The Fried Dough Ho

The Seattle people are pretty fortunate. Not only do they have Top Pot Doughnuts, but another hand-crafted gourmet offering, Mighty-O Donuts. First off, the biggest difference is that while Top Pot is “hand-forged” and all that, they are a chain so their delicious is available all around the city. Mighty-O, on the other hand, is a singularity in this large metropolis and required a bit of a trek (thank goodness for GPS systems!) to get to during my brief visit. I was pretty excited when I arrived. It was relatively early and mid-week so the selection was ample and varied, although mostly of the cake variety.

I liked that the conveyor belt fryer is out for the public to see and also, they have a pretty fun website where the doughnuts twirl around. What I didn’t realize until I started penning this review is that they only use “organic ingredients. [Their] donuts [sic] contain no chemical preservatives, no hydrogenated oils, no colorings or artificial flavors, and no animal derived ingredients.” Does that make them vegan? I’m not exactly sure, to be truthful.

As usual, I ordered more than I could possibly eat, but I did get a good taste of each one. The Lots O Chocolate stole my heart early on; thick and opulent and overtly chocolate with a good quality, moist crumb. This was not a wimpy doughnut by any means. Made with the same base doughnut and a change of frosting was the Chocolate Raspberry and Don King (a chocolate doughnut topped with coconut). I really enjoyed the fresh, bright raspberry flavor which was demonstrated in the frosting that complemented the rich chocolate cake. The Don King — hilariously named — was equally well-prepared, fresh, and moist.

Of the more exotic flavors, I tried a Lemon Poppyseed and French Toast as well as a raised Cinnamon Sugar Twist. Oddly, that twist does not appear on the website but I imagine it is not much different than their Classic Raised Doughnut. While the raised was good, it was not quite as transcendent as their cake doughnuts which I found truly exceptional. The Lemon Poppyseed acquired a nice balance between a bright citrus note and the dusky poppy seeds. The French Toast is what confuses me. What makes French Toast flavorful is the fact that it is an egg batter on bread and I’m not sure how the folks at Mighty-O create a rich eggy flavor without the use an egg, but it was rich and did taste like French Toast!

My biggest regret during my Seattle visit was not being able to conduct a side-by-side taste test between Mighty-O and Top Pot. It would have been a tough call to pick between the two and I am quite thrilled to have experienced both within a few days of one another.

I am admittedly ashamed that it has taken me so long to getting around to writing about the doughnut shops I visited during my trip to the Pacific Northwest several months ago. I was visiting Bellevue for an art show and made a concerted effort to get out and try Seattle’s famous mini-chain of Top Pot Doughnuts. It was a lovely day in Seattle and considering it was early February, the weather was in my favor. Walking around with an umbrella, I don’t remember if I ever needed to open it, despite an occasional sprinkle. I mention that because the picture I took of the Top Pot blue box is just speckled with a few drops of ubiquitous Seattle rain and I thought that rather appropriate for some reason.

I made the trek to Top Pot from Pike’s Market; under freeway overpass with the Space Needle in sight of the store. My pulse quickened; was it the feeling of the tourist when spying a famous architectural landmark or the knowledge that an artisanal doughnut was soon to be mine? I knew I had arrived at the right spot when I spied a gathering of police vehicles outside the doughnut shop. For somewhere in that pantheon of righteousness, police and doughnuts are forever bonded together. The chuckle came about at the selection of police vehicles; not your standard black-and-white Honda motorcycle or your General Motors four-door sedan. Nope, in progressive and forward thinking Seattle, the police force man streets on Segues and bicycles. I love it up here…

The store was glamorous. Truly. For a doughnut shop, on your left you see a 20-foot wall of books, stately guarding the expansive shop where die-hards like myself graze upon the cakey treats. With a moniker of being “hand-forged doughnuts,” I made my selection with the help of the lovely ladies behind the counter. Top Pot’s selection is mostly cake-driven (versus only a few raised). There were no more filled left when I arrived so I tried to obtain a wide variety of their selection; maple old fashioned, chocolate glazed raised, chocolate cake with raspberry glaze, cinnamon cake, and an apple fritter.

