The Kitchen - Boulder, CO

Potato doughnuts with spiced chocolate dipping sauce. Damn!

Doughnut Plant - New York, NY

Doughnut Plant! This place is great, go see them next time you find yourself on the Lower East Side.

I found them thanks to our East Coast Bloughnut correspondent B. Laks, who chose the creme brulee doughnut---which led to an interesting (still unanswered) question: Is this even a doughnut?!

I chose the pistachio doughnut. Though I don't have any previous pistachio doughnut experiences to compare, I will still go out on a limb here and give it a 10. A perfect doughnut! This is the doughnut you want to have as a companion while watching the sunset in Essaouira.

Check out the bench at the front of the joint:

And the trophy for "Best Graphic Design for a Doughnut Shop" goes to...

Doughnut Plant!

Donut Farm - Oakland, Calif.

Hello faithful readers.  After a couple fruitless recent attempts to enjoy Pepple's newfangled organic vegan raised doughnuts, today I walked (in the rain no less) to the Donut Farm to see if they might be open.  Was I in for a treat!  From my last review you remember I was hopeful for my next visit, and boy did the D.F. deliver.  Their display case was fully stocked with fritters, twists, raiseds, and of course a wide variety of cake doughnuts---all organic, all vegan, all the time.  Well, not all the time, just Fridays 9am-6pm, Saturdays and Sundays 9am-2:30pm.

I just had a bit of supper at Commonwealth so I didn't need much, but I tried the cinnamon roll.  I must say it was delicious--probably tied with Red's for best cinnamon roll ever!  Being in a vegan doughnut shop, I checked myself before I asked them for a pad of butter (though they may have had an alternative).  They didn't have any way to heat up the doughnut, which is how this BLOUGHNUT contributor likes his cinnamon rolls.  Alas..

Self-portrait with vegan cinnamon roll:

Perfect consistency, not terribly sweet, loaded with cinnamon.  I hear cinnamon is good for you.

Visit Donut Farm on San Pablo next time you go to Berkeley Bowl West.  They are doing brunch on weekends and the joe smelled good too.  Doughnut-themed art on the walls.

See you there..

Pepple's Donuts via Mojo - San Francisco, CA

Our East Coast correspondent B. Laks was in town on official BLOUGHNUT business.  My faithful readers know I will rarely exceed my $2 threshold for a single doughnut.  This time B. Laks lost a bet so since she was paying I directed the gang to Mojo for some of that Pepple's vegan cake goodness.  The barista told us it was a crumb doughnut and that was all the information she was giving.  We detected some maple and brown sugar on this mofo.  Either way it was a fine complement to the Americanos on our table in the sun on Divisadero.

See for yourself.  Meet me at the Donut Farm on San Pablo in Oakland one of these beautiful sunny mornings?  I hear they're making vegan fritters now.

Red's Donuts - Monterey, CA

Visited Ma n' Pa this weekend so I made 2 special trips to the mothership, Red's Donuts in Monterey. Frequent visitors to this blog know how deep my affections run for this small joint on Alvarado Street. If you haven't yet experienced a maple bar from Red's you can't really call yourself a doughnut enthusiast.

Can I make a recommendation to make your next visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium even more enjoyable? RED'S CINNAMON ROLL HEATED UP IN A MICROWAVE WITH A PAT OF BUTTER!

Donut Farm - Oakland, CA

My enthusiasm for vegan doughnuts is blossoming!  On my regular commute down San Pablo Ave to the shop this morning I saw a storefront with "Donut Farm" stenciled on the window.  Had I been missing something?!  No (of course not!), it's the new Pepple's Donuts cafe, only been there a couple weeks.

Salt Caramel organic vegan cake doughnut, $3.  More than Team Bloughnut likes to spend on its treats, but what can I say I was feeling generous.  I gotta say it was good.  I couldn't taste the salt (it wasn't Bi-Rite creamery, after all) but the cake wasn't stale, so it was an improvement on my other Pepple's encounters.  The caramel was creamy (apparently it has coconut milk in it), the dough was springy.  Not sure what kind of coffee they serve as I had brought my own.

The gentleman behind the counter also answered a question Team Bloughnut associate Hillary K. "raised" on this blog nearly 2 months ago: "Can they even make a vegan raised?"  Well, faithful readers, check back at the Donut Farm in a week or two.  They have the special oven needed (a "Proofer" it's called, it's airtight) and they will be making raised doughnuts and fritters for sale in-store only (they go stale in only 5 hours!).  Sadly, but luckily, these won't be organic, so they won't cost an arm and a leg.  Estimate is $3.  I'll definitely be back to check them out.  According to their website, they also have a kiosk at the SF Ferry Building (a dozen dough-doughs will set you back $26!!  Yes you read that right: dollar sign twenty-six).

'Til next time, keep it maple 4-eva.

Cyrus - Healdsburg, CA

This interesting creation at the end of a very long menu is titled "Orange Blossom Fritter with Apricot, Basil and Pine Nuts" (paired with Vouvray Moelleux, Huet "Clos du Bourg - Iere Trie", Loire Valley, France 2008).

I wish I could remember more about this sublime little fried gift from the gods, but after 7 courses it was too much; like everything at Cyrus, over-the-top.  Taken on its own, in the morning, with a fresh 4 Barrel Gibraltar, this reviewer surely would have been ready to tackle a long day of design/build. 

I appreciate what they do at Cyrus, with their compressed fruits and dishes that stimulate the 5 elements of taste perception (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, savory----guess which is my favorite?!), and this doughnut didn't disappoint, but after such sensory overload, at the end of a 3 hour meal even this most dedicated doughnut blogger couldn't jot such informative mental notes!  And if you are dining at Cyrus, dear reader, you probably aren't there for the doughnuts anyways.  Cyrus: "Go for the lobster and fois gras, stay for the orange blossom fritter."