The Regional Donut Authority has beat Dunkin’ Donuts to the punch.

While the national donut dynamo continues to covet a Second Street location in the village, Rich Lickfield and his wife, Suzi, planned to open their new Regional Donut Authority shop sometime this week, at 207 Oswego St., also known as Ponderosa Plaza. They’ll be open daily from 5:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

No drive-thru needed

Unlike Dunkin’ Donuts, the Regional Donut Authority will operate here without a drive-thru window.

Not only did the Lickfield family get an early start in the village donut wars, they also have a reputation for a superior product.

“People today don’t understand that there is a huge difference in a fresh-made fry cake and a donut you buy at Wal-Mart,” Lickfield says. “All of our donuts are made fresh on the premises, all day long.”

For several years, the Lickfields and their kids — Richie, Mandy and Logan —have been frying and sugaring donuts at the Regional Market’s Shed C off Park Street on Syracuse’s North Side.

“By far the best donut I’ve ever tasted,” raved patron Troy Gates. A lady customer went even further, describing her Regional Donut as the best food of any kind that she’d ever consumed.

Served fresh from the fryer, the donuts are still warm when you bite into them, then they simply melt in your mouth.

From dogs to donuts

The Lickfields, natives of Rome, New York, started their culinary careers managing national chain restaurants before taking a gamble and investing in their own small business.

“We started out with a hot-dog cart which we would set up at Williams Beach in Cicero, as well as at countless auctions, car shows, softball games — you name it,” Lickfield says. “Our kids loved being able to tag along and being outside with the smell of hot dogs charring on the grill, and the hustle and bustle of our friendly patrons all around them.”

Eventually they opened Three Romans Pizzeria and Pasta House, on Le Moyne Avenue in Mattydale; 299-6571. “We promoted it by opening a pizza stand at the most popular farmer’s market in Central New York — the Regional Market in Syracuse. My youngest boy, Logan, now runs the pizza stand, so that we can focus on our new donut business.”

Four years ago, in the midst of one particularly cold autumn, the Lickfields found themselves longing for the hot apple cider donuts and coffee that are so popular that time of year at area orchards.

“Suddenly we realized that there was a shocking vacancy at the Regional Market,” Rich says, “and so, with our necks braced strongly against the cold and our feet planted firmly in a market we knew very well, we decided to open up another stand, which would sell hot cider, coffee and, most importantly hot, fresh fry cakes.”

Tasty prices too

At the Regional market location, their sales have steadily increased. “It seems like Syracuse can’t get enough of our fresh donuts,” Lickfield says, “but luckily for us all, our ancient Donut Robot keeps cranking them out so that we can sell our donuts as fast as we can sugar them.”

The Regional Donut Authority will sell classic old-fashioned donuts as well as newfangled fried cakes with various glazes, icings and candy toppings, all of which can be washed down with apple cider or hot coffee.

Considering how special the Lickfields’ product, their prices remain low. A single donut costs 80 cents, a half dozen go for $3.80, a baker’s dozen $7.50, or you can order a coffee-and-donut special for $2.15. For info, visit donutauthority.com or call 451-3000.

Heartland on the move

Last Thursday, May 5, Heartland Subs closed its shop at 510 Oswego St. Heartland will re-open soon at a new location in the Pacific Health Club Plaza, 604 Old Liverpool Road.

The 510 Oswego St. property has housed successful eateries for decades, going all the way back to Carroll’s Hamburgers in the mid-1960s. Burger King took over after that, and the Oswego Sub Shop owners opened Empire Subs there a few years ago.

Daily News vs. DeFrancisco

Syracuse State Sen. John DeFrancisco made the cover of the May 5 New York Daily News after he apologized for not meeting with a group of sex abuse victims at his Albany office. They wanted to talk to the longtime Republican lawmaker about the proposed Child Victims Act.

Instead, DeFrancisco attended a pizza party honoring the Syracuse University women’s basketball team.

The Manhattan tabloid, which has a daily readership of more than a half-million, plastered this headline next to the senator’s photo: “A Pie in Their Face.”

The columnist can be contacted at [email protected].