The following first appeared in the Winter 2009 edition of the Pleasant Ridge Informant.

Pleasant Ridge is one of those neighborhoods where it pays to be a regular customer. Home to such long-standing institutions as Pleasant Ridge Chili, Everybody’s Records and The Gaslight Cafe, it has been easy for residents to become regulars during the last 20 or more years.

But my favorite place to be known as a regular is the Ridge Donut Shop. This summer, Ridge Donuts celebrated their 20th anniversary as the place where residents and commuters alike can gather at the counter to share stories and talk politics, or for sales reps and teachers to pick up dozens of doughnuts on the run to take to eagerly awaiting appetites. Regardless of the hour, Miss Hill or Mr. Ron is always around to offer a friendly face or a piece of sage advice to go along with a glazed crueller and hot coffee.

I was recently invited into the nerve center of Ridge Donut Shop to see where the magic happens – and I don’t use the term ‘magic’ haphazardly here. The process Mr. Ron goes through while we wind down our days and then dream of the day to come is painstaking and labor intensive. Some observers might even call it lonesome or tedious, but to watch huge batches of yeast dough get cut into soon-to-be custard-filled doughnuts or braided into twists is a genuine skill and art form.

Mr. Ron takes a great deal of pride in his work and his schedule, one that begins around the time we sit down to watch “House, M.D.” and usually concludes around 4 in the morning: “If you want a fresh doughnut, this is the place – that’s why I start as late as I do. If you want a stale doughnut, there are lots of other places you can go. Those get made before midnight and then sit out all morning and all afternoon.”

Everything Ron learned in this business came from his brother Tom, with whom he opened Ridge Donut Shop in 1989. After Tom became ill and could not continue with the day to day operations, Ron became a one-man production line, cranking out the multitude of doughnuts through the wee hours of the morning.

The assortment appears to be many and varied, whether they be peanut sticks, clunkers, chocolate honey-dipped, or cinnamon twists. But in the end it comes down to two basic varieties: yeast doughnuts and cake or batter-based donuts. There is a type, however, that stands alone in the crowd – the Crueller.

To me, there are few delicacies on Earth as wholly satisfying as a well-executed crueller. Whether it be coated with a light glaze, or dipped in white or chocolate icing, the sensation of biting into a crisp, melt-in-your-mouth exterior, only to find an airy, slightly eggy interior, never fails to delight the senses and send your tongue into spasms of sweet-savory ecstasy.

“Be quiet a second and let me do this batch – I can’t talk and drop at the same time,” Mr. Ron advises me. It is only in the last few months that I came to understand the keen eye and practiced hand required to produce the perfect crueller. Fortunately for all of us, Mr. Ron possesses both.

Imagine, if you will, a World War II-era bombardier – his pilots guiding him over enemy territory while he perches in the bomb bay, sighting the target in his scope. Accounting for velocity, distance and windspeed, he releases his payload at the precise moment to score a direct hit. Such is the calmness and steely resolve necessary to create this kind of doughnut.

The apparatus required is relatively complex, by baking and pastry standards: a collapsible arm, mounted on an adjacent proofbox, suspends a batter bucket over the hot fryer. Operated by a hand crank on the side of the bucket, the perfect dollop of batter is extruded and twisted and propelled into the fryer with each turn of the crank. The amount of batter in the bucket is crucial, because gravity helps to ensure that enough pressure is generated to create the signature twist of the crueller.

After a six-minute dip in the fryer – during which time each crueller will be flipped twice – they are lifted out and left to cool before being twice bathed in a waterfall of glaze. I can assure you, dear reader, that there are few epicurean joys greater than biting into a freshly glazed crueller from Ridge Donut Shop.

But remember well – they’re only available on the weekends, which, for the sake of our waistlines, is probably for the best.

Tuesday through Sunday, Ridge Donut Shop is open from 6 a.m. – Noon, or earlier, if they run out. Late nights, Mr. Ron will be open from 9 p.m. until around midnight if you have the craving (or, like me, you just want to talk politics and current events).

So the next time you have a big meeting and want to impress the boss with delicious breakfast pastry, know that there is one place to go. Or maybe you’re making your way home after the Reds or Cyclones game, and a jelly doughnut and a cold glass of milk sound like a great way to cap the night with your family. Don’t be afraid to stop in and take advantage of the late-nite deals – 3 for $1, while supplies last. Mr. Ron will be there, as ever, making sure his doughnuts are ready for your morning.