What does one do at 5am on a Saturday morning in Ocean Springs, Mississippi? You can stand in line with the mob on Government Street and wait for the first ones to come out of the oven. Not an early bird? Then you might be disappointed and not get a chance to sample the wares of the Tatonut Shop.
What do you think is the secret ingredient that makes this Mohler family tradition a sensation since 1960? Well there is lots of speculation, but we do know that these delights for the palate are made from potato flour. Unusual and tasty. Whatever else that singles these treats out is the family secret and no one is talking, just eating.
From the first door clang at 5am until all the shelves are empty, which usually is around 11am, the shop is alive with the donut gourmets. We rushed in to grab a dozen on our way from the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, just around the corner. It seems like you needed a traffic cop in the middle of the block in front of the splashy yellow Tatonut Shop. Cars lined both sides of the street for blocks and customers scurried out guarding their treasures. By the dozen, by the box, by the bag, donuts, twists, chocolate cake donuts, blueberry donuts, cream-filled, cinnamon rolls as big as my husband’s hand.
If you by chance have a few minutes, you can savor a particular favorite from the kitchen with your favorite coffee concoction. Inside the swinging glass doors a dozen or so ice cream parlor chairs and tables are scattered about painted the same brilliant yellow that adorns the outside walls. A helpful counter person in the back will take your order to go or to take to your table.
Even with all the specialty donuts, the all time favorite still remains the original. The old fashioned glazed donut, you know the one you pick up in the grocery deli. Well it might look like this donut but just you take a bite of the Tatonut glazed donut. Tatonut is filled with donut, not air and the color is a dense yellow with a healthy body. It does not melt in you mouth, you must chew to engage the full flavor with the thin coating of glaze. I even whimper just a little. Everything I have tried here has the same intensity of flavor.
A dozen will set you back about $5 but if you want to buy them individually then you can get them for 69cents. Coffees run between $1.50-3.50 depending on how many things you want to put in it and how long the name is. You can also buy gourmet coffee by the pound. Tatonut stays open until 5pm, but you just might not find anything left by then. They only bake so many and when it is gone it is gone.
Address is 1114 Government Street, Ocean Springs and phone # is 228-872-2076
The Tatonut Shop -- The Only Real Donut.