PrintI'm in a Doughnut State of Mind
Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking about doughnuts, both in NYC and elsewhere.
And my conclusion is not pretty, especially when it comes to doughnuts in Gotham. Basically, I've concluded that New York is a lousy doughnut town. You heard me.
It wasn't always this way. For years Georgie and James Bryant made unforgettably good glazed and raised jelly doughnuts in their shoebox-sized bakery on 125th Street in Harlem. These were light, practically weightless doughnuts that floated across the counter when you ordered a dozen.
Then, about ten years ago, Georgie and James retired and closed their eponymous bake shop. And that, my friends, was a NYC doughnut disaster. Because that left us with no great glazed doughnuts to call our own.
There has been at least one pretender who came into New York trying to mend our broken doughnut-loving hearts. Krispy Kreme came roaring into New York a year or two before Georgie and James packed up their fryers and retired, and tried to snow us with the lit Hot Doughnuts sign. Nice gimmick, and when the doughnuts were truly hot, they were (and I suppose still are) pretty good. But they were never anywhere near as good as Georgie's, and everyone knew it. Ruth Reichl wrote a story for the New York Times about doughnuts a long time ago, and she conducted a doughnut taste test. Guess who won? Georgie and James, and it wasn't even close.
Then Mark Israel opened the Doughnut Plant on the Lower East Side, and the designer doughnut phenomenon was born (and raised) in New York. Steve uses Vahlrona chocolate, other high quality ingredients, and no trans-fats, and he has become THE (Doughnut) MAN in New York.
I admire Mark greatly for his aspirations and his ability, but lately, when I have picked up some of his doughnuts at Citarella, I have been a little disappointed when I popped one in my mouth. His raised doughnuts are not cloudlike and seemingly weightless. In fact, they are kind of heavy (though certainly not leaden).
So I decided that maybe the problem was that the doughnuts were being bought too far from the source. Because when you buy doughnuts, timing is everything. In that way they are like baguettes.
Doughnuts should be eaten no more than two hours after they are made.
So this morning I went down to Doughnut Plant and ordered one of every kind they make:
I bought:
Classic Raised Glazed Doughnut
Raised Pumpkin Doughnut
Raised Valhrona Chocolate Doughnut
Raised Peanut Butter and Jelly Doughnut
Raised Vanilla Doughnut
Pumpkin Cake Doughnut
Tres Leches Cake Doughnut
Blackout Cake Doughnut
Apple Cinnamon Cake Doughnut
Pecan Sticky Bun
Cinnamon Bun
The verdict: The raised doughnuts were still too heavy. My favorite raised doughnut was the pumpkin. The peanut butter and jelly doughnut was just weird. It didn't have enough peanut butter or jelly.
The cake doughnuts were actually really good. I loved the Tres Leches and the Pumpkin varieties, and the blackout doughnut would have been a knockout without its too sweet glaze.
I thought of the doughnut alternatives in NY. The Donut Pub on 14th Street is much written about but not very good. Balthazar makes an excellent cake doughnut straight outta East Hampton via the legendary Dreesen's. But after that I am stumped. The classic "coffee and doughnuts" dessert at Per Se is wonderful, but it's rarely on the
menu and at $210 for the prix fixe that's a mighty expensive doughnut.
So where can a man go to get a good doughnut in this town, or anywhere for that matter? Inquiring stomachs want to know.
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16 Comments:
"So this morning I went down to Doughnut Plant and ordered one of every kind they make: "
Gosh Ed, how do you manage it through your grueling work days? :)
MurrayHill at 1:30PM on 10/27/06
Not exactly what you're looking for, but Jane (on Houston St) and its sister restaurant the Neptune Room on the UWS both do a fabulous donut holes dessert.
