The second of many more Top Pot Doughnuts to come opened recently — this one's on Greenville Avenue. Customers can slip in for a cake doughnut and an Ovaltine latte, or a massive bear claw if more sugar and calories are required. They cannot, however, grab a seat at a table and wait for their eyes to glaze over from a sugar coma.
Instead of chairs and tables, a children's play set and a few other toys fill the seating area. "It looked too weird, empty," an employee behind the register says when asked about the odd furniture. Apparently, Top Pot is experiencing some of the same permit issues faced by Monkey King Noodle Co. in Deep Ellum. In short: if a business is permitted as a takeout and people hang around and eat on premise the city is going to take issue.
While Top Pot deals with City Hall, the only option for seating, unless you're a 3-year-old or otherwise very small, is a small bench at the back of the room. That's where I pulled a Homer Simpson with this pink-glazed doughnut with sprinkles and a chocolatey Ovaltine coffee drink that had me thinking about A Christmas Story in May.
As soon as the permits are fixed, you'll be able to grab a seat and decode your secret messages without Randy pounding on the door to distract you. And in the meantime you can look forward to more Top Pot locations opening up in the Dallas area, first in Richardson at the City Line development and after that downtown at Victory Park.