The Fried Dough Ho

Nickel Diner in downtown Los Angeles is now legendary. But in a way, I can say I knew about it when it was just a glimmer in one of its owners’, Monica May’s, eyes. Monica and I frequented the same foodie chat list when she started talking about the renovation of the location and the fight to bring wholesome, home cooking to a derelict neighborhood more known for its homeless and crack addicts. In two short years, she and her partner, Kristen, have been instrumental in changing the neighborhood.

After my excessive fried dough excursion the night before, I thought I wouldn’t be up for another heavy round, but the reputation of Nickel Diner’s doughnuts prevailed and I knew there was no way I was leaving without trying every available flavor. We also ordered some savory cuisine as well, as reported on Feast. The Nutella and the Orange Popcycle were sold out when we arrived, but I was more than thrilled with the four flavors which were available.

The most lauded and talked about seems to be their Maple Bacon Doughnut. Easily the best Bacon Fried Dough to date, far surpassing Voodoo’s and Frances bacon beignets, Nickel’s offering has a tight, rich crumb of a ring, topped with Applewood-smoked bacon bits which have been delicately suspended in a lightly authentic, not overpowering maple glaze. In speaking with Monica, she confirmed a suspicion that the bacon was fried to the point where absolutely no uncooked fat is left, assuring maximum crunch factor of this savory component. And the bacon bits were fully laden across the top of the plate-sized fried dough goodness; rich and satisfying with a great balance between the salt of the bacon and the sweetness in the glaze, without being overhwhelming in any one of its ingredients.

The oddity of the four doughnuts we consumed was the Strawberry Crunch. This simple, plain cake doughnut is heavily and decadently coated with tiny bits of freeze-dried strawberry bits. Upon first bite – without remembering exactly what our waitress told us its flavor – we were tasting the pungent, tanginess which hearkened to fresh citrus. It was only later, after we confirmed its flavor, did we realize exactly what flavor it really was. While trying to recall its flavor before knowing, one in the party reminisced back to Trix cereal and the crispy, almost concentrated flavor. It makes sense, though. Freeze drying the fresh strawberries would concentrate those flavors, producing forth a bright, tangy and envigorating flavor.

When we arrived at the diner, I saw a young boy consuming the Red Velvet Doughnut and I knew I had to have one of those. Differing from the classic Red Velvet cake in that the actual cake of the doughnut was plain and the Red Velvet flavor was a crumble topping which completely encased the rich doughnut, then split and filled with cream cheese whipped filling. I am still trying to decipher exactly what ingredients would have been combined to create that classic Red Velvet taste; a bit of cocoa and vinegar, yes. But the slight tang of cream cheese played off the delicate crumble to incite childhood memories of the classically moist and playful Red Velvet Chocolate Cake. As attested by the photos, it was hard to not stick our fingers in the filling.

The piece de resistance, however, was a new creation not yet on the t-shirt (which I acquired, of course), or the menu; an Irish Car Bomb doughnut with Guinness crumble and Jameson-infused cream filing. Had I thought the previous, unctuous presentations were exceptional, in this we had a show-stopper, Hall of Fame doughnut. Rich without being cloying, the Guinness crunch was at first undiscernable exactly what flavor profile it was profiling; sweet, yes – but with umami and a touch of earthiness. In this creation, we were experiencing doughnut perfection known only a few times before, most memorably at The French Laundry. Yes, ladies and gentleman, for doughnut nirvana in the Los Angeles area, it does not get any better than Nickel Diner and the creation of the Irish Car Bomb doughnut goes beyond inspiration to the level of epiphany. Without kitsch or the gimmick of a children’s cereal topping, a truly exceptional taste has been created and while one might expect to experience such flavors in a cupcake or a plated dessert, it is brought forth in the form of the humble doughnut; elevating the doughnut beyond the realm of mere breakfast pastry and into a religious experience.