Of those I chose, the chocolate cake with raspberry glaze and the maple old fashioned were the most memorable and special. I was not remotely impressed with the apple fritter, finding is thick and leaden and too heavily glazed. I took a bite of that while I was walking away from the store and after a second bite, was not remotely compelled to finish it. The chocolate glazed was quite decent, but nothing exceptional. While the maple old fashioned is not necessarily a specialty doughnut, it was quite special. Rich without being cloying, the maple flavor was very authentic while so many maple flavors are just that: Flavors. It provided that hint of spiciness that comes from a good maple. The chocolate cake with raspberry was also a favorite of mine. The chocolate cake was also rich without being overly sweet and the raspberry glaze a delightful complement to the unctuous chocolate.

It is the specialty doughnuts that Top Pot offers that I will be seeking out when next I am Seattle. I am curious about their cruller as well as their filled. Although it seems as though their filled doughnuts come from their raised dough, which are not nearly as spectacular as their cake. The two cake doughnuts that I found the most enjoyable had a tight crumb, with earmarks of truly being hand-forged — slightly misshapen oversized in their demeanor. These are honest doughnuts. There are no gimmicks with cereal toppings or vulgar shapes. There is no need to shock the consumer with surreal colors or occult symbols. It is just a simply good doughnut, almost quiet and introspective in its elegance. Great for what it is, without trying to be more. Congratulations, Seattle. I commend you.

I remember when I first started talking with friends about my desire to start this blog. Specifically, it was the night I took San Francisco Chronicle food writer, Marlena Spieler, to experience one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco, Nombe. I discovered Chef Nick Balla when he was cooking for the Kabuki Hotel’s O Izakaya restaurant. He paired up with husband-and-wife team Mari Takahashi and Gil Payne; they closing down their Sozai Izakaya and Nick leaving the Hotel to come together in the Mission with a remarkable and innovative menu.

On my visit with Marlena several months ago, Chef Nick finished the meal with what he calls “Seagull Eggs.” That was the revelatory moment and with my mouth stuffed with one of the lightest and fluffiest fried dough offering I had experienced, I proposed to Chef Nick. I want to marry the man who can create a fried dough on this level. I took pictures of the fried dough I had with Marlena and they were stuffed with a bit of freshly-made yuzu jam. And those pictures are just as dark as the ones I am posting today.

I was determined to come back and get better photographs and the culmination of my Fried Dough Birthday Celebration seemed the perfect opportunity. That and the fact that I had been wanting to get Lisa here for ages. Ironically, I forgot that Nombe is closed on Tuesdays as Lisa and I finished our Bacon Beignet at Frances before walking down to the shuttered Nombe. But Nick was there, working on a new bar area and we promised to return. Just two days later, after a great evening at Mission Street Food, Lisa and my fish monger friend, Gabe, and I sauntered into Nombe to FINALLY get my Birthday Sea Gull Eggs.

This time, served with a Strawberry Jam and fresh crème fraîche and I Got A Candle! Nick’s offerings are fairly large; 3″ across. Served warm with dipping cream, these are easily my favorite freshly-made dessert offerings in the city. These are not cakey, heavy doughnuts. Lightly dusted with granulated sugar and so ethereally light, the hint of sweetness in the dough is balanced with the slightly tart jam which is just barely inserted into the cake. When the platter arrives, it is easy to say, “Oh, I could never eat so many,” but as the plate empties, it is much easier to say, “I want more.” Now I just have to start making Chef Nick’s engagement ring…

I wish I could take credit for this photograph. The image is a well known sculpture in Seattle entitled Black Sun, dated 1969, by Isamu Noguchi. It is located across from the Seattle Art Museum and is considered one of the “most touched, caressed, and fondled pieces of public art in Seattle.”

And the sculpture is of a giant doughnut. It is reputed that the rock band, Soundgarten, wrote the song Black Hole Sun based on this sculpture. Most people line up the Space Needle through the hole and while I took a picture during my recent visit, mine is not nearly as gorgeous as this, taken by Sunrisesoup.

So I will let you contemplate this stunning photograph of a pretty fantastic piece of art. Here’s what it looks like without the mist: