What do you think of Krispy Kreme?

"Listen, I'm from the South. It's hard to understand this doughnut-starved culture driving all the way out to Issaquah for, well... a co-worker drove out there, waited in line, and brought me back a doughnut that was, uh, okay. A little too sweet. Ho-hum. In Houston, we have Shipley's. They make these raised doughnuts, served hot, that melt in your mouth. You can't even taste flour--it's all grease and sugar. Folks in the South have a different take on frying things, you know; they're not afraid of a little fat."

You also make crullers--where are those from?

"Crullers are more East Coast-style--I think the first time I heard about a cruller was in a John Cheever novel. They have a crisper outside--a little crunch in your doughnut."

Do you find doughnuts sexy, like I do?

"I think of them more as sophisticated, understated, 'classy'--they look good, and they know it. A quiet confidence--if that is sexy."

What brought you to doughnuts?

"I went to pastry school and worked as a baker, which I loved. Then, in a panic, I took a 'real' job at a software company, and was real economically stable for four years--but I knew exactly what would happen every day for the rest of my life, so I left. I'd never made doughnuts before, but I have a deep affection for them, an understanding."

How do you make doughnuts? Is it an automated machine with a conveyer belt?

"Oh, no! Everything is done by hand: I fill up the extruder with mixed batter (it's wet, like cake batter) at just the right temperature: 78 degrees--"

--wait. The EXTRUDER?

"Yes, fun to say and fun to do: I put different fixtures on it to form different styles, crank its arm, and it plops the batter out into the hot grease, doughnut-shaped. I fry the doughnuts for a minute on each side, flipping them over and scooping them out by hand. We drain them, and when they're cooled, I dip them by hand."

You have my dream job: You get to work with a giant, shiny deep fryer, and you make many people very, very happy.

"Oh, yeah? I work midnight to six a.m."

Oh.

"[Once,] I was walking home from a long night at work when a silver Mercedes drove past, slowed down, and backed up. The tinted window rolled down and this older man, obviously a well-to-do, high-class dude, said to me, 'You make the doughnuts, don't you?!' in this kind of awed voice. 'You do very good work,' he said solemnly, and drove off."

Interview by Rachel Kessler