Monday, July 7, 2008

Donuts

We need good donuts badly in Durham. I was excited when Dunkin Donuts opened but sadly their donuts are not worth the calories. If I'm going to clog my arteries and fatten myself up with fried dough, it had better be GOOD. Some people like their coffee. It's adequate in a pinch but I'm not driving out of my way for it.

I have been known to embark on the 20 mile drive down to Raleigh for Krispy Kreme however. I wish we had a Krispy Kreme closer because not much can beat the KK plain glazed donuts hot off the donut press. KK plain glazed donuts cold are a let down by comparison.

The donut chain that I like much better than KK or DD is Daylight Donuts. Someone brought these into work last week after I harangued him into not bringing bagels or Dunkin Donuts. The old-fashioned glazed donut and the glazed chocolate cake donut are really yummy. I also like the Daylight Donut web site.

Are there any other donut places out there that I've missed? Why aren't donuts more popular in the South? Are we too busy eating biscuits? Seriously, we fry anything and have no compunction about eating grease three times a day. Would someone please open up a donut shop in downtown Durham?

I live vicariously through a new blog I found devoted entirely to the pursuit of donuts in New York City. What a dream to have so many options for fried dough!

12 comments:

capt. shitknife said...

i'm not sure where they are being made locally, but somewhere is making top pot donuts for the local starbucks. not quite the same as what you would get in one of the seattle shops (surprise, they're a little overly sweet...what is it about the south that gives us such a sweet tooth?) but mighty tasty none the less.

Joe said...

Durham used to have both chain doughnut places (DD) and independent stores. My favorite, from when I was a student, was Aunt Sue's, which used to be right off East Campus. They were open all night, and had video games to boot. Nothing like doughnuts and video games at 4 in the morning when you're drunk.

I'm hoping Durham is coming off the tail end of a spate of doughnut closings. Hopefully the new DD opening heralds a turnaround in Durham's doughnut outlook. :)

Lenore said...

Daylight Donuts are great. I loved it when there was a location on the corner of Miami and Alexander. I used to regularly pick up a couple of boxes to take to meetings.

Anonymous said...

Are we disregarding places that are bake shops in general? I don't know about Durham per se, but The Fractured Prune and Great Harvest I think make doughnuts. The latter I know has doughnuts. I don't care for doughnuts compared to pastries. Is it Doughnuts or Donuts? I've seen both and just can't remember :-þ

Maggie said...

I dream of Tatonuts in Ocean Springs, MS. Wonder if they'd consider expanding north.

Anonymous said...

I meant Fractured Prune I know has donuts not Great Harvest.

please sir said...

Another NC blogger - nice to meet you! I'm a Raleigh/Greensboro gal, and yep - I love donuts too! Luckily there is a KK in Greensboro as well. I'm surprised there isn't one in Durham?! Nice blog - I'll check back!

Anonymous said...

KK??!! What an overrated donut. I guess donuts are like every other type of food, one person's best it the other person's worst. Not that DD is great but MUCH better than KK. There is such an awful aftertaste with KK. I lived a couple of years in Missouri and the local IGA supermarket made tremendous donuts, each one weighed about a half a pound but melted in your mouth like a cloud.

Anonymous said...
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K said...

Every donut is a trans-fat laden bong. That's why they are GOOD. I recommend not eating them every day!

annaliesenc said...

Made-to-order beignets are available downtown at Rue Cler's bakery every morning! Much better than DD and a lot closer than KK...

K said...

True, the beignets are very, very good, but they are not quite the same as good, old-fashioned American donut that, for some reason, is kind of hard to find in the South.