I’m not sure what possessed me. I had been wanting to review Pepples Donuts for some time, but knew I couldn’t handle a full tasting on my own and many of my friends who often join me in these ventures were unavailable. So I headed to the Ferry Plaza, originally with the intention of just trying one or two flavors and thinking I would return with a full crew to help me in my endeavors. Arriving at the north end of the building and seeing a growing line across from Sur la Table, a giant frosted doughnut sign beckoned and with a line already established at the small stand, I knew I was in the right place. And seeing the two large trays with so many flavors, I knew there was no way I could only taste just a few.

There was a nice guy standing in line in front of me and a thought ran through my head; maybe he wouldn’t mind sharing a few. I asked if I could buy him a doughnut or two and help me taste them but when it came to choosing, I lost complete control. “Just give me one of each,” I instructed. Incredulity prevailed and I assured Kevin — as we were now introduced — that it was a matter of getting a thorough review. Exactly a dozen were placed in the ubiquitous pink box, with none touching each other and potentially destroying their perfect frostings. “Very conscientious,” I thought to myself! She was careful to not stack or otherwise maul the frosting on the doughnuts before we had an opportunity to taste them. A remaining four were placed in individual bags giving us the full sweep of all 16 flavors:

Blueberry
Chocolate
Chocolate Coconut
Chocolate Cookie
Chocolate Sprinkle
Cinnamon Sugar
Coconut Whiteout
Coffee
Far West Candy Cap
Kaffir Lime Leaf Glaze
Lemon Poppy
Matcha Organic Green Tea
Orange Creamsicle
Vanilla Cake
Vanilla Cookie
Vanilla Glazed

Kevin – with sincere apologies to his girlfriend, Sarah-Jane who was unable to participate due to gluten allergies – and I headed to the benches behind the Blue Bottle Coffee stall at the front of the Plaza. Thanks goes to Kevin for treating me to a coffee to help wash down the tastings. As a matter of record, to date this is the most expensive tasting I have endeavored; with each doughnut costing $2.00 to $3.00 each, we were about to feast on more than $40 worth of tasty cakes.

Unlike other doughnut shops, Pepples is 100% a cake company; no raised, no fritters, no crullers. And one of their huge selling points is that their doughnuts are organic and 100% vegan. I am intrigued by this as I am unsure what leavening agents replace eggs or what binders replace butter or milk in vegan baking. This fact might make me a little more critical in tasting these doughnuts, but I would like to think not, considering their popularity. As this report shows, many who ultimately tasted through the bounty had no idea these doughnuts were vegan!

Kevin enjoyed the tasting, indicating the offerings were rich but not too sweet with a good crumb. I broke into the cinnamon and was a bit surprised that instead of a simple dusting of cinnamon and sugar, the spice was encased in a frosting which somewhat chunked off in bites and I found a tad on the sweet side. Kevin didn’t mind as much and I’m sorry he couldn’t stay to work through all sixteen flavors. Laura had been watching us and spying the brightest colored, dived into the blueberry. Not actually blue but pink, she admitted to not really being a doughnut fan but was impressed by how really good and not greasy it was.

Sitting on an empty bench with an open box of jeweled colors drew the attention of other Blue Bottle customers and I proceeded to invite others to join in on the tasting. Joanne was one of the first to sit down and introduced me to little Emi who was quite thrilled to finish off the blueberry doughnut all on her very own. Emi’s Dad also told me about Emi’s favorite book I am going to have to look into, a children’s book called The Donut Chef (A Golden Classic)The Donut Chef! Well that sealed it – Emi is already a doughnut aficionado and perfectly delightful! We both enjoyed the blueberry, although I found its flavors a bit more muted than anticipated. I am chalking this up to the fact that all the flavors which are used are derived from natural ingredients and not the more pungent, artificial flavors that our palates have grown accustomed to.

Stephanie and her friend, Katherine stopped by next, tasting the Kaffir lime leaf with coconut and like me with the blueberry, Stephanie found it a bit too subtle, wishing it were more pronounced. Katherine also wished for stronger flavors, but genuinely liked the Matcha green tea. There was a bit of a growing mess around me as clumps of frosting broke off and fell to the ground – not quite adhering to the doughnuts. But that just drew that many more people willing to help me get through this monumental effort.

