HAPPY NATIONAL DOUGHNUT DAY - Dream Fluff Donuts - Berkeley, CA

Team Bloughnut joins in this national celebration of all things round and fried on the first Friday in June.  This day was first conceived by the Salvation Army 72 years ago to commemorate the women who served doughnuts to soldiers during World War 1.  For an early morning celebration we stopped by Dream Fluff Donuts on our way to breakfast at Mama's Royal Cafe for a sample pack: maple old fashioned, chocolate old fashioned (2), apple fritter (consumed in the Bloughnutmobile before we could get a picture), coconut cake, and crumb cake.

Dream Fluff knows what's up.  The fritter was aptly appley, massive, and the glaze not sickly-sweet.  The old fashioneds had the funky contours we have come to appreciate.  The cake doughnuts were moist, even after 5 hours in a paper bag in my backpack (though in all fairness maybe keeping doughnuts in a paper bag keeps them moist).  Our only concern is the maple glaze is very pale and sickly looking, noted on our maple OF and on the bars sitting in the store.  Overall we continue to give Dream Fluff high marks.

To acknowledge this important should-be public holiday we encourage YOU our faithful readers to in turn encourage your local shops to switch the incorrectly spelled "Donut" in their title to "Doughnut."  If you know us, you know how much "Krazy Glue" and "La-Z-Boy" and all the other stupidly misspelled, condensed, hyphenated, and otherwise annoyingly incorrect names really raise our hackles.

Happy National Doughnut Day, get out there and celebrate with some fried dough fireworks of your own.  Thanks to Bloughnut enthusiast Peter K. for the holiday heads up.

Happy Donuts - San Francisco, CA

As if hanging out with 7 week old Joseph Aloysius Gottbrath IV wasn't all the invitation I needed, Joseph Aloysius Gottbrath III offered to bring along some afternoon offerings from Happy Donuts and meet in the Panhandle. The wee man clearly wasn't interested in the maple raised stuff so early in his game, but you gotta plant the seed..

Maple raised, chocolate old fashioned, plain glazed old fashioned, chocolate buttermilk. All just pretty alright like only Happy Donuts can do. Nothing epic, just solid offerings from the Bay Area stalwart. Look at the style of that old-fashioned!

 Dear readers: Don't forget about Old Hat's estate sale going on this weekend on Portola.  And pick up a doughnut on the way.

Colonial Donuts - and Fresh Home Roasted Coffee - Oakland CA

Today we feature frequent Bloughnut contributor Megan S. as she demonstrates the wonders of roasting your own coffee. Of course I couldn't show up empty-handed so, knowing her weakness for the apple fritter I took the opportunity to re-visit Colonial Donuts on Lakeshore in Oakland for a sack. Fritter, maple french, and chocolate old-fashioned.   Sorry, couldn't wait to snap a picture before having a couple bites.

The coffee roasting process is one of those things that can be as scientific and controlled as you want it to be.  We went old-world style: sight and smell.  The beans are organic Ethiopian from Seven Bridges Cooperative in Santa Cruz, CA.  Having never experienced green beans before (shocking I know), I was surprised to learn that they don't have any of that coffee crack scent until roasted.

Most home roasters employ a dedicated popcorn popper; Megan's is a vintage Whirley-Pop on the stove top.

After about 7 minutes the beans are smoking like crazy.  We were going for a dark roast so we rolled with it and keep cranking the handle to keep any beans from burning.  After about 10 minutes the beans were nice and dark so we transferred to a colander to shake off the chaff.

Right into the grinder, French Press, boiling water, joy.

I couldn't imagine a better accompaniment to a set of dough-doughs.  Too bad Colonial was slipping this day.  The apple fritter's sugar coating was hard and bitter like it had caramelized; the maple french was bland.  Seems like you either get one or the other in life: good coffee or good doughnuts--rarely both at once.  The quest continues.  Thanks to Megan S. for the schooling.

Silver Crest Donut Shop - San Francisco, CA

Nothing better than a chocolate-coconut raised to kick off a session at the Alemany Flea Market with Bloughnut collaborator and Just Fine conspirator Matt W.  Open 24 hours for breakfast-lunch-dinner and snacks in between, the Silver Crest fries up their own doughnuts daily! Ding dong!

