New York City - June, 2017

Underwest Donuts
Web Site: underwestdonuts.com
Address: 638 W. 47th St., New York, NY 10036

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I visited Underwest Donuts on 6/6/2017. This is a funky donut shop situated within a car wash adjacent to the West Side Highway in Manhattan.  The donuts are in the gorgeous, yet traditional, category. The flavors are fanciful and the pastel colored icing on this spring day was lovely.  So lovely, in fact, that according to the June 2017 issue of Food and Wine, the shoe designer Mickey Ashmore of Sabah dedicated a new line of pastel leather loafers to Underwest.  That said, I went right for the old-fashioned donuts—prepared on the spot!  I tried two flavors—cinnamon and chocolate glazed and they were delicious!  Highly recommended for the ambience, the friendliness of the staff and the yummy donuts.

Donut Plant
Web Site: Donutplant.com
Address: 379 Grand Street (between Essex and Norfolk) New York, NY 10012
              220 W 23rd Street, between 7th & 8th Avenues, New York, NY

I visited Donut Plant on 6/7/2017.  They have several locations across NY, Brooklyn and Queens.  For this blog entry to be truly complete, I would need to visit the original location on the lower East Side.
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Donut Plant is in the “nouveau and trendy” donuts category. These donuts are works of art (and indeed, the décor was a work of art with more donut wall hangings/pillows than I have ever seen!). I stayed fairly traditional in my flavor selections—Valrhona Chocolate and carrot cake.  Both were cake style.  The chocolate was gooey and yummy but quite messy.  The carrot cake was smaller, more manageable, and scrumptious. The staff was friendly but not overly so.  Highly recommended for the ambience/décor and the delicious donuts.  

Addendum: June 2018
Thank you, Emma Silver, for being our guest reviewer of Donut Plant.  You, too, can be a guest reviewer.  Contact wendonutopia@gmail.com to participate in this exciting opportunity.  
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Emma writes:

Specific feature—the Black & White Doughnut

Doughnut Plant is just one of many of New York’s famous doughnutteries. As a relatively ‘new’ New Yorker, I hadn’t yet had a chance to try one of their masterpieces so I was grateful to Wendy for asking if I would track down their new Black & White Doughnut. I was unsure of what the experience had in store for me, and little did I know that I was going to be reunited with one of my first and favorite New York discoveries (read on to find out what I mean!).

I had seen Doughnut Plant on display at various food fairs and other venues around the city. Like many of its other competitors, Doughnut Plant seemed to be yet another ‘hipster’ spot that eventually hit the mainstream. Walking into their location on the Lower East Side, however, I was impressed to see a few unique claims to fame adorning their walls. The Doughnut Plant was the first to create the crème brulee donut (a luxury I had the pleasure of trying while I was in Barcelona a few years ago), and they were also the first to combine fruit and nuts in a glaze. In short, this place was clearly laying claim as a trailblazer in the doughnut community.

The line was long, but moved quickly. Even though I was on assignment to try the new Black & White doughnut, I couldn’t help but peruse the other flavor options… Lemon Poppyseed, Rose, variations of Chocolate… And then, three flavors caught my eye that I knew from a lifetime ago—Carrot Cake, Tres Leches, and Wild Blueberry. My eyes lit up and a big smile crossed my face—THIS WAS IT! The source of the life-changing doughnut!

About a year ago, my roommate and I stumbled into a little café called Bluestone Lane. After a delicious and savory brunch, we were looking for a cake or cookie to polish off our lattes. The waitress mentioned the donut selection—blueberry, carrot cake, and tres leches. Feeling adventurous, we picked blueberry, and there was truly no looking back. This blueberry donut had it all—it was cakey and flavorful, with real blueberries in the dough as well as in the glaze. We went back to Bluestone Lane many times after that, usually to get yet another inspiring blueberry donut. But there came a day, much to our disappointment, when Bluestone Lane stopped supplying their donut selection. It did not cross our minds to ask where these delectable goodies might be coming from, or if there was somewhere else we could get them. Little did we know that we would be blessed enough to find them in New York once and forever more!

As for the real reason that I was here, the new and popular Black and White doughnut, I was very impressed with how cakey the dough was, but slightly underwhelmed with the authenticity of the black & white flavor—I think they easily could have replicated the black & white cookie frosting, but they chose to make it fit the mold of what people think of as true donut glaze. Still, I enjoyed my black & white donut and probably would order it again.

My experience at Doughnut Plant was magical for a myriad of reasons, the black & white doughnut being one of the many. If you are ever in New York and craving a sweet treat with a hole in the middle, I’d definitely recommend you check this place out. 

