Facebook

UPDATE, July 15, 2:50 p.m.: Turns out, the doughnut news was all a ruse to get viewers to come in for an art installation. Sorry, no camel toe doughnuts for you! More about the exhibition here.

PREVIOUSLY: Five friends who met at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design are combining their passion for art and junk food and launching the Financial District’s first gourmet doughnut shop. Set to open on the evening of July 11, Janky Donuts is a project that’s been in the works since Colin Driesch, Winston MacDonald, Luke O’Sullivan, Dominic Casserly, and Andrew Meers first started a series of pop-up dinners at the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tennessee.

“We’ve been talking about this for several years now,” says co-owner Colin Driesch. “None of us has a background in the culinary arts, but after Bonnaroo and several other pop-up restaurants, cooking became more than just a hobby. Finally, after Luke [O’Sullivan] moved to Philly and got into the doughnut culture there, we just decided to run with it and put a funkier twist on doughnuts.”

Compared to its competition, what distinguishes Janky Donut’s menu is its focus on tongue-in-cheek pastry design. Like Portland, Oregon’s famous Voodoo Doughnut, with cereal-crusted pentagrams, chocolate covered voodoo dolls, and the phallic Bavarian cream, “Cock-N-Balls,” Janky touches on the ludicrous and risqué. The Bullseye, a cinnamon-swirled confection with cherry ganache, looks like a dartboard. The Farm to Mouth, with its wheatgrass frosting studded with brown bacon bits, is like an edible diorama of a cow field. And the aptly named Camel Toe Claw, combines a V-shaped cake doughnut with strawberry icing and chocolate sprinkles.

“A lot of this stuff is meant to be very visual,” Driesch says. “The same goes for the space itself, which is meant to be just as unique and inviting as the actual doughnuts. I think people are going to come by just to hang out and experience the surroundings.”

7-11p.m, July 11, 145 Pearl St. #5, Boston; 603-381-6252 or jankydonuts.com.