24 comments

  1. I’m confused. Are the donuts stuck on a slow boat from China? Or are they literally out of sugar, flour, and water?

    1. Isn’t it great that Great Britain has solved every other crime and imprisoned every criminal so they can go after unapproved sprinkles?

      JQ

    2. As best I can figure this, _one_ British kid was allergic to a food coloring, so it was banned in the UK.

  2. 1967-68.
    Roseville, California.
    I worked at Dainty Pastry bakery, midnight-7:45am (time enough to be at high-school by 8am).
    .
    1979-89.
    I owned a restaurant business.
    .
    2021, I am particular about my wheat-grease goods.
    Across the parking-lot from the laundry is Dizzy Dean donuts.
    First bite of their ‘French cruller’, I spit it back into the tissue then gave it to whichever dog I had with me that day.
    .
    Would any of today’s American donuts impress me?
    Hard to say…

    1. Gotta Habit doughnuts in Denver.

      They make 5-7 (I forget) types of “artisnal” doughnuts a day. And when they run out, they close.

      It’s the difference between going to McDonalds and getting a burger and fries, and going to a really good bar and grill and getting a burger. And then some.

      They are part of a bar, so after dinner, if there’s any left, you can get a doughnut and an Irish Coffee for desert.

      1. Best name for a donut shop, ever:

        Ich Bin Ein Berliner (Munich)

        I nearly wet myself laughing when I saw it.

        1. That is really funny, the Krauts did like making fun of the Kennedy’s and JFK being a pastry but they also loved them. I was living there in the 60’s when Bobby was killed and they were mourning him more than some of us Mericans were.

  3. Decent donuts, and good coffee. I like the old-fashioned or dunker (basically the same donut, but the dunker has a handle so you can…dunk it). The crumb cake muffins are also tasty.

    I also like their dark roast coffee, and most of them sell enough coffee that it’s usually fresh. I drink my coffee as God intended (straight from the pot, strong enough to melt a steel spoon, and black as my old girlfriends heart), so if it’s not fresh there’s nothing to mask the taste.

    I wouldn’t shed a tear if Starbucks went out of business (although their Pike’s Place K-cups are pretty good). Most of their coffee tastes like shit, that’s why they have to add all those high-priced syrups and crap to it.

    Mark D

    1. > Most of their coffee tastes like shit, that’s why they have to add all those high-priced syrups and crap to it.

      Other way around. Their business model is those syrups and crap, and you need to over-do the roasting on the coffee to get any hint of coffee flavor through that.

      They actually have a decent light roasted blonde coffee (couple years ago, last time I was in one), but it’s not always available and you have to ask for it.

      1. I think you mean Starbucks. Dunkin Donuts, at least the one near my old house, had good coffee, always brewed fresh. The old pots were dumped every hour if I recall correctly. Never heard of any flavors.

  4. “…. supply train issues….. ” what they mean is that the midnight shift Baker’s Dealers supply of Meth finally came in and now they need a new Baker.

  5. probably trucks are unavailable for delivery. Pay higher wages and attract more drivers.

    Enjoy Dunk’s. I used to like the original dunkin’ donut, a plain with a handle for dunking in coffee. Their Boston Cream is pretty good too. Their coffee is far better than Starsucks.

    JQ

    1. Back in February 1990 my old GF and I got Salmonella from Boston Cream donuts at a DD. Took me YEARS before I’d eat one again, and STILL won’t from DD, only from a bakery.

      I know it was February 1990 because the donuts were heart-shaped for Valentine’s Day, my Mom was still alive (she died in May of that year), but I had my Mustang (bought in June 1989), which I recall because GF nearly upchucked all over my new car.

      Mark D

  6. DD is a fine utility donut shop. I was told their coffee was great while on a trip up north. I got it with cream and sugar, which turned out to me most of what was in my cup.

    I’ve been to the DD a mile away from me twice. Both times I was served by a surly negros who seemed like they were doing some sort of favor by waiting on me.

    Down here in North Dallas, there are ample mom and pop places that craft donuts that are world class, and made on site. That’s where I go these days when I have a donut jones.

  7. All this do-nut talk and nary a mention of Shipley’s… as a Lost Texan, this troubles me!

  8. Garbage donuts and mediocre coffee.

    In my youth? Our local DD shop had a bar you could sit at and watch them MAKE the donuts fresh. And amazing coffee. Then they started outsourcing the donuts and the quality fell off a cliff. Then they went woke and got rid of proper styrofoam cups.

    Dunkin Donuts is a victim of whatever disease is killing off every other institution I liked. Luckily, smaller bakeries have stepped up to fill the void.

  9. We have something around these parts called Ducks Donuts – artesian flair, decorated, heavy sugar. And, they cost a fortune. All rave at them, their ‘style’, and how good they are. I think they taste like a round birthday cake, with 5lbs of sugar in the frosting\glaze.

    I used to like Krispy Kreeme (lousy at spelling), but they left my locale for unknown reasons. Last time I saw one of their places was in NC traveling. Sadly, their glaze is too sweet for me, these days.

    Our local (and last one) bakery does homemade ones, but they sell out quite fast, and don’t take requests\orders. Its funny seeing 5-6 people lined up in the morning, to go get a fix.

    I’ll keep making my own peanut butter cookies and crumb cake, as a sub…

  10. Many gas stations around here have good coffee from Green Mountain roasters or New England Coffee Roasters. Even Maxwell house at some places is good. McDonalds had partnered with Green Mountain to offer Newman’s own coffee for a while but they quietly stopped advertising it as Newman’s Own. It might be the same stuff or a slightly different roast.

    JQ

  11. Aa far as I know, DD went the same route that Tim Hortons did, talking the cooking process out of the stores and instead making them in a central location, flash-freezing them and shipping them out to the stores. The few times I’ve had Dunks since then they’ve been…edible. That’s about as far as I’d go.

    Then I happened to notice my local grocery store (ShopRite) had individual doughnuts in the display case as I entered the store and out of curiosity I bought a couple. Wowzah. They were absolutely perfect. Super-fresh (as in ‘made in the last hour’) light and flavourful. They’re now the only doughnuts I’ll eat (maybe two or three a month) and they are *so* good! Bavarian Creme filled, chocolate ring, and glazed are my favourites.

    1. That explains how they could have the other items but not doughnuts – they’re probably baked and frozen in different locations.

      And what the heck is the point of a doughnut restaurant that just reheats the doughnuts? If microwaved-from-frozen was as good as fresh-baked on-site, you’d get a good coffee maker (they’re pretty much automated now so any difference from store bought has to be in the ground coffee), buy the coffee and doughnuts at the grocery store, not have to go out for breakfast, and save that several hundred percent markup that any restaurant needs to cover wages and overhead.

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