Go Eat This: Churro Doughnut Holes At Hecho

As of June, there's been a new executive chef in charge of the kitchen at one-year-old Hecho in the Castro, and that's Cory Armenta, who had previously worked in the kitchens at Rose Pistola and Terzo. Picking up where opening consulting chef Jamie Lauren left off, Armenta has revamped the Mexican menu to include things like a seasonal chopped salad, an excellent carnitas quesadilla with pickled onions, and his take on chile verde. One of the emerging stars of the revised menu, though, is a dessert: churro doughnut holes.

They appear on the brunch menu with fruit compote for dipping, but at dinner they're served with whipped cream and dulce de leche instead. And these are, make no mistake, less like stiff and chewy churros than they are excellently fried, fluffy cinnamon beignets of the highest order. (They're also more beignet-like in size, too, just shy of a tennis ball, than they are like doughnut holes, which would be more like ping-pong balls.) Like any good doughnut, they benefit from being served warm, and the night I had them they were fried to order and steamed when broken open, basically melting on the tongue upon impact.

Calorie count all you must, but there aren't too many desserts in the Castro that are worth a cheat day like these things are.

Hecho - 2200 Market Street at 15th/Sanchez - Open nightly for dinner at 5 p.m., serving until 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends. Brunch starts at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.