Tacoma will soon be a doughnut destination. Legendary Doughnuts will open Sunday, Nov. 4 at 2602 Sixth Ave. in Tacoma.

Make no mistake. Legendary Doughnuts aims to live up to its name and deliver an entirely new spin on doughnuts to this town. This is not Legendary's first location. Owner Shannon Patten opened her first location in Auburn in May 2010, so she has some experience delighting the masses with fried treats.

"We do a lot of very unique doughnuts, some for the sophisticated palettes and a lot of fun ones for the children - so a large variety," says Patten. "We do a combination of your standard doughnuts - maple bars, chocolate bars, raised rings - but ours tend to be a little bit larger than normal. All of our doughnuts are hand rolled and hand cut, so they're all fairly unique unto each other, too."

But one look at the vast menu of Auburn's Legendary Doughnuts proves just how unique this doughnut joint is. The menu is huge! Most of the doughnuts have fun names. The Homer Simpson is a giant, glazed-raised doughnut. Captain Jack Sparrow is a doughnut topped with rum frosting, chocolate drizzle and white chocolate. And the Oprah is maple glazed with bacon on top.

Patten's favorite of the moment is the Yogi Bear - a bear claw filled with peanut butter and jelly - and the Fluff-A-Nutter, which is filled with fresh banana, peanut butter, and marshmallow cream.

Upward of 50 doughnut varieties, some with sub-varieties on top of that, make up the menu. While not all doughnuts are in the case each day, the store keeps some naked doughnuts in the back so you can make requests.

"We strive for the variety and the uniqueness and the quality you get in total flavor profile," says Patten.

Patten and her family came up with most of the doughnut varieties, but invite others into the fun. A doughnut of the month comes straight from community suggestions and often employees design doughnuts, too.

"It just keeps evolving," she says.

Even more unique in the world of doughnuts is that the buttercream base used in many of the fillings and frostings is made with - drum roll - real butter!

"All our fillings are made with a buttercream base," says Patten. "The buttercream base we get from Alki Bakery because it's the only place we could find that made buttercream with butter instead of shortening."

With this new location on Sixth Avenue, Legendary is hoping to branch a bit out of its smaller community of Auburn.

"Right now, we're very community oriented, so this stands to be a nice mix of community and city," says Patten.

Down the line, there may be a grand opening, but they have not firmed up plans yet.

Hours of operation are still flexible, but are tentatively scheduled to be Sunday-Wednesday 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Thursday-Saturday 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Legendary Doughnuts cares when you need your sugar fix. You can visit its Facebook page or stop in the store and offer suggestions and opinions on these open times, and they just may change.

[Legendary Doughnuts, 2602 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.736.0036]