Your Newest Donut Obsession
Words Codi Chen | Photos Baptiste Despois
A small trailer on Airport Boulevard is doing two things exceptionally well: mochi donuts and Korean rice cakes. At Dduk Dduk, one donut can easily become three, and somewhere between the ddukboki and the Lil Daejis, plans for the next visit are already being formulated.
The mochi donuts at Dduk Dduk are the main draw. Made fresh each morning from a blend of yeast-raised dough, tapioca flour, and rice flour, they fry up with a chewiness that a classic American donut simply cannot match. The glazes are housemade and straightforward, built on quality ingredients like their Madagascar bourbon vanilla bean paste. Flavors range from chocolate and vanilla bean to maple bacon, churro, ube, and strawberry, finished with toppings like Biscoff crumble, espresso powder, and chocolate drizzle.
“Keep it simple and yummy” is owner Sarah Lee’s philosophy.
The savory menu is worth the attention, too. The ddukboki, a popular Korean street food, consists of soft rice cakes in a spicy-sweet gochujang sauce, topped with fish cakes, a soft egg, green onion, and sesame seeds.
“The broth is made from scratch, and the rice cakes come from a local Korean market,” Sarah shares, underscoring the restaurant’s commitment to quality and authenticity.
The Lil Daejis, mini mochi corn dogs fried to order in beef, pork, or cheddar, come drizzled with jalapeño hot honey or maple syrup and are hard not to devour in two bites.
Behind it all is Sarah, who grew up in small-town Texas, spending her childhood alongside a grandmother who made kimchi from scratch and foraged for acorns and dandelions from their neighborhood. That type of cooking shaped Sarah, who went on to study cultural anthropology in college, drawn to the way food carries culture and connects people. “Nothing is more interesting to me than learning about the culture around food,” Sarah emphasizes. “It’s as real as it gets. We all need to eat.”
A shared-table philosophy is the story behind each menu item at Dduk Dduk. The mochi donuts and rice cakes are just a very delicious way to dip into the Korean culture.
Donuts: Mochi vs. The Classic
Mochi donuts swap wheat flour for glutinous rice flour and tapioca starch, trading the classic American donut’s fluffy bite for a springy, satisfyingly chewy one. The shape changes too, formed from small dough balls connected into a ring, with a crispy exterior and a soft center. The base is subtler in sweetness, so the glazes or sugar coatings are where you’ll find the flavor.
What is Dduk?
Dduk (pronounced “duck”) is the Korean word for rice cake, and nothing like the dry, puffed snacks in the chip aisle. It is dense and chewy, made by milling rice into flour and pounding or steaming it into an elastic dough. Mild on its own, it is endlessly versatile, soaking up spice in a savory sauce or working just as well in a sweet dessert.
