Unchained in America

On the way home from visiting Colonial Williamsburg last month, Lisa and I were looking for nonchain coffee shop when Lisa noticed a sign for a coffee shop just north of Roanoke on I-81.

We turned off, but couldn’t find the shop. What we did find, though, was an incredible nonchain donut shop called Blue Collar Joe’s in what used to be a gas station built in the mid-20th-century.

The station itself was the shop. And used to be the pumps is now the drive-through window. We could tell right away that this was not your average, cookie-cutter donut shop like Dunkin’ Donuts or KrispyKreme.

Of course, we decided to stop and go in and check it out. Inside, found congenial co-owner Daniel Knight and a shop full of creative and wonderful goodies.

Daniel explained to us that recently he had dropped out of the corporate world to open the shop and works full-time at it. His wife, Pru, still works full time at another job and part-time at Blue Collar Joe’s.

Donuts

What caught our eye first was the large assortment of unusual donuts with such creative names as:

• Blueberry Pancake Breakfast
• Botetourt Bog
• Candy Cane
• Caramel Apple Pie
• Chai Spice
• Cinnamon Toast with Maple Glaze
• Lunch Box Special
  

  Lunch Box Special

• Nutty Buddy
• Shaggy Vanilla
• The Full Monty
• Zebra

But it’s not just the names of the donuts that are creative. It’s the ingredients as well. For example, take the Lunch Box Special — a donut that’s drizzled with peanut butter and strawberry jam. Or the Botetourt Bog with its triple chocolate and Oreo® cookie crumbs.

Perhaps the most creative donut is the Blueberry Pancake Breakfast — a donut that tastes like a pancake and has bacon in it. Daniel told me that either you like it or you don’t like it. (I tried it, but couldn’t make up my mind which it was. I need to try it again.)

Daniel and his staff make the donuts in the shop every day throughout the day. Their donut selections change daily. So every time you come in you’ll probably find something new — or something old that you liked but haven’t seen for awhile.

Donut Cakes

Daniel and Pru deserve credit for devising the donut cake, which is one of the most creative food products I’ve come across. What is a donut cake? It’s just what its name implies: a cake made up of donuts and other ingredients. But what’s so delightful about these donut cakes is that some of the themes Daniel and Pru design give full vent to their creativity and sense of humor.

Blue Collar Joe’s can design a donut cake for any occasion: whether it be birthdays, graduations, baby showers, retirements, Easter, Christmas, Fourth of July, or seasons of the year.

Lisa’s favorite is the Beach Party. This cake has a man and women sitting on a beach made of donuts with a surf of blue donuts lapping at their feet.

In fact, Lisa wanted a Beach Party cake for her 50th birthday, but we couldn’t figure out how to ship it to Tennessee without its getting damaged in transit. (Lisa didn’t want to get Barbie crushed.)

Being a guy, I really like the Mud Mountain cake. This cake consists of chocolate donuts built up into a mountain, and has vehicles trying to get to the top. I also like the Man of Steel birthday cake, which has Superman colors and imagery.

Coffee and More

Blue Collar Joe’s doesn’t sell just donuts, but also sells a wide range of coffees, wraps, drinks, and ice creams as well. We liked the coffee, finding it rich and smooth. Daniel told us that he gets his beans from a local roaster. So if you buy coffee at Blue Collar Joe’s, you’re also helping the local economy.

Blue Collar Joe’s also offers a wide assortment of specialty coffees and espresso drinks. Again, some of these drinks reflect Daniel and Pru’s creativity.

Four particularly interesting drinks are Dalmatian Moca, which contains both white and dark chocolate; French Toast, which uses brown-sugar cinnamon; Sticky Bun, which contains hazelnut and brown sugar; and Gingerbread, which contains ginger and other spices.

Blue Collar Joes sells an assortment of “Joe-On-The-Go Wraps” as well as soups, sodas and other kinds of noncoffee drinks, ice cream and shakes, and smoothies made with fresh fruits.

Another Side of Blue Collar Joe’s — Animal Rescue

Daniel told us that he and Pru became involved in animal rescue about eight years ago, in 2001. Right now, they have five rescue dogs living with them at home. When they were selecting a name for their business, they decided to name it after Joe, a dog they helped transport to its “forever” home.

Of course, Lisa and I could identify with his story because we rescued our dog, Faith, as well as a couple of other dogs. So Daniel, Lisa, and I talked about the different dogs we’ve rescued.

Photos of Daniel and Pru’s dogs are displayed on the wall behind the donut case.

Blue Collar Joe’s and “Adaptive Reuse”

One thing that really impressed us about Daniel and Pru is their adaptive reuse of an existing mid-20th-century structure. Most people would have razed the station and pumps and built a new building on the land. But not Daniel and Pru. They preserved the exterior of the station and renovated the interior.

Daniel was proud of what they did — and with good reason.

Being historians and interested in historic preservation, Lisa and I wish more people would preserve our heritage by adaptively reusing historic buildings.

If you’re in the Roanoke area and haven’t already been to Blue Collar Joe’s yet, you should drop by and check it out. I know that Lisa and I will stop by again the next time — and every time — we’re in the area.

Hours and Location

Blue Collar Joe’s
1171 Roanoke Road
Daleville, VA 24083
(540) 992-5637
www.bluecollarjoes.net

Mon.-Fri.: 6:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
Saturday: 7:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
Sunday: 7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Gift cards are available.

Tags: Blue Collar Joe's, coffee, coffee shops, donut shops, donuts, nonchains

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 12:42 pm and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.