The Fried Dough Ho

Can you believe these? From a Thailand doughnut producer called Mister Donut.  I’ve been told they are all over the Japanese twitter feed. The nigiri-like offerings look enticing and aren’t quite the way they appear on the packaging, but still darn cute!

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

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.

After a horrifically disappointing meal at nearby Heaven’s Dog, I have BFF Lisa to thank for whisking me away to Thermidor for dessert. I had recalled they had a specialty doughnut on the menu and with iPhone in hand, she had mapped out that it was close enough to a theater where I had tickets for the evening and just enough time to grab dessert before curtain time.

It is pastry chef Kyle Caporicci who has created the dessert which called to me; Coffee, Cigarettes and Doughnuts with carrot cake, white chocolate custard and coffee ice cream. The “cigarette” is a stylized, thin white chocolate tube filled with a creamy mousse and is apparently infused with tobacco leaves reputed to give a nicotine buzz. I can’t comment on whether or not it gave me a nicotine buzz, per se, but the presentation and flavors did excite me. I’m giving some leniency in this because the “doughnut” is not actually fried dough, but carrot cake. But being the Ho that I am, I was terribly impressed with the plating, concept and flavor combinations. The coffee ice cream is some of the best I have tasted (and surprisingly, it is not coffee colored the way one would expect it). The classic cream cheese frosting was lightly studded with sprinkles but the little cakes were set upon some ground

Working the bar was a chap named Morgan and we felt an instant affinity, partly for his gregarious nature and for his gorgeous culinary tattoos. I just asked for his particular favorite gin cocktail and all I remember was him saying he had freshly made some raspberry purée and we just instructed our assent to construct whatever he deemed fit. It was a beautiful site, watching Morgan throw himself into the cocktail making was like watching Nijinski approach Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring; raw and inspirational and entirely heartfelt. We loved this place already. I wished I had written down what else was in the cocktail but we did know there were egg whites which produced a creamy and rich libation.

And then a tall man in a white jacket — Chef Bruce, no less! — walked up with an order of Pommes Dauphine (warm potato croquettes) served with lobster butter. Yep, I got a real fried dough entry out of this visit along with a cool dessert and an amazing cocktail! The Chef was confused as to who had ordered the appetizer because he could see we were already well under way with a dessert. Laughing, I coaxed him over. In a rush to catch a play, we didn’t care what order our dishes had arrived and the only disadvantage seemed to be in the fact that the intensely tender morsels of fried potato dough was the fact that garnished with salt and served with the unctuously rich lobster butter, it came across as too salty after the sweet dessert and fruit-sweet cocktail. Chef Bruce told us he made the lobster sauce fresh from live lobster and the quality was exquisitely discernible. The fried dough offerings were light and perfectly fried.

There was no bigger regret that we had eaten elsewhere beforehand and that our time was so short. But between two amazing courses and better than superlative service, this is a restaurant I will return to very shortly.