Couple Who Met At Rutgers Open Craft Donut Shop Near Hoboken NJ

HOBOKEN, NJ — After biomedical engineer Edward Alfonso and his fiancee Flavia Carballo, an immigration attorney, began selling unique donuts at popups around Hoboken, NJ, in 2018, they wanted to open a brick-and-mortar shop.

Last Friday, they began serving their donuts with unique ingredients at The Law of Donutgineering (The LoDG), a store up the hill in trendy Jersey City Heights. Ingredients in the donuts range from caramelized bacon to banana mousse to Nutella, with varieties like "Pig N' The Fig," containing fig caramelized bacon on a yeast donut, stuffed with cheesecake.

"Flavia and I met in college back in 2010," Alfonso said this week. "We have been together now for nearly nine years and are engaged. We emerged on the craft donut market as we visited a number of great donut shops around the country, but noticed that we had nothing similar back to home and decided to fix that problem."

He added, "After six months of testing, we had a delicious concept ready to share with Jersey City and the surrounding areas."

The couple met in 2010 at Rutgers after being introduced by mutual friends. While their careers are a far cry from baking, they shared a mutual interest in good food.

"I am a dulce de leche-loving, pastry dreaming, Argentina native," Carballo said, describing herself on a website about food.

The shop will have an official grand opening in about a week, Alfonso said Sunday, in an interview at the shop.

The Heights, reachable by walking up the "100 Steps" from downtown Hoboken or taking the light rail elevator, has been home to all sorts of small shops and artistic events. The LoDG joins that environment with a small counter, several tables, and a window on the Heights.

"When we began the company we were working out of a commercial kitchen in Hoboken," Alfonso said. When they came upon a property at 7 Bleecker St. in the Heights, a few blocks off Central Avenue, their quirky shop was born.

On their website, they promise "Donuts as unique as they come, made entirely from scratch. Filled with decadence and richness. Globally inspired, locally engineered."

Find out more at their website here.

Got news about a local business? Email caren.lissner@Patch.com.