I've also heard good things about the donuts at Zozo's Juice Bar (Stanton/Orchard/LES) and Schiller's (not sure if they're from Balthazar).
kathryn at 1:43PM on 10/27/06
I have to disagree. The valhrona raised and blackout cake at The Plant are the best I've ever had. I agree that all others (Krispy Kreme and Dunkin (blech)) are no good. The only other place I like in NYC is The Doughnut Pub which you didn't like either. Nice homemade, always fresh and good variety but not as good as the Plant. Recently went to Seattle and had Top Pot Donuts which were also contenders especially in the heavyweight division as their Bavarian Cremes require two hands to lift them off the plate. But I think that is a good thing. Check out John Edge's book on Donuts: An American Passion which did for donuts what you did for pizza.
guttergour at 2:14PM on 10/27/06
Peter Pan in Greenpoint (Manhattan Ave. between Norman and Meserole). As soon as I moved to Greenpoint friends told me I had to try this place. They were spot on - the donuts are fresh and super tasty. I'm a cake doughnut girl myself, but the few raised ones I've had have been perfectly light and delicious. The doughnuts at most Polish bakeries in Greenpoint aren't half bad, either.
mysteryshi at 4:08PM on 10/27/06
The New York Times - April 25, 1997
Doughnut Review; Ah, Those Nuances of Sugar and Grease
By RUTH REICHL
I like doughnuts as much as the next person, but eating eight or nine in a row is not my idea of a good time.
So here I am facing two huge boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, a box of Dunkin' Donuts and two boxes of Georgie's. I stare at them, trying to figure out if the boxes can tell me anything. Oddly, they can: The Dunkins are sort of thrown into the box willy-nilly, but the Krispy Kremes come in long, flat boxes, each doughnut lying flat, not even touching. Georgie's, in their plain white box neatly tied with string, have an appealingly old-fashioned look.
Which shall I try first? The jelly doughnuts made by Georgie's look the most appealing, very plain, brown and round. I take one bite. It is so light, warm and delicious that I take another. And a third. Imagine, I think to myself, how great this would be if the doughnut were filled with really good jam instead of this clear red, insipid jelly.
On to the jelly doughnut made by Krispy Kreme. It looks totally different: It is smaller, rounder and covered with a thick dusting of powdered sugar. There is quite a lot of spiced blueberry jam inside, and it is not too sweet. Not bad, I think, but it would be better if the powdered sugar tasted less like chalk.
After those two the jelly doughnut made by Dunkin' Donuts is pretty hard to take. It looks different from the others: Larger, flatter and covered with a faint dusting of plain sugar. The dough is rather dense, the jelly more sweet than anything else. I take one bite and my mouth fills with the taste of grease. I am not tempted to take another.
Now for the glazed doughnuts. Georgie's is quite dark, with a crinkly coating of glaze. The dough is light and fluffy, filled with little pockets of air. It feels nice in the mouth and leaves behind a faint, pleasant taste of vanilla.
The Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut is a close second. Very round, it is slightly smaller and much lighter in color. The top is shiny with glaze. The dough is light and leaves a not unpleasant taste of oil.
The Dunkin' Donuts shop could not come up with any glazed doughnuts this morning, so we are making do with the vanilla one. It is big and quite dense, although I notice that when you remove the icing the doughnut itself is not very sweet. If this were the only doughnut around you might actually want to eat it, but in this company it is definitely an also-ran.
I am embarrassed to say that, even after eating all these doughnuts, I find it hard to resist taking one final bite of a Georgie's jelly doughnut. If these doughnuts were sold on corner coffee carts the people of New York would be a whole lot heavier.
skronk at 12:26AM on 10/28/06
Ed, I couldn't agree with you more...I find the doughnuts at the Donut Plant way too big ,dense and doughy with a burnt almost bitter after taste...The toppings are wonderful but overwhlmed by the dough...The funny thing is the accessories are usually better than the donuts...Coffee, juices and when they make rolls, they are excellent.
For me , give me those little hole in the wall donut shops that you used to find by subway entrances in days gone by...
PS. And dont forget the old Horn & Hardarts sugar donut...Heaven...
Doctorted at 11:13AM on 10/28/06
ed,
the donuts at babbo are to die for. i guess you can consider them kinda fancypants, but $9 for 3 i think with amazing dipping sauces (chocolate and two others), it's not too bad. and they're hot and delicious.
jman at 12:06PM on 10/28/06
Try the doughnuts at bouchon bakery. On Friday and Saturday only around 11:30 or 12 the doughnuts come out to the retail window. They are made of the same dough as the ones served at Per Se, however they only make a jelly filled and a boston creme type.
gougeres4u at 6:58PM on 10/28/06
It's not in nyc, but for my calories, the doughnuts in Woodbury, CT at Dottie's Diner (formerly known as Phillips) are the real deal. I was turned on to them by the "Road Food" folks. They are absolutely worth the trip - both chocolate frosted or cinnamon sugar. They are cake doughnuts. Fried to a nice deep mahogany and crisp, with a (somehow) creamy melt in your mouth quality. They use nice chocolate, too.
potchke at 3:36PM on 10/29/06
I've lived in NYC for more than 20 years, but hail from Western NY (or, as many of you natives insist on calling it, "Upstate NY). In Western NY, donuts aren't fancy, and they aren't "ironic". And they're a heck of a lot better than they are in New York City.
