I am very happy to announce that Chasing Doughnuts will now be making monthly donations to a great cause: Feeding America, US Hunger Relief Charity.
For every dollar donated, the Feeding America network of food banks will distribute 10 meals to people facing hunger. The Feeding America network already leads the fight against hunger. In 2014, 4.6 million people were served 3 billion meals and 800 million pounds of produce were delivered.
I am fortunate enough to spend some of my spare time and money chasing doughnuts around the country. I feel an honor and obligation to donate and spread the joy and comfort of a good meal.
If you would like to contribute please check out the donation page on our website here. Thank you so much to everyone for all of your support!
Click here to check out Feeding America’s website. And here to learn more about the organization.
There’s nothing quite like learning that not only can you have a doughnut for dessert, but that you can have that same doughnut with delicious ice cream in the form of a doughnut ice cream sandwich. This is the delicacy that now awaits diners on the dessert menu at Umami Burger.
Our location of choice was the Santa Monica Umami. For the uninitiated to Umami Santa Monica, you’re in the right place when you see a door with a big red burger bun on the front door. Yes, it says “Fred Segal” below it — and no, there is no “Umami Burger” sign outside — but you’re in the right place. Head on inside and grab a seat and prepare for a tasty treat.
Umami Store FrontInteriorInteriorInterior
The four of us decided to try every kind of doughnut ice cream sandwich combination we could! That evening they had two sugary delights for us; a maple donut with vanilla bacon ice cream and an apple fritter doughnut with vanilla ice cream. In order for each of us each to sample the doughnuts, we had them cut into quarters (and what tempting little quarters they were!).
Maple / Vanilla Bacon (bottom left) & Apple Fritter / Vanilla (top right)Maple / Vanilla BaconApple Fritter / Vanilla
The maple doughnut with vanilla bacon ice cream was extremely flavorful. The doughnut wasn’t quite as light and fluffy as we had anticipated, but the slightly firmer pastry paired well with the firm ice cream. The apple fritter variation turned out simple and just as scrumptious. I don’t see any reason why either doughnut ice cream sandwich couldn’t be had for breakfast in place of a regular doughnut…it’s basically a donut and ‘milk’, right?
Wanting more, we rounded out our dessert discovery adventure by going back to the basics: ice cream sandwiches. Specifically, The Chocolate: chocolate chip cookie with chocolate ice cream. Compared to the doughnut bites, the cookie ice cream sandwich was plain — unoriginal next to its doughnut cousin.
Chocolate, Chocolate Chip / Chocolate
So next time you find yourself looking for a sweet treat in Santa Monica, why not swing by Umami and grab a doughnut ice cream sandwich? You won’t be disappointed.
For Chasing Doughnuts, this has been a special guest post by Rachel Corell, Veronica Fuog, Michael Kirkpatrick, and Emily Teitelbaum.
Veronica, Michael, Emily, Rachel
Special thanks to my ‘nut lovers for their scouting and contribution to Chasing Doughnuts!
Gastropub and donuts. Not typically a combination that you would expect.
Some of the best donuts that I’ve had have actually come from a number restaurants. The apple filled donut at Simmzy’s in Belmont Shore Long Beach, CA is a perfect example.
Simmzy’s is one of my favorite place in Long Beach to have a good drink and eat some good food. All of the beers are unique, delicious, and super high in alcohol content, and all of the entrees/appetizers I’ve ever had have all been great. The communal style benches also make for a very fun, inviting, social environment. Not only is all this awesome but to top it off they have one of the best desserts ever.
Simmzy’s Apple Filled Donut
This beauty is adorned with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce , and pistachios. Sort of like an apple pie but with a much better dough exterior, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. There’s an awesome subtle cinnamon flavor and the caramel sauce tops everything off perfectly. Definitely, definitely worth it to journey over here to have a few beers with friends and share this hidden gem with them (if they’re good friends they will be very, very thankful).
I am personally extremely thankful for friends like Rachel (check out http://www.awhisperedwish.com/) for introducing me to such an amazing creation and to the novel concept of bar dough.
I’m also thankful for the Dodgers for beating the Giants this summer because winning bets are awesome. Especially awesome is winning bets where donuts are on the line. So, I am dedicating this donut to the 2012-2013 Long Beach VA Blind Rehab Center Residents Matt and Phil. You guys taught me a lot in the short month that we were together and you set me up for a very strong start to my clinical rotations. I’m so thankful for the chance to meet such great, talented guys and I’ll be looking forward to getting more food (and eyeball) tips from you both in the future!
There are very few things in life that turn me on more than a warm, fried, fluffy piece of dough. They excite me, they wake me up in the morning, they provide me pleasure, and they leave me feeling extremely satisfied day after day.
Literally one of the very first memories I have is climbing on to my dad’s sho-shos (shoulders) and walking down the street for a do-do (donut). Growing up, at least once a week I would take on this father-daughter tradition of sitting on yellow plastic table chairs eating my little heart out. Since my younger days, I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to bridge the local donut shop and travel around the country consuming an ecstatic amount of fried deliciousness. Through this new avenue I hope to share my experiences with all of my friends, family, and other equally passionate individuals.
I dedicate all of my adventures to the man that taught me to chase happiness at whatever cost. Lucky for me, a donut and cup of coffee are pretty cheap.
Chasing Doughnuts 