This specimen was springy and coconuty.  It was so delectable I was compelled to eat it with a fork.

Every time I go in there, this place feels a little closer to shutting their doors for good.  But I hear that has been the case for a while now.  Give it a try, if not only for the doughnuts for the chicken fried steak and the Greek music.

Bloughnut collaborator Kevin B. tells the story of Chester D., original Louisiana bluesman, who used to ride his horse to the Silver Crest in the 1940s.  Kevin B. met him much later.  Chester D. was a welder in the Hunters Point Naval Shipyards who lost part of his hand in a shotgun accident.  He learned to play guitar lefty--the best place to catch him was at the 24th Street BART station.  Come back and visit for a little music featuring Chester D. and Brian "The Fisherman."

Dunkin' Donuts - Penn Hills PA

Not happy about a 5am trip to the airport to bid adieu to my dear brother, but it was made bearable by the drive-thru at the local DD. Bland, sugary de-frosted maple- and chocolate-raised doughnuts courtesy of the Massachusetts-based behemoth. Mmmmm---delish.

Walton Donuts - Denver CO

We find ourselves in Denver on a business trip and treated our clients to a round of doughnuts from Walton. We got them to go and the nice lady unfortunately messed up our order: 2 glazed old-fashioneds instead of one glazed and a chocolate. Oh well. We also received a chocolate twist, maple raised, and a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (Rule #5 of Sales: Know Your Client).



They were all good. Does the high altitude help or hinder the yeast rising? The old-fashioneds were formed beautifully, something I can appreciate after creating so many out of wax these days. The maple raised wasn't epic but my dear readers know that anything maple has a lot to live up to. The chocolate twist became an afternoon snack after a hike in Boulder. Nice and fluffy.

On Monday, back to the Bay Area and familiar ground.

Red's Donuts Family Love Fest - Monterey CA

There was a lot of love in Monterey as 31 Bloughnut relatives descended for Grandma Edna's 100th birthday. Needless to say, there were numerous trips to the Grand Daddy donut shop of them all, Red's Donuts on Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey.

Dominating the counter with my brothers, nieces, nephew, and cousins was a truly holy experience. Our tally for Saturday morning was 8 maple bars, 1 chocolate cake, 3 chocolate cakes with sprinkles, 1 cinnamon roll (microwaved with butter), 1 chocolate custard bar (to go for mom), and 5 cartons of milk. Donut hangover!

Younger Brother and I brought Grandma a maple bar on the morning of her 100th birthday, 25 Jan. 2010. We love you Grandma!

For our next posting we will re-visit Colonial Donuts in Oakland near Lake Merritt. You will see the most perfect maple old-fashioned (which someday will be re-created in bronze as a hood ornament for my truck). Thanks for visiting.

Bob's Donuts - San Francisco CA

For our first posting we had to get do-do's from the Grand Daddy (at least of the Bay Area), Bob's Donuts on Polk Street. It was late, it was a Saturday, and Polk Street was feeling a little yuppie and loud so we got them in a bag to go: maple bar, maple old-fashioned, maple french, crumb cake, and chocolate old-fashioned. A little heavy on the maple, I know, but what can I say? My mom is from Pennsylvania.

The donuts didn't travel well back to the Panhandle, especially the maple bar which was placed upside-down in the bag (?!) Damn did they taste good though. The old-fashioneds were crunchy and not too heavy, just the way we like them. The french was properly sponged and had a nice slab of maple goodness on top. We saved the crumb for the morning coffee which was the right call.

Extra stars for our timing: after midnight, when all of our donuts had been pulled out of the fryer within the hour. Some were still warm upon ingestion. If you haven't been to Bob's yet you must. Now if we could only get them to serve better coffee.

You are in for a treat as our next posting will come from Monterey when we visit the king of donut shops, Red's Donuts on Alvarado Street. I will be in town for my Grandma's 100th birthday! (One of her many secrets to living a long healthy life is the glazed old-fashioned)