nutporn

PureWow’s “The Best Doughnut Shop in Every Single State”

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As if I didn’t need another reason to love everything coming from PureWow, now there is this:

  1. Alabama – Heavenly Donut Company in Birmingham
  2. Alaska – The Kobuk in Anchorage
  3. Arizona – Bosa Donuts (various locations)
  4. Arkansas – Mark’s Do-nut Shop in North Little Rock
  5. California – Donut Bar in San Diego
  6. Colorado – Glazed & Confused in Denver
  7. Connecticut – Dottie’s Diner in Woodbury
  8. Delaware – Duck Donuts in Newark
  9. Florida – Mojo Donuts in Hollywood
  10. Georgia – Revolution Doughnuts in Decatur
  11. Hawaii – Leonard’s Bakery in Honolulu
  12. Idaho – Guru Donuts in Boise
  13. Illinois – The Doughnut Vault in Chicago
  14. Indiana – Long’s Bakery in Indianapolis
  15. Iowa – Topped Doughnuts in Ankeny
  16. Kansas – Hana’s Donuts in Kansas City
  17. Kentucky – Nord’s Bakery in Louisville
  18. Louisiana – District: Donuts. Sliders. Brew. in New Orleans
  19. Maine – The Holy Donut in Portland
  20. Maryland – Fractured Prune in Ocean City
  21. Massachusetts – Back Door Donuts in Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard
  22. Michigan – Propaganda Doughnuts in Grand Rapids
  23. Minnesota – Glam Doll Donuts in Minneapolis
  24. Mississippi – Monroe’s in Jackson
  25. Missouri – Donut Stop in St. Louis
  26. Montana – Granny’s Gourmet Donuts in Bozeman
  27. Nebraska – Olsen Bake Shop in Omaha
  28. Nevada – Pink Box Doughnuts in Las Vegas
  29. New Hampshire – Muriel’s in Lebanon
  30. New Jersey – Uncle Dood’s Donuts in Toms River
  31. New Mexico – Whoo’s Donuts in Santa Fe
  32. New York – Dough in Brooklyn
  33. North Carolina – Britt’s Donuts in Carolina Beach
  34. North Dakota – Sandy’s Donuts (various locations)
  35. Ohio – Bill’s Donut Shop in Centerville
  36. Oklahoma – Polar Donuts in Oklahoma City
  37. Oregon – Voodoo Doughnut in Portland
  38. Pennsylvania – Federal Donuts in Philadelphia
  39. Rhode Island – Allie’s Donuts in North Kingstown
  40. South Carolina – Glazed Gourmet Doughnuts in Charleston
  41. South Dakota – Jerry’s Cakes and Donuts in Rapid City
  42. Tennessee – Fox’s Donut Den in Nashville
  43. Texas – Gourdough’s in Austin
  44. Utah – Banbury Cross Donuts in Salt Lake City
  45. Vermont – The Doughnut Dilemma in Burlington
  46. Virginia – Sugar Shack (various locations)
  47. Washington – Top Pot Doughnuts in Seattle
  48. Washington DC – Astro
  49. West Virginia – JR’s Donut Castle in Parkersburg
  50. Wisconsin – Manderfield’s Home Bakery in Fox Valley
  51. Wyoming – Cowboy Donuts in Rock Springs

Anyone up for a summer road trip??

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Blackbird Doughnuts

~ addeems ~ 3 Comments

Boston’s South End is home to some of the city’s best food. One of it’s most recent additions is Blackbird Doughnuts down on Tremont Street. New England and Boston in particular is home to the infamous, mediocre Dunkin Donut so I was beyond thrilled to learn that there was a new shop making fresh doughnuts in the Town.

Blackbird makes gourmet doughnuts with some very fun, very delicious flavor. On my first visit a few weeks into their grand opening, I tried a few of these bad boys:

Starting from the top right working clockwise: Wild Berry Bismark, Buffalo Frito, Pineapple Habanero, and Dark Chocolate Pomegranate. Amazing flavors. The most unique and my favorite was the Buffalo Frito. With the sweet and savory combination topped with that drizzle of Frank’s hot sauce, my taste buds died and went to heaven. The doughnut itself is a dense yeast doughnut that is heavier than most I’ve had. These guys are jacked with dough. Similar to that guy at the gym that keeps hogging the weight bench, think solid, packing some real muscle.

The shop is open Thursdays-Sundays 7am to 3pm. It’s a small space with standing room only so be prepared to congregate in the corner or take them outside to enjoy. Another great option is walking down the street to the Starbucks or the park a few blocks down for some more seating.

I was very excited to share the experience with my good friends Jenny and Norm a few weeks ago during their visit to Boston. Among all of the seafood (in particular the 5 dozen oysters) we enjoyed, we also spent a Sunday with a few of these little guys.

