District Donuts + Sliders + Brew

It’s a New Orleans-meets-Jackson kind of mash-up for District Donuts + Sliders + Brew, at the Belhaven Town Center.

The eatery opened its first location in New Orleans’s Garden District in 2013, and Jackson makes seven.

After a year of conversations, why now – and why Belhaven?

“We came across Belhaven Town Center – the (Fertile Ground) brewery, two colleges, hospitals, an outside space and Elvie’s next door,” says Aaron Vogel, a partner in the business. “If there’s a spot that seemed like a vibe for us, that’s the spot. I don’t know that we’d be in Jackson had that opportunity not come.”

It also advantageous to Vogel and his business partners, Stephen Cali and Chris Audler, that Jacksonians have a love affair with the Crescent City.

“Someone like you is the perfect example,” Vogel says of this writer’s love of their original Magazine Street location. “(Of) people we think know us in Jackson, we’ve come to believe and understand, New Orleans is a sweetheart city of Jacksonians. District is a brand that translates well where people have an appreciation for our home city first.

After all, it’s the first thing in their name. But, Vogel says that can be a misleading take on their overall mission.

“We never set out to be a donut shop. If you look at our logo, it’s ‘District’ and three subtitles, none any more prominent than the other. (Donuts) are a minority of our sales. But they get people in the door.”

District specializes in things that fit well in your hand. Think biscuit sandwiches, burgers and tacos. “We can be a knife and fork spot,” Vogel says, “but we like to be a sloppy, messy, get a crazy good donut, slider, bacon ranch cheese fries or double cheeseburger sandwich kind of place, too."

Look for three cocktails and three beers, all on draft, and four different coffees (their brand, Cool Kids Coffee, roasted in NOLA – including nitro brew).

Donut flavors will change weekly. Everything is made in-house with doughs, breads, sprinkles, jalapenos and sauces crafted in a culinary-forward way.

Handcrafted interiors from GoodWood NOLA will give the Belhaven location another flavor, one that uses few interior walls, so customers feel a part of the process. As baristas craft lattes or cooks build burgers, conversations among college students and hospital workers will mix with tourists and neighborhood residents alike. Vogel calls it “a multi-generational concept that makes people feel at home.”