The Search for the Country’s Best Doughnut
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Long before the cupcake became the fastest growing stand-alone pastry shop, there was the doughnut. Everyone loves a doughnut, and how could you not? They come in so many varieties, you can hold it in your hand, and it’s really easy to grab a box on the run. But with all the varieties, doughnut chains and specialty bake shops around the country, where are the very best?
We polled the Interrobang Staff to find out some of their favorites. Sadly, several of the responses we got included the words Dunkin, Horton, and gasp! Entenmanns, so we realized that we had to school our staff on the joys of a real doughnut. So here are a few of our picks, and we’re counting on you to send in your local favorites.
1. Creme Brule, The Doughnut Plant in NYC.
Nobody does doughnuts like New York, and when you’re in New York, The Doughnut Plant is the place to go. There are many to choose from, and they are all fantastic, but our doughnut of choice is the Creme Brule. With a crunchy caramelized top (just like the dessert it’s named for) and a custardy sweet filling, it’s virtually perfect. Runners up (just in case they run out of the Creme Brule or you want some variety) are the Tres Leches Donut and The Blackout.
2. Glazed Doughnut, Krispy Kreme.
Now let’s be clear. We’re not talking about your supermarket Krispy Kreme or your preboxed double K. We mean the fresh out of the oven glazed Krispy Kreme. Nothing evokes a Pavlovian response quite like the “Hot n’ Now” sign all lit up because you know that sweet sweet glazed doughnuts are only moments away from entering your life. Biting into a hot and fresh Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut is a pleasure that can only be rivaled by sex and drugs.
3. Oreo Chocolate Glazed, Fray’s Donut House
Fray’s Donut House in Pinellas Park, Florida has the hot melt-in-your mouth Oreo Chocolate Glazed donut. It’s the best donut ever combined with the best cookie ever. Pieces of Oreo cookie added to the glaze of a chocolate donut. If there’s a good excuse for Type 2 Diabetes, this is it.
4. Maple Frosted Coffee Bun, Allie’s Donuts in Rhode Island
There’s a wide variety of donuts at Allie’s where they make their own donuts in an enormous kitchen. But don’t go there without ordering the Maple Frosted Coffee Bun. Now it doesn’t have a hole, but it’s definitely in the donut family. Imagine a huge delicious bun covered with homemade frosting. It’s totally unhealthy, but totally delicious. Plan ahead, at Allie’s they line up out the door.
5. The Chocolate and Glazed Twist, Coffee An’ Westport, Ct
Visit this family style luncheonette, for the atmosphere and the donuts. It’s small town America at its best. Two counters line the tiny corner store and connecting those two counters is a bakery case filled with heaven. These glazed donuts are as simple as you can imagine and yet they will give any place on this list a run for their money. Perfectly crisp on the outside, moist on the inside and filled with rich flavor. If you can’t decide on regular glazed or chocolate glazed, go for the braided twist. Do get several to go, to avoid turning around and driving back five minutes after you’ve left.
6. Homemade Cider Donuts, Cold Hollow Cider Mill, Waterbury Vermont
If you live in the northeast, you’ve seen cider mills, and this one is a lot like many others except for one thing. They make the greatest donut that ever existed. You won’t find any frosting or sprinkles or glazes or powders on this donut, and you won’t need them. It’s a simple cake donut and you actually watch your donuts being made as you wait in line. It means you’ll have to wait a few moments for it to cool before you bite into it, and if you’re like me, you’ll never wait long enough, and you’ll always burn your mouth on that first bite. It’s sweet but not too sweet, soft but not too soft, and you can forget about bringing any home for your friends. Not only will you eat them all in the car, but you’ll rationalize that you’re doing your friends a favor because they won’t be as good when they’re not fresh.
6. Memphis Mafia, Voodoo Donuts, Portland, Or
There is no place more famous than Voodoo for donuts, and it’s the only donut shop that offers it’s own Wedding Chapel. It’s a donut shop on acid, with wildly inventive shapes and toppings. You’ll find donuts with fruit loops, a pentagram donut, or even the famous cock and balls donut. But for our #1 pick, we’ll go with the Memphis Mafia– Fried dough with banana chunks and cinnamon sugar covered in a glaze with chocolate frosting, peanut butter, peanuts and chocolate chips on top. Overkill? Yes, but once in a while, that’s the way to go.
7. Beignets, Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans, Louisiana
Tourist spot or not, these little French doughnuts are wonderful. They are fried. They are square. They come in threes. You’re guaranteed to become a powdered sugar covered mess, but totally worth it. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and fight the tourists to get something great and this is one of those times.
8. Randy’s Donuts, Inglewood CA
You have to go to this landmark if for no other reason than just to see the famous 22 foot donut on the roof, and while you’re there, the apple fritter is the thing to have. One is more than enough, but it wouldn’t hurt to take one home with you.
Now you tell us what we missed? Where’s the best local spot for real old-fashioned donut. You know the type– the kind that’s exceptional because it’s made with care, not because 50 toppings were piled on top.
