PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW THOMAS LEE
Hero Doughnuts & Buns
Considering that some of the other occupants of Summerhill’s redeveloped Georgia Avenue include a barbecue joint, pizza place, hot dog stand, and ice cream shop, it was only a matter of time before doughnuts joined the fray. As is true of its neighbor Hot Dog Pete’s, Hero Doughnuts was conceived in Birmingham and peddles guileless comfort food—in this case, the type of straightforward sugar bombs you fetishized as a kid. While I typically prefer yeast doughnuts, Hero’s cake ones won me over: The pleasantly crunchy exterior encapsulates soft-yet-dense, not-too-sweet dough. The buns in the shop’s name cradle, say, eggs and sausage in the morning and fried chicken with buffalo sauce and ranch in the afternoon. The latter evokes a messier Chick-fil-A sandwich overdosed with Zesty Buffalo. I’m not complaining. 33 Georgia Avenue, Summerhill, 470-369-6800, herodoughnutsandbuns.com