Stan’s is a donut and coffee shop that we hit a couple of times during our trip to Chicago. The turnover here is so frequent that you’re almost always guaranteed a warm, fresh donut. We tried the apple fritter and the blueberry cream cheese filled.
Here, the blueberry was the winner.
This joint is definitely worth hitting for interesting on-tap coffees (like barrel aged cold brew, or nitro) and fresh, uniquely flavored donuts.
STAN’S DONUTS & COFFEE
181 Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60601
This little fried chicken and fried bread joint serves up some great food. We tried the apple fritter, the pistachio glazed donut, and a chicken sandwich. We went a little past the morning rush, so the donuts had lost their warmth. Still great though. The apple fritter was the winner between the two donuts here.
The chicken sandwich was awesome. I only wish I had added cheese to this, but otherwise it was perfectly crafted. A simple classic! I could eat this every day.
DO-RITE DONUTS & CHICKEN
233 E Erie St
Chicago, IL 60611
A must-do thing in New Orleans is to have a beignet (or three) at Cafe Du Monde. There’s always a massive line, so go later at night, after dinner (make this your dessert), and you should have no trouble seating yourself. Order three, have a chicory coffee and dig in. But don’t spill any of that sugar cocaine on your pants!
So delicious. Basically, these are French zeppole.
CAFE DU MONDE
800 Decatur St
New Orleans, LA 70116
You know me: I’m not really an ice cream and donuts kind of guy. But DECADENT and SAVORY donuts?!?!!! Now you have my attention!
“Forbidden Donuts” has created a secret menu of seven deadly sinful donuts that will be shared with faithful sinners every Sunday at Bowery Kitchen Supplies in Chelsea Market from 11am to 4pm.
Limited quantities are available, so get there bright and early.
Menu and pricing are below. My favorite is the Smoked Salmon.
Caviar w/ Vodka Jelly $ 18
caviar cream
Smoked Salmon & Roe $8
smoked salmon tarama
Foie Gras & Chocolate Glazed $15
Foie gras mousse
Lobster “Roll” $10
Matcha Green Tea $5
crispy artichokes
Cauliflower Peanut Butter $5
crispy ginger
Kimchi $5
sweet & sour sriracha glazed
FORBIDDEN DONUTS (POP-UP)
Chelsea Market
Bowery Kitchen Supply
75 9th Ave
New York, NY 10011
These unique treats by SweetStuffed are doughnut-shaped cookies that are stuffed with various flavors and then frosted on the top.
My first foray into these delicious things cam when my wife won a box in an Instagram giveaway contest.
After that, I was hooked, It’s like that first taste of crack. The first one is free, but then you can’t stop. You know, because you’re all familiar with how crack addiction works…
Anyway, I decided to order a box to share with my family for the dessert table on Thanksgiving. Here are the flavors I tried:
My favorite flavor from the Instagram giveaway box was smores, so I made sure to get one of those.
This baby is just firing on all cylinders. It’s even topped with an actual toasted marshmallow smore, too!
But I felt pretty special when I was told I’d be the first customer to taste the maple bacon donut cookie. I was a happy guinea pig.
Real candied bacon on top, with bacon dust worked into the maple frosting? Genius!
Both the white chocolate and dark chocolate oreo donut cookies are amazing as well. I’m a sucker for anything “cookies and cream” related, so this was a big win for me.
But one of the biggest new sensations in the food world is anything matcha (green tea powder). Cream puffs, ramen noodles, chocolate… you name it, people love it. The same goes for this stuff here. The green tea donut cookie is delicious, and beautiful.
It’s light, but robust at the same time.
And last but not least from my box of six was the dark chocolate with sprinkles. So simple, so pretty.
Everything that Allison Kim (owner/proprietor) makes is on point, so you really can’t go wrong.
OH – and one other standout to me (from my wife’s giveaway box) was the white chocolate rose, with part of your purchase price going to cancer charities (because of the pink):
Super aromatic and floral, but with a good hit of sweetness that you expect from a “pink donut.”
I highly recommend this stuff. Yo won’t be disappointed! And when you order, tell Allison that I sent you. Maybe she’ll make something special and unique for you.
While I really can’t give a full-blown review of this place because I got my doughnut from Whole Foods, I can tell you that I absolutely loved the frosted blueberry doughnut. It was absolutely perfect. Soft, moist, flavorful, cake and delicious. Can’t wait to eat more of these fucks now that I know Whole Foods stocks them on site.
Side note: the PB&J doughnut is intensely good. Essentially it is a glazed donut that’s filled with jelly and then topped with chunky peanut butter. Why hasn’t this ever been done before?!?? And the coconut cream doughnut was amazing too.
DOUGHNUT PLANT
220 W. 23rd St.
New York, NY 10011
City Kitchen is a small second floor food hall that has some pretty decent proprietors in it. All of the food sold within is pretty much meant for take-out as opposed to dine-in, though there are a few tables available and bar seating along with windows.
I’ve decided to lump all of my reviews for each place within into this one post for easy access.
First is Kuro Obi, the ramen joint at the far end.
This is an offshoot of Ippudo. They offer the karaka-men spicy pork and chicken broth ramen. It was good. The noodles were the wavy egg style, and all the ingredients within were great. I just wish for $13 I got more than two thin slices of the pork belly.
Next up was Whitman’s for a burger and fries.
The burger was great – cooked nicely to medium, good pickles, mayo coverage, lettuce and tomato. Excellent bun (potato) as well.
The fries were lackluster. Maybe I should have upgraded to blue cheese fries. They were just a little greasy and not crispy enough.
For dessert get some “shaved snow,” An ice-cream textural spin on shave ice.
We had the banana cream, finished with some coconut shavings and condensed milk (and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal).
Nab some donuts from Dough on your way out. But if you see the famous hibiscus flavored ones, get as many as you can. They sell out quick.
We tried lemon poppy and chocolate this time. Both were amazing, doughy, big, soft, and flavorful even if not fresh out of the oven/fryer. But I was bummed that the hibiscus was all gone by time we finished our ramen and burger. Ahh what the hell… I’ll throw in some shots of the hibiscus donut from way back when I first tried them at another location:
CITY KITCHEN
Row NYC
700 8th Ave.
New York, NY 10036
I had been invited here for a press event a while back but never got the chance to check it out. After my wife and I finished a meal in the area, we figured we would check this joint out for some dessert.
I tried the lemon creme crunch, which was pretty good but you can taste their whole “low calorie” and “health” angle in these things. It wasn’t BAD, per se, it just wasn’t that good.
My wife had an apple crumble chocolate maple thing or something, but she asked for an ice cream filling. This was a cool option, but that means they had to swap out the apple filling for ice cream filling. It was much better quality donut when mixed with ice cream. Perhaps it added some softness or moisture that the non-ice cream donut was missing.
HOLEY DONUTS
101 7th Ave. S.
New York, NY 10014
