Two years ago, former credit analyst Josh Kowitz decided to transform his big ideas for peddling colorful confections into a full-fledged business.
“I honestly thought that I was going to be jockeying the desk for the rest of my life,” he says. “It had some great points to it—don’t get me wrong. But being your own boss is awesome.”
Kowitz’s brainchild Center Cut Doughnuts started small, as a pop-up that caught on quickly with local foodies and frequented the Hampden Farmers’ Market for two seasons. All the while, Kowitz had been searching for a brick and mortar, but it wasn’t until earlier this year that he found the perfect home.
In what Kowitz describes as a “right place, right time” kind of transition, Center Cut opened its doors at 3528 Chestnut Avenue in Hampden in January 2017. The space formerly housed boutique bakery B. Doughnut—whose owners decided to close their Baltimore location last fall in order to focus solely on their shop in Leesburg, Virginia.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better entry,” Kowitz says. “I just bought all of the equipment from them, signed the lease, and we were good to go.”
Though Hampden locals were already familiar with the space being a doughnut shop, Kowitz felt that it was important to put his own whimsical spin on B. Doughnut’s previously modern aesthetic.
He commissioned local artist John de Campos (more fondly known as Ghost Bat) to paint a free-hand mural of the Center Cut logo on an interior wall, positioned a wooden bench and metal doughnut sculpture outside, and even had the front steps painted to resemble dripping icing.
“I’m a goofball,” Kowitz says with a laugh. “I love bright colors, and I felt like the space should really be a reflection of the owner.”
He adds that one of the biggest perks of the brick and mortar is having the ability to experiment with new recipes. In addition to his signature sweets, he now serves savory eats including “dognuts” (donut-wrapped hotdogs), breakfast sandwiches, and a variety of knishes—a handpie-shaped delicacy linked to Kowitz’s Jewish heritage.
“I’ve found that if you aren’t either Jewish or from New York, you have no idea what a knish is,” he says. “It’s great to be able to educate people with new things.”
Despite all of the new offerings, the focus of Center Cut’s menu remains its scratch-made doughnuts, which come in flavors ranging from apple streusel and cannoli to key lime cheesecake and peanut butter chocolate pretzel. Kowitz says that the inspiration for his outside-of-the-box creations comes from everyday food experiences.
“If you really sit back and think about it, there isn’t much that can’t be transformed into a doughnut,” he says. “If I’m eating a cheesesteak, I think about how I can break it down into doughnut form. If you’re going to shoot for the moon and do something crazy, you might as well really go for it.”
There will certainly be plenty of creative flavors to enjoy this weekend, as Center Cut hosts a two-day celebration in honor of National Doughnut Day. Aside from offering diners a free Prosecco-glazed doughnut hole Friday, the shop has also partnered with local flower delivery service Urbanstems to feature a deal on a bouquet of roses and four-pack of doughnuts.
As a die-hard Orioles fan, Kowitz (who named the business after a “cutter” fastball) has also devised a baseball-themed menu for a day-after Doughnut Day bash on Saturday, June 3. Specialty flavors to look out for will include strawberry lemonade, cotton candy, cracker-jack caramel topped with vanilla glaze and popcorn, and a special lemon curd-stuffed donut iced with a glaze made from Union Craft Brewing’s Steady Eddy IPA.
Looking ahead, Kowitz is excited to continue to collaborate with other local eateries, expand his wholesale business, and even begin doughnut delivery.
“I could have never imagined that I would have grown from two tables and a tent to where I am now,” he says. “One of the better pieces of advice I ever got in my life was: ‘Make food that you enjoy eating.’ And that’s what I’m doing.”