A Disappointment of Donuts

I tried a new to me donut place recently, Paradise Donuts & Coffee. I was looking forward to enjoying their made fresh donuts.

I'm old enough to remember Dunkin' Donuts before they went to centralized donut baking; when each store made their donuts fresh several times a day. The memory of those donuts are why, when I dragged out of bed on a recent Sunday morning, I was expecting to be rewarded with warm, fresh donuts. Nope. Sad face emoji.

I was there a half hour after opening. My selections made, box packed, I looked forward to giving these a try.

Sadly, this brightly colored box held a bakers dozen of disappointment. More sad face emojis.

Not a warm fresh donut in the bunch. Not only that, they all tasted like day old donuts. What? I've come to find out that the donuts at this Paradise Donuts are NOT baked fresh in the store. No, they're baked at another location the night before and then delivered to this location. A dozen sad face emojis.

To be fair, the donuts were ok. They tasted almost as good as any SuperMom's donut or grocery store donut I've had. Almost.

My takeaway? When it comes to donuts I should have quit while I was ahead. Smiley face emoji!

Hot and fresh!

Happy dining!

Tom+Chee - Kennesaw, Georgia

The Tom+Chee in the name of this place is for tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. A restaurant that specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup? Yes please! 

What better to do on a chilly, damp day than dive into a bowl of soup and a crispy, comforting, warm sandwich? Nothing better that's what. Faced with just such a day recently the Dining Companion and I stopped in at Tom+Chee.

The brightly colored red and yellow space is the perfect antidote for a drab day.

Hanging over the counter is a menu board that lists not only the dozens of grilled cheese options but also the soups, salads and grilled donuts(!) that are available. To the left is a chalkboard that shows all of the days specials. You order at the counter and the food is delivered to you at your table. Standard fast casual set-up.

There are so many choices that it can be a little overwhelming. The Dining Companion ordered the Tom+Chee and I ordered BBQ+Bacon with a Soup Dipper. The Dippers are small containers of soup to, you got it, dip your sandwich in. I love that.

TOM+CHEE
diced tomato+garlic seasoning
+mozz+cheddar+hardy white bread

BBQ+BACON
bbq potato chips+bacon+american+hardy white bread w/a creamy chicken soup dipper

The sandwiches were crispy on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside. Just like you'd expect from a grilled cheese sandwich.

Oh, I also ordered the Grilled Donut of the day because of course I did. The donut this day was the Buckeye. A grilled donut topped with chocolate, peanut butter mascarpone, chocolate syrup and mozzarella cheese. I know!

This was the strangest thing I've eaten in a long time but man oh man, it was crazy good. Don't try to make sense of this insanity; just eat it.

(this is the first donut that's tempted me since my visit to Voodoo Doughnut last year)

The Buckeye - A grilled donut topped with chocolate, peanut butter mascarpone, chocolate syrup and mozzarella cheese

Everything we tried was good and there are enough bread and cheese choices, add-ins and variety that I'm sure we'll be back. I may or may not be plotting what my next donut is going to be. Maybe.

Happy dining!

Voodoo Doughnut - Portland, Oregon

I had only a few things on the must do list for my drive up the West Coast with the Dining Companion's hermana. Voodoo Doughnut in Portland Oregon was one of them. After all, how could we be in Portland and not visit Voodoo Doughnut? It's doughnuts and Voodoo. I know right?

Lining up for doughnuts

As we expected there was a line but we only waited about 10 minutes before we headed inside...

So many choices!

Racks of doughnuts and stacks of iconic pink boxes waiting to be filled

Time to get serious and pick out some doughnuts.

Bacon Maple Bars

Decisions, decisions...

Cap'n Crunch, check. Oreos, check.

Classic Voodoo Doll doughnut

We ended up with a dozen wacky and delicious doughnuts. Our very own pink box of happiness. 

If you're traveling to Portland put Voodoo Doughnut on your must do list. They're open 24 hours a day so whenever you hit town the doughnuts are waiting. Go get some!

I only wish there was one near me.

Happy travels!

Round Rock, Texas - Mmmmmm, donuts!

Old school water tower in Round Rock - part of a large WPA project in the 1930's

The Dining Companion and I stayed in Round Rock, Texas during our recent visit to Louie Mueller Barbecue. One of things I wanted to do while we were there was visit Round Rock Donuts.

So, once again, the Dining Companion and I headed out way too early in the morning. I wanted to make sure that we were there for some of the first donuts of the day. 

The line at the drive-thru

There were already people waiting in the parking lot and a line forming at the drive-thru.

A few minutes before the door opened I got in line. Well, not a line really, just me and one other guy. It seems that almost all of the action was happening in the drive-thru line. Fine by me. It gave me a chance to take a look around and decide which donuts to get.

 

Mmmmm, donuts!

You can't really see it in the pictures but Round Rock Donuts also sells kolaches. I got a couple of those too; sausage and cheese and sausage and jalapeno. For those of you not lucky enough to have had kolaches, they are small savory pastries. These are filled with all kinds of ingredients with sausage, cheese and jalapenos being very popular.

One of Round Rock's claims to fame is their Texas sized glazed donuts...

Picture of Texas sized glazed donut from Round Rock's website

...the other is the famous golden orange color of their donuts. (as seen in the smaller donut above) Once upon a time the color was said to come from the yolks of the very fresh eggs they used. These days it mostly comes from a little color adding cheat. Either way, they sure are pretty.

I got four donuts, two kolaches and a cup of coffee. 

Two kolaches, two glazed donuts, (1) chocolate covered bismark and (1) cherry filled

Hard for donuts not to be good when they're still warm and these were both, warm and good. The kolaches were good too. While I'm not sure that I would make a special trip for the donuts, I wouldn't hesitate to stop back in if I'm in town again.


Happy dining!