Steve was another eager helper, tasting and being especially fond of the orangesicle and the salted caramel, surprised they were not too oily or overpowering. John and Greg were shocked to learn the doughnuts were vegan and both enjoyed the candy cap, thinking it was maple. I explained that candy cap was a mushroom, giving it a slight earthy taste but having a good friend who makes candy cap syrup, agrees that it often has maple-like components to its flavor structure. John thought the actual cake flavor was a bit doughy while Greg said they were more moist than he was anticipating. John dived into the sprinkles, that being a favorite of his.

Tony was my last helper of the day and told me that he had a severe addiction to Pepples back when they were using coconut oil. He was working hard at the Blue Bottle stall and I left the remainder of our samples with him to share with his friends. We chatted for a bit, telling him I didn’t realize their oil had been changed. I loved that someone was able to provide a little background information on the company with insight as to its growth.

And me? Well, yes, I tasted every single one – starting with the more demur flavors; plain, vanilla, and cinnamon sugar. Frankly, the aroma of the cakes was that of uncooked batter and in several cases, the predominant TASTE hinted at rawness, similar to what John was saying. I found the Matcha green tea to give a hint of dustiness and the lemon poppy with not enough of a citrus component. I can’t say that about the orange creamsicle which was delightfully tangy. I enjoyed the blueberry but wished it had a similar tang of strength of fruit that the orange did. The coconut was one of the bigger, richer tastes with a good quality coconut. Without knowing what it was I was tasting, I don’t think I could have picked out the flavor of salted caramel other than it was sweet.

I held off and tasted the darker, chocolate doughnuts at the end. There are two different ways to experience Pepple’s chocolate; with chocolate frosting on a vanilla doughnut and as a full-on chocolate doughnut with a variety of toppings; just chocolate, chocolate cookie, and chocolate whiteout with coconut. There is also the coffee doughnut with chocolate icing with coffee bits. I was a bit surprised that Pepples promoted the candy cap doughnut was being a Far West Fungi mushroom, but does not indicate the coffee supplier for that doughnut. Being a Bay Area company, one would think it would be Ritual Roasters or Blue Bottle coffee, but who knows? Being a tremendous fan of a rich chocolate doughnut, I would not necessarily have known the chocolate doughnuts were vegan either and preferred the chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I really wanted the coffee to be a favorite and while it produced some aromatics, it lacked the rich, piquant coffee tastes — although I would happily taste it again with a glass of milk instead of a cup of coffee. I will grant that I might have distracted my own taste buds with the beverage choice.

But the hands-down favorite? By yours truly and as a general consensus by all who tasted it, there is no doubt the Kaffir lime leaf with coconut is the stand-out offering. It is a combination of exotic flavors without being bizarre or gimmicky. I did not detect the raw, doughy sensation with Kaffir lime doughnut like I did with the others. It was intriguing and one of the most exciting doughnuts I have experienced since I started documenting my love of fried dough. This is a Hall of Fame doughnut. But there is no way in the world I could have figured this out on my own and I wish to offer very special, heartfelt gratitude to everyone who helped out, were willing participants in tasting, talking, and picture-taking. Thank you all, so very, very much!

One Ferry Bldg
San Francisco, CA 94111

I feel a little ashamed. I visited Voodoo Doughnuts back in February, during a trip up through the Pacific Northwest and it has taken me an awfully long time to getting around to documenting that visit. I was pretty excited to visit this brick-clad temple of fried dough as their Maple Bacon Bar is one of the most acclaimed in the doughnut world. I loved visiting Voodoo; the interior has ouija boards and a giant, hilarious sculpture. It is irreverent in all its offerings; giant glazed doughnuts with tongues sticking out at you, demonic pentagrams painted in icing, and frosting colors that are never found in nature.

