Donut Taco Palace 3 Exists and is as Magical as it Sounds

Driving along North Lamar, you might notice a small, blue-roofed storefront with bold signage: Donut Taco Palace 3. The name itself incites a long list of questions. Do multiple of these “palaces” truly exist? Do they serve donuts and tacos? Or donut-tacos? The answer to all of your questions is simply: yes.

Photo by Paulina Lam

Donut Taco Palace has three locations around Austin. The North Lamar store is “the slowest” according to one employee, which means you can take your sweet time deciding which of their whimsical, colorful creations to order. The cases are stacked with everything from your average glazed yeast donuts, to Christmas sprinkle cake donuts (in March, nonetheless), to donuts covered in fruity pebbles or pieces of bacon. Donut Taco Palace even has donuts in the shape of the “Hook’em Horns” hand sign. School spirit for the win.

Photo by Paulina Lam

When you are in the mood for something more savory, Donut Taco Palace has got you covered with—you guessed it—a wide variety of breakfast tacos to meet your needs. It also has kolaches and made-to-order breakfast sandwiches. But enough of these boring, run-of-the-mill breakfast staples. Donut Taco Palace has created one of the most epic breakfast-fusion-food items of the century. Enter the taco-donut.

If you love the fried wonderment that is the Texas State Fair, you will love the taco-donut. Fried dough replaces the tortilla of a traditional breakfast taco and is stuffed with eggs, cheese and your meat of choice. Salsa and donut glaze are served on the side, and diners are invited to pick their poison. I tasted a sausage, egg and cheese taco-donut with both salsa and glaze, because I was feeling bold. It presented two distinctly different flavor profiles that did not clash as terribly as I expected. I offered the taco-donut to a few of my friends for further opinions.  The reactions ranged from flat-out refusal, to indifference (“it’s not something I would buy for myself”), to loud, euphoric exclamations. Most dubbed the taco-donut “a game changer” and even went so far as to call it “everything [they’d] been looking for.”

Photo by Paulina Lam

Though my stomach could only handle about two bites at 11 am on a Monday, I found myself marveling over the taco-donut for the rest of the day. People could really get into these things late on a Saturday night, stumbling out of Recess or any of the other bars downtown. My advice to the Donut Taco Palace management: open a food truck on 6th Street, make $50 million dollars in one night, give me the secret recipe and retire early.