photos courtesy of mackw
and donut tour we did! my girly-friend mackw and i visited 7 shops across san francisco on saturday starting downtown at barbary coast with a few donut holes. at pinkie's bakery (they only do donuts on saturday) we shared the vanilla vanilla donut. it tasted like a donut you'd get at a street fair. it was super sweet and the grease from the fryer was evident. the colourful sprinkles were delightful but i could barely finish my half--it was simply too sweet. our next stop was dynamo donuts in the mission. i think mackw chose the lemon poppyseed--which she loved--and i selected the gluten-free carrot. it was tasty but again, too sweet and rich for my palette. from dynamo, we ventured a few blocks, crossed the excitement of the folsom street fair, and popped into the jelly donut. we had high expectations for this bakery considering its name--the jelly donut. we were hoping for rich, raised, mouth-watering jelly-filled donuts. instead, no jelly donuts were to be found so we bought a handful of donut holes. a good donut hole is worth every calorie. but a dry donut hole is just sad. we didn't finish them.
at that point, we decided to take a break and went for a movie--the hundred-foot journey. it was full of magic, beautiful food, romance, flirtations, swoony landscapes, fireworks, styles that are straight out of an anthopologie lookbook, and so much more.
it was a welcome respite from the sweetness. but we still had 3 shops to go--golden donuts, heartbaker, and bob's. golden donuts is home to a perfect cruller. it was light as air, wonderfully sweet, and gone in an instant. i could have eaten at least a few more. at heartbaker we scooped up their last two vanilla bombolonis. they're italian donuts shaped filled with a blast of custard. i was hesitant because of the custard but it was just the right amount. the donut dough itself was perfect. it had a taste of home and as if it was made in small batches. and then we made it to bob's. bob's is my go-to for donuts and will remain so, even after our tour. their crumb donut stands above all other donuts--it is the heavyweight in flavour, and, literally, a heavyweight--i can only stand to eat one.
after all that, i learned a valuable lesson from our donut tour on saturday. i like my donuts to be simple, fresh, and classic. no fancy hipster flavours. no day-old donuts. no donuts that are so sweet you go into a sugar frenzy.
bob's for life. (but i would gladly return to heartbaker for their tasty bomboloni.)
photos courtesy of mackw
