How can you not like a doughnut place that sells such delicacies as Crunchy Caterpillar, Bella's Beetle, Monkey Bum Fritter and Bowl of Holes? As we were driving on Highway 95 Saturday, my son-in-law Okie Doke spotted Gross Doughnuts on Cherry Lane. Okie Doke is a doughnut connoisseur. He hails from Portland where Voodoo Doughnuts is king. All through dinner at Red Robin, he lobbied for a stop at Gross Doughnuts. I accommodated him. While he picked out 5 doughnuts for himself, to satisfy a sweet tooth over the holidays, I read the signs around the doughnut shop. I was impressed with the lineup of doughnuts on the sign board (photo by Okie Doke). Also, I read the family history in the entrance. Seems parents Steve and Janey Gross had a doughnut shop in Hemet, Calif. When they moved to North Idaho in 2005, they opened their best doughnut shop ever in the yellow house along Government Way in Hayden. When the kids followed them into the doughnut business, they decided to use the family surname, hence Gross. Gross, of course, can mean 12 dozen or 144. Or it could mean unattractively large or bloated. Which you might be if you ate 12 dozen Gross Doughnuts. Okie Doke, by the way, gave two thumbs up to the fare that he selected from Gross Doughnuts.

---

---