NYC review: Doughnut Plant
Jan. 31st, 2010 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
interstice4*/5.
This is a sort-ofSoho Lower East Side landmark, a hip independent bakery and storefront owned & operated by a passionate doughnutier from a family of bakers. Yes, I took an hour-long trip (each way) just to get some donuts. They supply donuts to a lot of places, including the coffee shop on the Upper West Side I used to go to regularly. However, their store-front has a much greater selection (including cake donuts which the coffee shop never has), and the business is brisk enough to keep them fresh.
I had the coconut-glazed-and-filled yeast-raised square donut (their cream-filled donuts are all square, which is neat), a cake donut, and some black coffee. The specials today were a strawberry jam-filled and a Meyer lemon-glazed, which didn't really appeal.
The was chocolate cake, with chocolate glaze and chocolate crumbles on top, along with a thick chocolate-custardy filling. I'd never had a filled cake donut before. I was really looking forward to this one, but it was kinda disappointing. It's not too sweet, which although good in chocolate, is not very good in a donut. Also the chocolate crumbles on top didn't carry any of the crunchiness which their appearance suggests. The result is that the whole thing kind of mushes together and it's hard to appreciate each of the components contributing to the whole. Pity; it just feels like a waste of $2.25 and probably like 600 calories.
The coconut2 was great. I usually find their yeast donuts a bit toothy, but I think this is because they're not as fresh as they are at their store-front. Also the filling in the middle pleasantly broke up the thickness. It was delicious; the filling wasn't quite a cream, more like a medium-thickness coconut jelly. (Yes, fellow perverts, that means it looks and feels a lot like semen. It's easy to overlook though.)
Overall, the donuts were great but it'd probably be impossible for any donuts to live up to the hype, hence the 4*. The coffee, which is organic, was quite servicable but nothing special.
Next time I'll try their tres leches, and crème brûlée, which are kind of their standards. I won't be making a special trip for it, but it's just a 5 minutes-walk from Chinatown and I'll keep it in mind.
Damages: $6 on the nose. Not bad all in all, if you think of them as pastries as opposed to mere donuts, which category they almost transcend.
This is a sort-of
I had the coconut-glazed-and-filled yeast-raised square donut (their cream-filled donuts are all square, which is neat), a cake donut, and some black coffee. The specials today were a strawberry jam-filled and a Meyer lemon-glazed, which didn't really appeal.
The was chocolate cake, with chocolate glaze and chocolate crumbles on top, along with a thick chocolate-custardy filling. I'd never had a filled cake donut before. I was really looking forward to this one, but it was kinda disappointing. It's not too sweet, which although good in chocolate, is not very good in a donut. Also the chocolate crumbles on top didn't carry any of the crunchiness which their appearance suggests. The result is that the whole thing kind of mushes together and it's hard to appreciate each of the components contributing to the whole. Pity; it just feels like a waste of $2.25 and probably like 600 calories.
The coconut2 was great. I usually find their yeast donuts a bit toothy, but I think this is because they're not as fresh as they are at their store-front. Also the filling in the middle pleasantly broke up the thickness. It was delicious; the filling wasn't quite a cream, more like a medium-thickness coconut jelly. (Yes, fellow perverts, that means it looks and feels a lot like semen. It's easy to overlook though.)
Overall, the donuts were great but it'd probably be impossible for any donuts to live up to the hype, hence the 4*. The coffee, which is organic, was quite servicable but nothing special.
Next time I'll try their tres leches, and crème brûlée, which are kind of their standards. I won't be making a special trip for it, but it's just a 5 minutes-walk from Chinatown and I'll keep it in mind.
Damages: $6 on the nose. Not bad all in all, if you think of them as pastries as opposed to mere donuts, which category they almost transcend.
