The Fried Dough Ho

Bob’s Donut and Pastry Shop is one of those establishments that is a stalwart landmark in San Francisco. It the place that my darling Lisa acquired my giant Birthday Doughnut. Not only do that have giant doughnuts as novelties, Bob’s provides the best quality, hand-made, classically-prepared doughnuts in the city. These are not gourmet doughnuts with unusual flavors like Voodoo or Gourdoughs. You won’t find anything with bacon or childrens cereal as a topping.

The interior is incredibly old fashioned; just a plain counter with a handful of two-seater chairs lining the wall. There is an old sign on the back wall worth looking at which reads “Cheaper by the Dozen – Plain, Powered, Maple, Glazed, Raised, Crullers, Crunch, Brownies. Take Home a Dozen. 2 for 15¢” I would have thought earlier, but they have been in existence since the 1960s. And the bulk of their business is not the morning crowd, but the late-night club-hoppers.

This is a stalwart favorite for a reason. The quality of their doughnuts is exceptional. Slightly misshapen indicates they are hand formed. The cake offerings are dense and rich with a moist crumb. The crullers are light and eggy and ethereally enticing. And then there is the apple fritter. Outside of Randy’s Doughnuts in Los Angeles, this is the best apple fritter I have experienced. It is a tad thicker than I prefer, but it has all the requisite dark crunchy bites that make a fritter fabulous.

Like Mrs Johnsons in Austin, if you go late at night, you can get these doughnuts fresh and warm. Many doughnut shops are preparing doughnuts throughout the evening for sale in the morning, but there are few establishments that enable you to acquire these warm, decadent morsels as they are being made. Kudos for Bob’s for staying open, for longevity, and for excellence.

Hunt’s Quality Doughnuts

Originally uploaded by the nicole harvey

Compliments of the delightful Miss Nicole, I offer this little ditty today. Apparently there was some construction — or, I should say, deconstruction — in the Mission District of San Francisco which revealed this old sign. It is hard to date it, based on fonts. My artistic temperament implies something earlier than the 1950s. The thin lines of the fonts and the odd Chinese lanterns interjected between the painted doughnuts reek of the late 1920s or mid 1930s.

And the doughnuts are thin. By the 1950s, doughnuts were thicker. I know this from movies that I have watched. There seem to be a lot of Depression-era movies with doughnut scenes and in the 1930s, the doughnuts were thinner.

Regardless, I thank Nicole for sending this to me so that I could share it with you. I’m tickled pink!