EASTLAKE, Ohio — "It feels like donut weather," said Joey Cappadonna, co-owner of Biagio's Donut Shop & Pizzeria in Eastlake.
At 11 a.m. on a crisp fall Monday, hours after the morning rush, Biagio's was still bustling. Three greyed men huddled over cups of coffee at one table, in what seemed to be a familiar routine. "My fingers are sticky!" a tiny girl giggled from across the store, powdered sugar dusted across her face. A woman at the end of the table, Kate Yurick, said she's been coming to Biagio's since she was a student at Euclid High School in the 1980s.
The bell rang, and Cappadonna rushed to greet. "What's happening, Tim?" he said, patting his friend on the back.
"It's like this all the time," said Cappadonna, who lives in Eastlake and graduated from Willoughby South. "An hour from now, there will be a different crowd of people in here. I see people I went to school with all the time."
Across from Classic Stadium on Vine Street, Biagio's has been in business since 1963. And it's safe to say the shop has withstood the test of time — it's leading Northeast Ohio Media Group's "NEO's Best: Donuts" contest with 30 percent of the votes.
The store is named after Cappadonna's father, Biagio. He opened the place, and Cappadonna has been working there since he got his "hands in the dough," he said. His sister, mother, nieces and nephews are in the business, too.
Biagio, 75, still helps out when he can, but he's mostly just there for the donuts — he said he eats one every day.
So what makes these discs of sweetened dough so good? Practice, said Cappadonna: "We know what we're doing, and we have the best ingredients."
Every night, pastry chefs make 3,600 donuts. When Cappadonna gets in at 7:30 a.m., it's time to make more.
He proudly showed off the donut fryer in the back of the store. Instead of a typical basket fryer, Biagio's sends its donuts floating down a river of hot oil. That's why they're light and flaky, instead of soaked in grease, Biagio said.
Next, they're doused in a pool of glaze, brushed with one of several icings or sprinkled with toppings. The finished products are lined in a glass case, which is the first thing customers see as they enter — classic glazed, cream sandwiched between two sugary rounds, seasonal specialties like maple-glazed pecan and powdered sugar donuts oozing with jelly.
All the donuts are 90 cents. The store also sells pizza, ice cream and coffee. No donut pizza, though.
Some mobile users may need to use the full website instead.