Fried Chicken, Donuts and an Ex-Caps Player at Astro

Make it stop. Or make it start, already. No matter what you think of the fried chicken and donut craze that seems to be infecting DC-area restaurateurs, it's clear we're going to see plenty of takes on the concept in the near future. Tom Sietsema has the news about one such endeavor, Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken, coming to an undisclosed location this January.

The business partners: Elliot Spaisman of Sutton Place Gourmet and Jeff Halpern of the New York Rangers (he used to be a Washington Capital). Manning the fryer will be Jason Gehring, who used to be the pastry chef at Fiola in Penn Quarter. They'll be providing an early taste of the food they'll be churning out at preliminary pop-up events later this year.

The partners join the other aspiring fried chicken and doughnut pioneers we've already heard about. There's Neighborhood Restaurant Group, who's opening a place in the former Yola space in Dupont. There's Dan O'Brien of Seasonal Pantry, who might not be too happy about this latest news. Plus, don't forget District Doughnut, who is leaving the poultry out of the equation for their new store. KFC and Dunkin' Donuts better start thinking co-branding, fast, if they want to keep up.

· Coming Up: Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken [WaPo]
· All Previous Doughnut Coverage [-EDC-]

[Photo: It's Danno!/Flickr]