DOUGHNUT KING
SEPTEMBER 2 0 1 8 I BOROMAG.COM 35
Once you’ve been crowned the
“Doughnut King” by Gordon
Ramsay, it’d be a crime to do
anything else. At least that’s how
Chef “Scottish” Francis Legge
(“Scottish” is also a name Ramsay
gave him), partner and chef
at the new doughnut shop Sugar & Water
on 23rd Ave., feels.
Legge competed on FOX’s “MasterChef”
four years ago and won the
doughnut challenge with his Guinness
Prosciutto Doughnut, a signature offering
at the new shop. Since his time on the
show, Legge has been making doughnuts
in Astoria primarily, his most recent endeavor
being at Gossip Coffee on 30th
Avenue. But when he met a group of locals
who were starting their own sweet
shop focused on custom doughnuts, it
seemed like the stars aligned.
“It’s become this experience of being at
the right place at the right time with the
right people and, most importantly, creating
the right doughnuts,” he said. “It’s the
ultimate fruition of who I was on the show,
coming together to do this.”
Sugar & Water was created by six Astoria
friends who grew up together in the
neighborhood, and whom Legge joined
a few short months ago. One of the partners
is Paris Asprou, who also owns Mia’s
Bakery in Brooklyn. The shop brings in
Mia’s signature cakes every day, but the
team was also looking to make something
fresh on premises.
“We wanted to bring something new
to the neighborhood with a sweet shop,”
Asprou said. “And we knew the neighborhood
loved Mia’s cakes so we wanted to
bring those in, but we still wanted to give
the community something that we baked
in-house … together we all came up with
the idea of doughnuts.”
Besides just the ability to bake them fresh
every day, there is also a familial connection
to doughnuts from one of the other partners,
Athena Angel. Angel’s grandfather
Constantine Katsandres (also an Astoria
native) opened and operated the first Cruller
Donut Shop in Astoria with his Uncle
Tom called “Tom’s Cruller Shop,” located at
36-15 Ditmars Blvd., now the home of Mc-
Cann’s Pub.
Legge is now working on his own variation
of the cruller donut to commemorate
the family business and bring everything
full circle.
Sugar & Water offers six to seven staple
flavors every day (including the Guinness
Prosciutto, Vanilla and Chocolate Glazed,
and others) and will always provide a cake
Photos via Instagram-@scottishfrancis Photos courtesy of Sugar & Water
FOOD + DRINK
Astoria welcomes its own speciality doughnut shop
BY CLAIRE LEADEN
@CLAIRELEADEN
@CLAIRELEADEN