Du’s Donuts

Web Site: https://www.dusdonuts.com/
Address: 107 N 12th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249
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Du’s donuts caught my attention because they were opened by a chef, Wylie Dufresne, in early 2017 in the William Vale Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Du’s is sleek and modern, in line with the hotel, and the shoppe features only 10 beautifully hand-crafted, boutique, and elitist flavors of donuts at a time. They were works of art and tasty.  I selected two flavors—cinnamon and Mexican hot chocolate.  Both were cake style and delectable. 

Worth sharing about Du’s was my experience getting there.  I left a meeting at lunchtime and asked a taxi driver if he would keep the meter running while I ran inside.  He did and I proceeded to eat the donuts in the backseat of his cab which isn’t unusual—except that this particular driver was a Sikh and after I had messed up the back seat with crumbs and cinnamon, I recalled our visit to the impeccable Sikh temple in Delhi. The cab was impeccable before I got into it.  I regret having left crumbs in the driver’s cab but I do not regret visiting Du’s.  Indeed, Du’s deserves another visit with more tasters so that we could get a better handle on the full array of flavors.

Moe’s Doughs Donut Shop

Web Site: (Facebook) https://www.facebook.com/MoesDoughs/
Address: 126 Nassau Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222
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Upon visiting Moe’s (our first visit on our 6/10/2017 Brooklyn donut safari) little did we know they were in a donut “war” with Peter Pan Donut and Pastry Shop (see links on home page sidebar). We got to Moe’s just as he was preparing to open and Moe was literally loading up the racks as we entered so we know that the donuts were very very fresh.  Moe’s is traditional and, indeed, he had a tremendous assortment of old-fashioned donuts including (but not limited to):  blueberry, rainbow, cinnamon, chocolate, lemon, etc.  Apparently, the rainbow (not exactly eye candy) was flavored with cardamon and somewhat tasty.  Moe’s does not currently have a website which would definitely add to its panache.  Deserving of a visit, but not an elite donut in the mix.

Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shops

Web Site: http://www.peterpandonuts.com/
Address: 727 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222
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Peter Pan is a traditional, old-school, old-fashioned bakery with counter seating.  Donuts are only one of many offerings—including egg creams, milkshakes, and other pastries. The staff members, in their stiffly starched pink aprons, were very friendly. The donuts were delicious (what donut is not delicious) but not extraordinarily memorable.

Dun-Well Doughnuts
Web Site: https://www.dunwelldoughnuts.com/
Address: 222 Montrose Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11206
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The unlikeliest of donut stars on our 6/10/2017 Brooklyn donut safari was Dun-Well Donuts.  Dun-Well markets itself as a vegan, upstanding citizen of Planet Earth.  Indeed its mission statement—presented prominently on the website is: “Our mission is to be the premier doughnut shop on planet Earth and reverently carry on the tradition of doughnut making in a manner that is both innovative and ethical.” So, Dun-Well has attitude—literally plastered all over its walls. 

In fact, I have discovered that many doughnut purveyors have attitude—plastered all over their walls.  But, sometimes the brand does not carry over into the doughnuts. Even though my nephew had assured me that Dun-Well Doughnuts were excellent, I had my doubts.  How could a doughnut made without any animal products (including eggs) possibly be any good?  How could they pull that off?

I was pleasantly surprised—beyond surprised.  The lemon poppy seed yeast doughnut I sampled (and readers will recall I am not a fan of yeast doughnuts) was incredible.  So light and airy it was almost like eating a feather.  The glaze was delicious—not sickeningly sweet, not messy, just elegantly glazed on a beautifully constructed doughnut.  So, bravo Dun-Well.  You really made it work.  Definitely worth another visit (they are now in Manhattan as well).

Donut safari cab driver Mohammad

UPDATE: April, 2018
I visited Dun-Well Donuts (vegan and delicious) in Brooklyn in June of 2017.  They were so delicious they were almost too good to be true, so I visited their Lower East Side location (102 St. Marks Street) 10 months later. Low and behold, they were just as tasty--if not better.  This time, I bought several including, but not limited to--lemon poppy seed glazed, chocolate glazed, and mini chocolate with vanilla glaze.  I gifted all but the mini chocolate vanilla glazed to our friendly cab driver.  I must say, that mini donut was fantastic and it aligned with my altruistic beliefs.  I strongly recommend Dun-Well donuts in either location.

The Doughnut Project
Web Site: thedoughnutproject.com
Address: 10 Morton St, New York, NY 10014

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The Doughnut Project is a funky, totally New York, doughnut haven in the West Village.  The décor speaks New York and so do the yeast doughnuts.  Every inch of this small establishment conveyed attitude.  The flavors were upscale and interesting and they tasted great.  I sampled “The Bronx”, olive oil and black pepper and “The Everything Doughnut”, cream cheese glaze, with sesame, poppy, pepita, garlic, and sea salt (very  messy!). I wish I had also sampled the “Lemon Love Letter”, lemon glaze with a hint of sea salt. Definitely worth a return visit!