The sexually-suggestive names ascribed to these painted wonders are equally humorous; Triple Chocolate Penetration is a chocolate cake doughnut, topped with chocolate frosting and Coco-Puffs cereal, Old Dirty Bastard is raised doughnut with chocolate frosting topped with Oreo cookies and peanut butter, Cock-N-Balls is a raised doughnut shaped — well, you can figure it out — like it belongs on a porno shoot. These are novelty doughnuts taken to extreme and very little offered at Voodoo is not irreverent.

I went to Voodoo twice during my trip. The first time was just for myself and my friend, Ralph, who had offered his couch to me during my trip. We tasted the famous Bacon Bar and when obtained fresh (i.e., the bacon is still crispy), it is quite exceptional. I also ordered a Voodoo Doll, raised yeast freakishly-shaped jelly-filled that is oddly decorated complete with a pretzel stake impaled through its heart. We tasted the Mango Tango, a raised yeast doughnut filled with mango jelly and topped with vanilla frosting. Of all, this had the most intriguing flavor; tangy and bright, it was an unexpected flavor for a doughnut.  And I ordered the Apple Fritter, that which I benchmark all doughnut shops. It was here that Voodoo sort of faltered as it was just too thick and cakey without that requisite consistent crunch and rich apple flavor that the Ho requires.

A week after my first Voodoo visit, I returned, this time to purchase more than a dozen offerings to bring home to my San Francisco buddies. What came with me (or was eaten en route home), included the Triple Chocolate Penetration, Grape Ape, and Tangfastic. The Grape Ape and Tangfastic are topped with flavored powdered sugars which are a bit over-the-top for my tastes. There is a point where the garnish overwhelms the actual fried dough. They are all indeed very memorable but are they all great doughnuts? Not necessarily. Like my trip to Gourdoughs in Austin, I can appreciate the novelty factor of certain flavors and garnishes. But there is a point where some flavors are just too much. I think those doughnuts with the children’s cereal, powdered Tang, bubble gum, or M&Ms are fun, but the flavors are too sickly sweet. The maple bacon, however, is a true joy and the quality of the basic cakes are exceptional. And, they offer Vegan options which is fabulous.

My last doughnut stop in Austin was truly a special one. It was recommended to us by the lady selling us macarons at La Boite and is called Mrs. Johnson’s Bakery. What makes it special is a variety of things, mostly that fresh, warm doughnuts are available after 9:00 p.m. in the evening. And so we waited until after the sun had set for my epic journey towards Fried Dough Ho’dom.

Driving through the streets of Austin, there was a PBS radio station on the car radio playing tunes of the 1950s and I felt as though I were in the George Lucas movie, American Graffiti; this was as much about the journey as the destination. When we arrived, I could already smell the aroma of hot sugar in the air and I spied the sign which indicated that Mrs. Johnson’s had been around since 1948 and the building helped confirm that sense of nostalgia. In the front window was a long machine which rolled out the dough and cut the slab into its octagonal shapes. I watched the worker deftly pulling out the holes from the freshly-hewn rounds. All this joy and wonderment and I was not even inside yet.

What I was faced with surprised me; the full production of doughnut manufacturing going at full steam. It was so oddly gratifying and heartfelt. I was giddy and my enthusiasm was contagious. Enraptured at the scene, I watched closely as one worker organized the holes while another was laying out trays of freshly-cut rounds to be risen. And then another grabbed a giant bowl of dough and it dawned on me that my camera had the video record function. So I am pleased to share my first personal recording of doughnut preparation on Fried Dough Ho:

They knew I was a die-hard enthusiast. Ordering a small selection to take home and taste, the guy behind the counter put an extra doughnut in my box as well as one in my hand before I left. A freshly fried and glazed raised octagon of deliciousness, the warm doughnut in my hand was light and tender. Oh — and did I tell you it was WARM? Other than full-on restaurant offerings, I can’t think of when I have ever had a warm doughnut. I know that was the big selling point for Krispy Kreme for all those years, but in California, I never tried one fresh, only old and cold and mediocre.

