• Courtesy photo
• French Silk doughnut

Restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries all provide some level of community service—we all need a place to hang out and expand our culinary horizons from time to time—but there aren't a whole lot of eateries that exist solely to benefit the underserved communities in Salt Lake. For example, The Other Side Donuts is a west side-based doughnut shop that raises money for local nonprofit The Other Side Village. I finally got to check this local bakery out, and they've really got something special going out here.

The Other Side Donuts works in tandem with The Other Side Village and The Other Side Academy to serve members of our community who are transitioning out of chronic homelessness. The village provides affordable housing, the academy provides skill-based education and the doughnut shop provides a place to work and develop marketable skills. The Other Side's philosophy is that community provides the basis upon which to build a home, which is why its different operations help build communities for those who need them to get back on their feet.

Obviously. this spot should be on your radars because buying doughnuts is a great way to help fund a desperately needed local outreach program, but The Other Side provides a top-tier doughnut experience. For starters, the space looks like something out of Homer Simpson's subconscious: bright pinks frost the walls, colorful neon signage greets you as you enter and the doughnut display case pops with enough variety to warrant serious consideration.

I'd say it's a good idea to peruse the menu online first to get a sense of what kind of doughnut adventure you'd like to take. Their menu is organized in categories that range from classics ($2) like familiar maple bars and chocolate frosted raised doughnuts, to a walloping TANG doughnut topped with gummy orange slices. My favorite offering from this side of the menu was the Maple Dream Buttercream, because I am a sucker for maple bars that favor thick frosting instead of glaze.

The Day Dream ($2.50) category is where things start getting a little crazy. Most of the filled doughnuts are here, and I was gobsmacked by the Forever Yours Twinkie. Taking its cues from the bonkers cuisine you might find at your local state fair, this is a riff on a Hostess Twinkie that takes a Long John doughnut, fills it with pastry cream and then tops it with a white cake crumble. It's essentially a Twinkie topped with Twinkies, and it's audaciously delicious. I also liked the Maple Butterfinger doughnut, which adds crumbled Butterfinger candy bars to its maple icing. Something about the way the candy bar chocolate tied the peanut butter filling with the maple forced a double take out of me.

You know you're in Sweet Dream ($4) territory when you start seeing doughnuts that look like a cake decorator has been let loose on them. The Blockbuster's crunchy popcorn crumble and buttery glaze make this a sweet and salty delight. A doughnut called Under the Sea takes a risky pivot by making a tropical-inspired doughnut that is filled with cantaloupe whip and a passionfruit icing, but this totally works. Someone at Other Side has a deft hand when it comes to making pastry cream.

Cloud Nine ($6) is reserved for Other Side's heavy hitters—they're experimental, unconventional and filled with surprises. The Beehive Donut and the Strawberry Habanero flirt with spicy ingredients, which isn't something that doughnuts often embrace. The 24K Maple Honey Bacon Long John is peak indulgence, with its vibrant notes of maple, honey and smoky bacon. Fans of maple bacon doughnuts will need this one in their lives pronto.

Now, based on the whimsical descriptions of Other Side's doughnut menu, it might be easy to get distracted by the whole style-vs.-substance argument. Sure, this place might have a wide range of creative doughnut recipes, but how's the execution? I wondered the same thing when I entered, and was again a bit shocked when even their raised dough was perfectly chewy and their cake dough nailed the slightly dense texture. I've already mentioned their pastry cream game; this is where a lot of doughnuts head south for me, but even their more tropical flavors are well-balanced.

I'm never one to shy away from a food-based metaphor, but it's interesting that the Other Side organizations chose doughnuts as their preferred commercial product. As a ring-shaped baked good, doughnuts evoke the endless circle of how putting something good into the community has a way of creating an infinite loop of positivity within that community. Doughnuts also appeal to our collective sense of creativity and whimsical belief that there are times when the impossible can be possible. Thanks to the team at The Other Side Donuts, the humble doughnut has become a symbol of what can be possible with just a little love.