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.

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.

Today is my 46th birthday. And what a huge celebration of fried dough it has been; from bacon beignets to homemade pączki all of which I’ll be writing up over the next few days, but yesterday (Memorial Day), I threw a barbecue and invited a bunch of friends to grill meats, share wine, and join in my attempt at frying my first dough.

But I want to acknowledge a very special call-out to Lisa, my Best Foodie Friend. As a complete surprise she managed to find a giant doughnut from Bob’s Donut and Pastry Shop here in San Francisco. It was bedecked with candles and came complete with the requisite singing of the birthday song. It was hilarious as simultaneous chomps were taken by as many who could get around and get their lips wrapped around it.

It was a tremendous party, made all that much more special by all the friends who were able to attend. It was a potluck and Lisa knew there was to be a bounty of desserts, but still it was all that much more heartwarming that my very dear friend had the brainstorm to acquire a symbol of my obsession. Thank you all and thank you again, my beloved Lisa, for making it such a special day.