What came home to try besides the warm glazed raised was a jelly-filled, chocolate cake, plain cake, and apple fritter. Someone else recommended the apple fritter and sadly, it just did not stand up to my benchmark fritter, Randy’s doughnuts in Los Angeles. Here the apples were indeed canned and fake and it was over spiced with too much cinnamon. The two cake doughnuts however, were exceptional. With a tight, moist crumb, the chocolate was slightly oily but not in a way that I found derogatory whatsoever. Instead, it made it richer and headier. The same dough used in the raised glazed was also that in the jelly doughnut and again, I was perfectly thrilled with this smaller-than-usual sized doughnut. Intensely light and fluffy, the raspberry filling was undoubtedly canned and mass-produced, but not overly sweet and perfectly acceptable.

I have had many mass-produced doughnuts, but these were a cut above. Fresh and warm aside, there was an inherent quality in the knowledge of the fact that these doughnuts were hand-made and not entirely machine-manufactured. And that hand-made quality is discernible, providing a level of excellence and satisfaction. There is much to be said for the vintage atmosphere of the building, the equipment, and the surroundings. Perhaps it was the music I was listening to or hearkening back to an era of simplified goodness, but Mrs Johnson’s certainly helps give the consumer that passionate level of contentment with its doughnuts.

While in a completely different league than the doughnut offerings at Gourdoughs, Ken’s Donuts lies in the heart of the University district of Austin and runs is your more traditional doughnut shop. When asking around for fried dough suggestions in Austin, many recommended Ken’s for a variety of reasons; this is your basic, good and honest doughnut shop. Open 24 hours, here at Ken’s you find the classic rounds of glazed and raised, cake and sprinkled. And they also have samosas.

Walking up to Ken’s, I was immediately thrilled when I spied a comforting figure as part of their signage — a Ganesha head painted as part of the masthead, with the divine elephant’s trunk joyously clutching a sprinkled doughnut. I took this as a good omen as the Hindu elephant god is known as the Remover of Obstacles and Bestower of Boons. Walking inside the shop, there is the immediate aroma of hot oil, warm sugar, and freshly made dough. The man behind the counter — Ken? — was amenable and pleasant and in my slightly befuddled state of what to try, immediately suggested the Sour Cream Cake as a consistent favorite.

But wait – there were also samosas. In San Francisco, I often bemoan the fact that Donut Shops should not mix their sweet offerings with seemingly disparate savory ones. But this was not a fast-food establishment, selling mediocre Chinese food alongside sweet doughnuts. Here, there was a single tray of precision samosas and it was one of the reasons that Ken’s was so well known. Still mostly full from the Gourdoughs experience the night before, I ordered light; a single samosas, a chocolate doughnut hole, and which ever doughnut was the most popular as recommended by the guy behind the counter, the Sour Cream Cake.

I must admit that the samosa shocked me in its simplicity and goodness. Filled with potatoes and peas, this was one of the best prepared samosas I had experienced. Thin, flaky dough was folded over the spicy filling giving layer upon layer of encasement to the center. I have had so many samosas that were made with a thicker, heavier dough which when fried bubbles and becomes chewy. Here, it is though they are use brik dough or a won-ton wrapper to create multiple thin layers to encase the spicy interior. My hostess, Jane, said they reminded her of the best Cornish pasties and I got that immediately — wholesome and rich without being greasy or chewy, these crisp and tender triangles were a steal at $1.00 each.

Very much to my surprise, the Sour Cream Cake doughnut was equally up the challenge. When it comes to these corner doughnut stores, I have become blasé in my expectations that a decent doughnut is the same almost everywhere and that a poorly-prepared doughnut is a travesty. While this was quite a decent doughnut, it was a bit more than that; very fresh and with a tight crumb, the richness of the sour cream balanced well the perfect amount of glaze which provided that correct amount of “tooth” to the piece. It is that discernible amount of crunch which the glazing has to provide countered against the moist and tender cake. Too much glaze and one is left with shards of sugar, falling off the doughnut. A dry cake and all one tastes is glaze. Here, it was all brought together in a flawless combination. All-in-all, an extremely satisfying fried dough experience.