The Original Donut Shop pulses with history and buzzes with energy. It can be “Groovin’” with a vibe from 1967 or “Livin La Vida Loca” like it’s 1999.
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There are few customers from the “Shake, Rattle and Roll Days” of 1954, the year it opened on Fredericksburg Road. But there are plenty of regulars that bridge multiple generations: from the Beatles and the donuts-only menu in the 1960s to Bad Bunny and the breakfast tacos of today.
John Talamantez, 88, moved into the neighborhood near Jefferson High School in 1968. He drove his wife and daughters to “Hot Donuts,” as it was originally known, every Sunday after Mass. Today, his granddaughter, Krystal Taylor, serves as the Original Donut Shop bookkeeper.
“I started coming when I was a little girl in kindergarten, around 1989-1990,” Taylor said. “Now I bring my kids.”
That’s four generations of devotion. “I’ll have 10 bean and cheese tacos and a dozen donuts to go, please!” Then out the drive-thru they’d go — Vroom! — in their classic Chevrolet.
The shop has sold donuts since the Eisenhower administration. Breakfast tacos, though, came along sometime during the Tex-Mex boom of the 1970s.
Lora Scarsdale Gonzalez remembers picking up tacos and donuts when she was a student at Jefferson and working at H-E-B.
“My senior year (1975-76), I kept going back because they were good and I could afford them,” she said. “And, of course, the donuts always made my boss overlook that I was late again.”
Fifty years later, The Original Donut Shop brims with patrons. It can be challenging to get in. Last Friday, Taylor arrived for work but found every parking space filled. Vehicles from both drive-thru lines spilled onto Fredericksburg Road, forming a clog of traffic.
“I drove around the building six times looking for a spot,” she said. “It was packed.”
Taylor finally located a parking spot at a store behind the gas station next door.
The Original is the only eatery in town with one drive-thru line for donuts and another for tacos. When those two lines began is a mystery. Just like the first year the donut shop began selling tacos. Nobody knows for sure.
Media stories conflict. One says 1978. Another says early 80s. Newspaper archives provide no clear answers. Current owner Millicent Clark, daughter of original owner Patrick Morris, did not respond to requests for comment.
Whatever the date of the breakfast taco launch, the taste and smell triggers memories. Scarsdale-Gonzalez still remembers her usual order. “Bean and cheese and potato and egg,” she said.
Johnny Villarreal visited with a friend after graduating from Jefferson with Scarsdale Gonzalez. “I remember going in 1978,” he said. “I distinctly remember having the potato and egg and bacon and egg. They were very flavorful and warm. We sat inside and had our coffee. We went to the counter to get the donuts. It was packed.”
The breakfast taco may have determined the winner of a turf war in 78201. Dunkin’ Donuts operated one of 10 local stores at 2903 Fredericksburg Road, across from the Tip Top Cafe.
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In 1980, Dunkin offered a dozen donuts for $1.69, according to a San Antonio Express-News ad. Just up the road, the Original Donut Shop advertised a dozen for a comparable price.
“Like less than two bucks,” Scarsdale Gonzalez said. “Dunkin’s prices were always a bit higher. I just always ate the good donuts (at Original).”
The donut competition drew some customers to both places. To compare taste and vibe. John Whisler was one of them. He visited in 1979.
“I liked Dunkin Donuts, especially their coffee,” he said. “But The Original Donut Shop was about more than tacos or donuts. It was like choosing Puro SA over a store-bought package brand.”
Business at the donut shop soared after tacos were introduced. The toasted bean and cheese with bacon became the No. 1 seller. Dunkin’, meanwhile, took a fatal hit. By 1982, the store on Fredericksburg Road had closed.
“I had relatives that worked at Dunkin but I didn’t get my donuts from there,” Talamantez said. “Dunkin’s were too sweet.There’s something different about the donuts at the Original Donut Shop. They have a different taste. It seems like you can’t get them any other place.”
The Original is an original. Sixty two years in business. Long lines inside and outside. Crazy hours. The baker arrives at 2:30 a.m., the cooks at 4 a.m. The shop opens at 6 a.m. Monday through Friday and at 7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. The last tacos are served at 2 p.m., seven days a week. The bakery remains open until 6 p.m. or until the last donuts are sold.
The Original draws regulars and newbies. It hosts parties and class reunions. It brings together friends who haven’t seen each other in years. Monday morning, a retired sports writer from the San Antonio Express-News recognized a former colleague now at the San Antonio Report.
The former journalist tapped the culinary writer on the shoulder. “What are you doing here,” he asked?
“Doing an interview,” came the reply.
The old friends embraced and chatted for a bit. Seated nearby was Taylor, the bookkeeper, surrounded by customers and conversation and so much history.
People have been putting morning eggs and chorizo on tortillas forever. At the Original, the breakfast taco has been a staple for 50 years, mas or menos, before Taylor was born.
She has her own memories: Sitting on the outside patio after church. Eating a bean and cheese with one hand. Savoring a glazed donut with the other. Enjoying time with her grandparents and siblings.
“It’s very ironic to me,” she said, pointing to the area where she sat as a child. “I never thought I would be working here. Now I bring my kids here and the first thing they ask is, ‘Mom, can I get a bean and cheese?’”
Inside a hybrid institution at the corner of Fredericksburg Road and Babcock, a voice calls out a number. A patron rises from a table. He shuffles through a thick line of customers to pick up his order, the aroma of searing meats filling the restaurant.
The Original Donut Shop isn’t the oldest breakfast taco joint in town. But it might be the busiest at the crack of dawn.
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