A friend of mine once speculated that a place can be either a "donut town" or a "bagel town." Sounded good in theory, but how many places other than NYC are really bagel towns? Still another friend of mine in Maine once observed that to truly "get" heavy and fried things such as donuts, it helps if the town is predominantly Christian and blue collar. I actually agreed with that, even though I love donuts and am a white-collar Jew. But, I was pretty much the only Jew in the blue-collar town where I grew up.
PJM at 10:59PM on 10/29/06
mr. levine:
where did you learn about this georgie's donut?
keep on finding those new (york) eats for me.
love to the family and still remember your college jazzy friend who eats peas with a knife. and, we could have been contenders as "blood" managers.
kindest personal regards from a former new york resident with a son at your "graduate" alma mater, mr. fishel
fishelj at 10:35AM on 10/30/06
The only kind of donut I crave is the cider donut.
Thank god I work by Union Square where, in the fall, they can be had on any Greenmarket day, trucked down from my home turf of Upstate NY.
They're dense, cakey and coated in sugar and cinnamon.
I buy a bag of them, and a quart of cider, then I let the donuts sit out for 24 hours so they get a little bit stale.
Finally, I cut them in half (like a bagel) and toast them (in a toaster oven) so that the sugar gets a little caramelized. Then I pull them out while still warm and dunk them in some cider, and then I stuff them in my mouth as if I haven't eaten in a week.
Pure autumnal bliss.
Ann at 12:40PM on 10/30/06
Nothing beats the Round Rock Doughnut from the Lone Star Bakery in Round Rock, TX. Now this may seem like a treck, but when people line up beginning at 3AM every single day just to try the freakishly yellow batter (organic eggs and tons of them in the batter), it says something.
souldawg at 1:24PM on 10/30/06
thanks for this great posting on donuts.
i too have noticed the disappearance of donuts. there was that great "old fashioned donuts" on the SE corner of Lexington and E. 86th street (which closed about a year ago) and also the 24hr "Coffee Shop" that sold donuts at the SE corner of 8th Avenue and 23rd street (which closed about six years ago). when those places were open i would eat two donuts a day.
have you tried the donuts at Cupcake Cafe? their cake donuts are good (they at times have pumpkin) though their jelly donuts can be too thick with bread.
eli zabar's on madison avenue and 80th street sells an excellent jelly donut. so does cafe sabarsky on SE corner of 5th Avenue and 86th street - which i have had w/ an apricot filling.
but the best jelly donut for me that i can't pass up if i see them in the window is at this small polish grocery store w/ the purple awning in the middle of block on 1st Avenue between 6th & 7th street (western side). they seem to be made of challah and w/ a smudge of raspberry jam in it. YUM!
basil at 9:03PM on 10/31/06
Why in the world did I skip going into the office that day?
Cookshop usually has some nice donuts made from scratch in the mornings on weekends. You can skip the big brunch and just order a couple of those and some coffee. I've seen chocolate chip there, and jelly. They tend to run out before the late brunch crowd even gets there.
But the best donut I had recently was a cinnamon donut from a farm stand on Sound Ave out on the North Fork... Fifty cents. Just made.
It's probably a good thing we're in a donut dark age here in NYC. If we ever get ready access to great donuts, we're doomed.
moth23 at 9:35PM on 11/04/06
I was reading these comments about donuts. Its funny because I grew up going to this small place in Pa. Its called Bird in Hand located in Lancaster Pa. They have the most amazing donuts . Not much of a sweet eater but love certain sweets. I grew up getting glazed donuts of Creme filled. They are light and fluffy and fresh. The best thing is they do not keep things over a day old. I have went to a lot of different places in Manhattan and have found that some of the food is not fresh. But as far as Crispy Creme I only like the Glazed off the press.
Jillian LaCapria at 11:50PM on 12/10/06