For the first time in the history of New York City, there will be a bombolone festival featuring creations of home chefs and professionals alike, thanks to a partnership between the Underground Donut Tour and the recently opened Unregular Bakery.

Bomboloni were born in Tuscany, Italy, but they are traditional to other regions as well, with slight recipe variations. Bomboloni are often mistaken for donuts, however there are few differences when it comes to the longer leavening process and rolling in sugar versus glazing.

In recent years, as the New York City pastry scene started offering some classical bomboloni options, Jeff Woelker from the Underground Donut Tour in Chicago and Paola Sinisgalli and Gabriele Lamonaca of Unregular Bakery decided to highlight that by launching the first-ever Bombolone Festival.

Bombolone Fest is looking for professional and up and coming chefs who want to show off their bombolone making skills in New York City during a four-day bombolone making competition. The winner will receive an official Bombolone Fest award, as well as showcase their winning recipe on the Unregular Bakery and Underground Donut Tour social channels. Lastly, the winning flavor will be featured at Unregular Bakery for one week and the winner will receive 50 percent of the net profits from the winning bombolone during that one week period.

The jury for the competition will include chefs, food content creators and food authors from the New York culinary scene and beyond. Among them are Rossella Rago, Sasha Fanon Marx, Danielle Caminiti, Tara Cox, Joseph Settepani, Valentina Mussi, Al Faenza, Gregorio Damiano Muller, Matt Bruck, Bilena Settepani, Simon Willis, Lauren Willis, Antonino Settepani and Giusto Priola.

The cross-country open call ends on December 15, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST. Contestants will be notified on January 2, 2024. The festival will run from February 6-9, 2024, with the winner will being selected at the end of the festival.

The Underground Donut Tour was founded and is run by Jeff Woelker. Now with 20 locations across the globe with more on the way, the tour is a celebration of all things donut. Unregular Bakery, located in Union Square in New York City, specializes in Italian bomboloni with a twist.