Admiration
Admiration
Clockwise from top right: salted toffee, cinnamon stack, peanut butter, french roast, chocolate gnash, dark chocolate pomagranate
Clockwise from top right: salted toffee, cinnamon stack, peanut butter, french roast, chocolate ganache, dark chocolate pomegranate

What keeps me coming back are the crazy good flavors and thick glazed coating on each of these guys. The salted toffee is however by far my favorite. Salt and sweet and perfectly balanced. This salted toffee is the Blackbird poster child and it’s impossible to leave without devouring one.

They will usually have a few daily specials depending on the season so there is always something new to try. Last Sunday I stopped by with a few friends and made out with this pepperoni pizza, s’mores, and of course a salted toffee.

Pepperoni pizza, S'mores, Salted Toffee
Pepperoni pizza, S’mores, Salted Toffee

As always the salted toffee was phenomenal, the pepperoni pizza was a savory treat, and the s’mores with fluff and chocolate ganache did not disappoint.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself in the South End, Blackbird is a must!

DK’s Donuts

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DK’s Donuts and Bakery – Santa Monica, CA

DK has been a local favorite for many years now. One of my first visits was on a beautiful summer day (which in Southern California is about 250 days out of the year) after a night out in Santa Monica. One of DK’s main appeals is its 24 hours service. There is nothing not to love about a 24 hour joint, especially when they serve hot donuts all day and night. We walked about a mile so by the time we got there we were ready to grub and get all of those calories back. It’s a small family owned shop with a very homey feel. Plastic seated benches in tacky colors are a staple to any good donut shop. My gold standard when comparing any new place is evaluating the chocolate glazed donut. DK’s did not disappoint. They not only have very solid classic options like glazed, chocolate glazed, and buttermilk but it will always have a special place in my heart because it was here that I had my first cronut experience.

To clarify, NY pastry chef Dominique Ansel has a trademark on the term “cronut” so technically DK’s version is known as the “o-nut.” Whatever they call it, my first experience with this masterpiece was nothing short of magical.

Original
Original

(Shout out to my friend and fellow fat a** Rubin of Psych Connection for helping orchestrate this beautiful visit and photo)

As you can see, the original was simply airy perfection. We called in and gave them our order of a few different flavors and they had them made fresh for us, so when we got there we were met with warm, soft, flaky wonderment. Everything that you would imagine it to be, it is. DK also offers a number of different o-nut flavor variations as well. The flavored versions involve cutting the o-nut in half and adding a cream filling and topping. Each is also finished with a touch of cinnamon sugar.

The Spread
The Spread
Strawberry, Blueberry, Passion fruit, Nutella, Boston Cream, Original (clockwise)
Strawberry, Blueberry, Passion fruit, Nutella, Boston Cream, Original (clockwise from top left)

I personally was not a fan of the cream filling (tnwss). I thought there was a little too much going on in there and much rather preferred the simplicity of the original.

Since these first few visits, DK has gained a lot of popularity and upped its social media presences tenfold. They are now selling paraphernalia of all sorts including t-shirts and bumper stickers and have one of my favorite instagram accounts to follow (@dksdonuts). They have also introduced a number of new flavors of the o-nut and have additionally developed the “wow-nut,” a waffle-donut hybrid. A lot of these flavors are very unique (taro, guava, other tropical and chocolate sorts) but the options are overwhelming and quite honestly rather exhausting. I am much more of the less is more camp and would recommend the simple original over any of these any day.

That being said, I still frequent DK whenever I’m back home in the area and opt for their humble, more traditional options. With a lot of the hype came a lot of over-saturation and many new excessive unnecessary options, but at its core DK is still a simple donut shop that has the capacity to produce a great, intelligible donut (and o-nut).

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Peter Pan Bakery

~ addeems ~ 1 Comment

If I lived in Brooklyn this would definitely be my local donut spot.

Peter Pan Bakery has the small town shop feel going on, and I love the old school bar and stools they have for seating inside.

The donuts are great, soft and fluffy just like they should be. I got my chocolate glazed with some very festive red, white, and blue sprinkles and had a grand ol’ time with it. The sprinkles were only on half of the donut which I thought was a wonderful concept, some fun little embellishments with the balance of a good solid classic.

All American
All American

The only down side is unless you live out there it’s quite a trek to get to. I took about a 50 min trip in on the train from Manhattan, and while I would do anything for a good donut I’m not sure that’s the norm for most people. That being said, all the hipsters in Greenpoint should be rejoicing over having this place in the neighborhood.

I recently came across this short film by Keif Roberts & Peter J. Haas, and it just makes me so happy. It’s hard to really capture the charm and atmosphere of a small locally run donut shop, but this documentary definitely does Peter Pan justice.

Enjoy!