O Face Doughnuts, Las Vegas NV

O Face Doughnuts

“Traditional” Old Fashioned with crème fraiche

Yeast Raised

Bacon Apple Fritter

S’mores

Apple Pie

Blackberry with Lemon Zest

Lemon Rosemary Meringue with Blueberry Puree

Boston Cream

Cleverly named, conveniently located, and featuring the skills of a true pastry chef one might say that 6th Street’s “O Face Doughnuts” is Sin City’s first true ‘gourmet’ doughnuttery and officially open now for just one week my first take on the place can best be summed up with one word; Potential. Owned by Sonny Ahuja and featuring the talents of Crystal Whitford, both present when the doors to the cutesy space clicked open at 9:00am, the most conspicuous item missing as I arrived was unfortunately that which I had come for…the fried dough inexplicably delayed as a team of four worked diligently in the open kitchen to feed a growing crowd. Clearly working out kinks on the fly but never once frazzled as each of several dozen options were rolled, fried, and glazed it was nearly one hour and one hundred patrons into the morning that I watched Whitford and her team work before I made my eight selections and paying the $18 tab my sampling began, a piping hot apple fritter tinged with crispy bacon proving closer to monkey-bread in its large pull-apart structure and supple crumb. Moving next to a duo of classics, suffice it to say that whatever led to the morning delay and rushed prep-work yielded far too oily an old fashioned along with a flaccid yeast-raised ring but moving on to the filled options the chef’s skills shined as house-made creams, compotes, purees, and curds all impressed inside yeasty pockets with an array of delicate glazes. A strong believer that failing to prepare is preparing to fail but also attuned to the difficulties intrinsic to opening a new business I look forward to seeing how O Face grows and evolves but based on first impressions and a brief conversation with Chef Whitford and staff as they worked I’m rather confident O Face will soon find its footing and fill a long empty gap in DTLV.

THREE STARS: Having been to most of the “best” doughnut shops in America and watching the trend spread from PDX to Brooklyn and back through the Midwest the strength of O Face will be decided by their creativity, quality and consistency – the former already apparent while the later two will hopefully come with time. Bolstered by business from Fremont East and folks from the Downtown Project this isn’t a place soon to shutter – I’d say give them a few weeks to get their bearings before deciding for yourself.