The Best Doughnuts in Salt Lake City Just Arrived — And Sidecar Doughnuts Is Already Changing Sugar House

It was 28 degrees outside and the line stretched out the door and down the sidewalk. People stood in the January cold on 2100 South, stamping their feet, phones tucked in their coat pockets, genuinely talking to strangers. Nobody left. And when a Deseret News writer finally made it inside — on her second attempt, her first having ended with a humiliating 12-point turn out of the parking lot — she bit into a butter and salt cake doughnut and said out loud, "That's one of the best things I've ever tasted."

That's the Sidecar effect. And it has officially arrived in Utah.

Sidecar Doughnuts & Coffee opened its first location outside of Southern California at 701 E. 2100 South in Salt Lake City's Sugar House neighborhood on January 21, 2026. For anyone who's made a pilgrimage to one of their California locations — maybe while on a trip to Disneyland, maybe on a long weekend in Santa Monica — and spent the drive home thinking about those doughnuts, the wait is finally over. Sidecar has come home to Utah. And the best doughnuts in Salt Lake City aren't a debate anymore. They're right there on the corner of 2100 South and 700 East, fresh from the fryer, every single hour.

From a Backyard Party to Utah's Most Anticipated Food Opening

The story of Sidecar Doughnuts doesn't start in a professional kitchen. It starts with a guy named Sumter Pendergrast, a clothing designer who loved coffee more than almost anything, hauling a mini doughnut machine and a coffee roaster to a party.

Pendergrast was in the clothing business before he founded Sidecar. But he loved coffee, bought a roaster to use at special events, picked up a mini doughnut machine, and brought both to a party. He said people went crazy over it. That moment of communal joy — warm doughnuts, good coffee, strangers becoming friends — sparked something. He started thinking about what the American doughnut experience could actually be if someone took it seriously.

"Doughnuts are just American classic food," Pendergrast has said. "It's just a classic thing that people in the United States always go to. They have memories of doughnuts and I thought, there's more you could do with it."

He and his wife Chi-lin Pendergrast founded Sidecar in 2012, starting with a humble test kitchen and food truck in Costa Mesa, inviting friends and family to weekly taste-tests and using the truck to share fresh doughnuts around town. The flagship Costa Mesa shop opened a year later. Locations slowly expanded across Southern California's Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange Counties in the years that followed. No aggressive franchising. No shortcuts on quality. Just a slow, deliberate build.

Then Bob Nilsen joined the company in 2016. A Utah native who had climbed to CEO, Nilsen spent years making the case that his home state deserved a Sidecar. He pushed for the growing Southern California chain to reach Utah someday. That vision became a reality on January 21, 2026. Nilsen wasn't able to attend the ribbon-cutting in person — but the crowd of Sugar House neighbors who lined up in the cold were proof enough that his instincts were right.

Pendergrast called the Utah expansion a "big step" for the brand. "We know people in Salt Lake City love sweets," he said. "I think it was a natural fit."

The Sidecar Doughnuts Experience: Warm, Fresh, and Worth Every Penny

Here's what sets Sidecar apart from every other doughnut shop in Salt Lake City, and honestly from most places in the country: the doughnuts are fried fresh in small batches every single hour. No heat lamps. No morning rush where everything is made at 5 a.m. and sold stale by noon.

Their doughnuts are made daily from scratch using only the finest ingredients possible, with no preservatives — ever. Everything is made in-house from real ingredients: infused glazes, hand-crushed compotes, flavored custards and creams, and even homemade pie crust and streusel crumble toppings. You want to talk about scratch-made doughnuts in Utah? This is what that actually looks like in practice. You can stand at the counter and watch the dough get cut, dropped into the fryer, pulled golden and hot, and glazed in front of you. It is, genuinely, a show.

"It really is a life-changing experience when you have a hot, fresh doughnut for the first time," Pendergrast said. That sounds like marketing copy. It isn't. The first time you bite into a warm vanilla bean glazed raised doughnut, dense and gooey in exactly the right way, you'll understand what he means. One Deseret News reviewer described the experience of the vanilla bean as "dense and gooey in the best way possible."

Now, let's talk flavors. Because this is where Sidecar becomes a weekly obsession rather than a one-time visit.

