Organization
Knead Donuts and Tea
Knead Donuts and Tea is a Cambodian-owned doughnut shop in Long Beach, California. Huey Behuynh founded it in 2017.[1] It is known for small-batch doughnuts that change every few weeks, from warm, twisty tiger tails to crème brûlée doughnuts.[2]
History
Behuynh and his family once owned Siem Reap, a Cambodian restaurant in the Anaheim Street area that served traditional Khmer food and hosted parties until it closed in 2015.[2] After the restaurant closed he stepped away from the food business. In 2017, a conversation about Side Car Donuts in Costa Mesa inspired him to open his own shop.[1] Many Cambodian immigrants work in the doughnut trade, and he knew many people who could help him learn it.[1]
That same year he opened a first, fairly plain Knead Donuts in Morristown, Tennessee.[1][2] He then took over the 24-hour Gladstone Donuts in Long Beach, the city where he grew up, and quickly remade its building, menu and reputation.[2][1] By 2022 there were two Knead shops.[1] Knead later had a second Long Beach shop at 5105 Pacific Coast Highway and expanded to neighboring Signal Hill, at 2160 E. Willow Street.[3]
Food
By 2018 Behuynh had perfected about 30 doughnut recipes.[2] The menu has included blueberry, pumpkin-spice and chocolate-mint pistachio doughnuts; horchata doughnuts; a strawberry-margarita doughnut with a shot of tequila inside; and glaze bombs topped with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. Crème brûlée doughnuts are flamed to order, with a choice of three custard fillings.[2] Other pastries have included Thai tea crème brûlée, pandan French crullers, sourdough chocolate tiger tails, cream puff crullers, a guava cream cheese doughnut swirled in pink and white, a tiramisu doughnut and custom Star Wars doughnuts.[1][3][4][5] There are vegan and gluten-free doughnuts too.[4]
The shop also serves breakfast croissant sandwiches, buttery pigs in a blanket, smoothies and Vietnamese coffee, made with as much sugar and milk as each customer likes.[2][6] The doughnuts and the Vietnamese iced coffee have earned the shop awards.[3] In 2018 OC Weekly called Knead a new kind of Cambodian doughnut shop.[2] In 2021 the Cambodia Town native James Tir praised the doughnuts as beautiful and said the shop was always ahead of doughnut trends.[4]
The shop
White window wraps patterned with Angkor Wat and rolling pins cover the street-facing windows of the Seventh Street shop.[2] Two Apsara statues stand on either side of the main door, and Buddhist artwork hangs in the seating area. The logo, repeated across the front of the building, holds an image of the Buddhist temple where Behuynh was born. "It's also a nod towards my background, especially the temple," he said.[1]
Community
Behuynh calls doughnuts "a people business and a community business."[1] Through the shop he supports fundraisers and charitable causes and provides food for community events.[1]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 PBS SoCal, Proudly Cambodian American: Knead Donuts & Tea (March 2022)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 OC Weekly, Long Beach's Knead is a new kind of Cambodian doughnut shop (October 2018)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Visit Long Beach, Cuisine scene: Donuts
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Resy, a local's guide to Long Beach's Cambodian restaurants (July 2021)
- ↑ Visit Long Beach, Unique sweets to try in Long Beach (February 2026)
- ↑ Postmates, Knead Donuts and Tea menu