Just before driving away from my doughnut pickup spot (the parking lot of Mount Mary College), I peeked inside the box at my four beautiful fried pastries, each a different flavor. These were not easy to get. Café Bunsuka, the name of this doughnut pop-up run by two sisters originally from Thailand, has quickly sold out at each event since the very first one, in July. A half-hour after pickup, I’m home, licking cream off my fingers and taking slow, deliberate bites of these rich treats – plush, almost airy, hand-rolled creations inspired by pastries and breads the sisters enjoyed while growing up in Thailand.

When I visited, Bunsuka had released just four flavors to the world – all of them great! Strawberry cheesecake, maple bacon, mango sticky rice (might be my fave), and Biscoff cookie cream. The deep, decadent fillings are balanced by the soft, fluffy fried dough. More flavors are on the horizon – like August’s chocolate hazelnut and scallion everything “dagel.” Expect them to roll out one by one, because it’s just the two bakers making everything from scratch. Watch Bunsuka’s Instagram page for pop-up dates and instructions!

A Taste of Nigeria

For years while she worked in nursing and raised children, Mary Oluwakemi Akande put off the seemingly inevitable: that she and her husband, Ola, would one day open a restaurant. Akande, who has been giving folks a taste of her Nigerian cooking through catered events, decided that the time was finally right – with a little help. The landlord of the small, multi-tenant building where Kemola Restaurant opened last May (8704 W. Brown Deer Rd.) approached the couple, making the decision easier. “We said, OK, let’s give it a shot!” It didn’t take long for a few dishes on her menu to become bestsellers: egusi (a soup made from dried melon seeds) and jollof rice (smoky-spicy rice cooked with tomatoes, bell peppers and onions). The egusi is thick like a stew and traditionally eaten with fufu, a mash of boiled, pounded yam – you’ll find it listed on the menu as a “swallow” because it’s customary to pinch off pieces of fufu, shape them into little balls to dip in your soup, put in your mouth and swallow whole (which the smoothness of the fufu makes possible). That completes a classic Nigerian meal.

“If I were to tell you when I opened it that… I had a plan, I’d be lying. I mean, I just wanted to open a great restaurant and prayed that it worked.”

– Omar Shaikh, owner of Carnevor, on the high-end steakhouse’s 20th anniversary 

Open since July, Dos Islas Caribbean Kitchen (5814 W. Bluemound Rd.) is serving Puerto Rican and Dominican favorites (empanadas, mofongo, slow-roasted pork shoulder called pernil). • Cudahy’s former Sheridan Hotel will become the South Shore Cocktail Club Bar & Bed (5133 S. Lake Dr.), with a targeted opening of this fall. As the name suggests, it’s a bar – with food and overnight stays. • Tosa’s new Milkee Donuts (2751 N. Mayfair Rd.) makes “California-style” doughnuts – light and squishy, with unusual toppings like strawberry matcha. Challenge: can you finish the massive cinnamon roll in one sitting? • Since mid-August, astrology-themed Star Bar has been bringing “spotlight-ready energy” to a portion of the old Crossroads Collective space (2011 E. Ivanhoe Pl.). • Supermoon Beer closed its cozy Bay View taproom (3145 S. Howell Ave.) in August after four years in business, pivoting to a distribution model for its rustic, often mixed-fermentation beers.