The butter and salt cake doughnut is the one everyone raves about. It's a study in restraint — rich and sweet upfront, finishing with a hit of salt that keeps you reaching for another bite. The huckleberry cake doughnut has become the signature of the SLC location, with real berry notes baked into both the dough and the glaze. The strawberry buttermilk is lighter, almost delicate. And the maple bacon is exactly what you want on a Saturday morning when you can't decide between sweet and savory — so you don't have to.

The premium price point runs around $4 per doughnut, which makes some people pause. Pendergrast is direct about it: "Obviously, we think it's worth it, because everything's made from scratch, and they're hot and fresh, and it takes a lot of labor to do it." 

On the coffee side, Sidecar serves their own Vintage Blend signature espresso — sourced and roasted exclusively by Common Room Roasters, with notes of dark chocolate, toasted almonds, and a hint of smoke. The Black Onyx Mocha has become a customer favorite. And here's something you won't find at any other Sidecar location in the world: dirty sodas. Utah's signature drink culture got a nod when Sidecar made their Sugar House location the first in the company to offer dirty sodas — part of the territory of entering the Beehive State, as Pendergrast put it. A fresh huckleberry doughnut and a dirty soda is, it turns out, a very Utah kind of perfect morning.

Monthly rotating seasonal flavors mean there's always a reason to come back. There's also a weekly gluten-free option and a monthly vegan flavor, which matters in a city with a growing audience of dietary-conscious food lovers.

Sidecar Finds Its Home in Sugar House's Food Renaissance

Sugar House has always had character — the kind of neighborhood that's a little bit edge, a little bit family, and entirely its own thing in the Salt Lake City food scene. And right now it's in the middle of something real.

Scott Little, co-chairman of the Sugar House Chamber, attended the ribbon-cutting and said Sidecar's choice of location says a lot about where the neighborhood is headed. "I think these guys selecting this location says a lot of things about the future of Sugar House, and what we're trying to do here."

The specific corner — 2100 South and 700 East — isn't accidental. Sidecar picked it for foot traffic visibility and neighborhood energy. It's directly across from the new Trader Joe's, which draws the exact kind of food-curious customer who's going to see that open kitchen, smell those doughnuts, and walk straight in. The SLC location employs 35 to 40 people locally, and if the Sugar House launch proves out, Pendergrast has mentioned that other parts of the Wasatch Front — and possibly St. George — could be next.

On their own website, Sidecar describes Salt Lake City this way: its strong sense of community, creative spirit, and growing food scene made it the perfect place for their first home outside of California. That's not just brand copy. You can feel it in that opening-day line. People waiting in January cold, watching doughnuts get made, talking to their neighbors. Exactly what Sumter Pendergrast dreamed up at that party with a mini doughnut machine a decade ago.

Planning Your Visit to Sidecar Doughnuts Salt Lake City

Address: 701 E. 2100 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84106 (corner of 2100 South and 700 East, Sugar House, across from Trader Joe's)

Phone: (385) 606-0930

Hours: Monday–Thursday 6:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m. | Friday–Saturday 6:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m. | Sunday 6:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

Best time to visit: Mid-morning on a weekday tends to have shorter lines than weekend mornings. If you're going on a Saturday, come early and be ready to wait — but it moves. The open kitchen makes the line genuinely entertaining.

What to order on your first visit: Start with the butter and salt cake doughnut — non-negotiable. Add the huckleberry cake doughnut and a vanilla bean glazed raised doughnut. Pair with a Black Onyx Mocha or their Vintage Blend drip from Common Room Roasters. If you're visiting on a weekend, try the dirty soda — it's the most Utah-specific thing on the menu and a total delight.

Parking: The corner lot can get crowded at peak hours. Street parking on 700 East and 2100 South is your best bet during busy windows. Pro tip from anyone who's been there: don't attempt a 12-point turn. Just park a block away and walk.

Instagram: @sidecardoughnuts

Sugar House has been quietly becoming one of the most interesting food neighborhoods in the state. The arrival of Sidecar Doughnuts isn't just a new shop opening — it's a California brand that chose Salt Lake City, specifically, for their leap outside the Golden State. That kind of confidence in Utah's growing food scene means something. And when you're standing in that line, watching the dough hit the fryer, holding a box of the best artisan doughnuts in Salt Lake City, you'll understand why Bob Nilsen spent years lobbying for this moment. "It really is a life-changing experience when you have a hot, fresh doughnut for the first time." He wasn't wrong. Go find out for yourself.