Stan's Donut Shop

Stan's Donut Shop - July 3, 2013

One more 4th of July eating post before I go back to posting recipes of what I've baked.  This was actually pre-4th of July but only by a day. I've said before that I'm not really a doughnut person and while I can enjoy a good doughnut, I don't go out of my way to get one.  I had to bend that rule when one of my coworkers told me about Stan's Donut Shop, both because it's a local small business and I try to patronize and promote those as much as possible and because they have a 4.5-star rating on yelp.  Even that might not have swayed me except the comments on yelp were hilarious.  There are some serious doughnut eaters out there and Stan's Donut Shop has a following that I can safely describe as almost cult-like in their devotion to their doughnuts.  So as a self-described foodie, I had to see what the fuss was all about.  631 reviews couldn't possibly all be wrong.

The glaze melted into the hot doughnut and set nicely without being too thick

Fortunately my coworker told me the tricks to maximize my Stan's Donut Shop experience. a) Go in the morning.  They make doughnuts all morning up until 10:30 am (they open at 6 am) and once they're sold out, they're sold out.  There might be a line that goes out the door but it usually goes quickly, she said.  b) Get the glazed original doughnuts.  Because demand is so high, chances are you'll have to wait a few minutes for them to fill your order when the next batch of doughnuts comes out of the fryer but that's okay because then they'll be really fresh, hot and newly glazed.  If you come too late in the day for fresh doughnuts, you can put in an order for the following day.  I've never gone to that kind of trouble for doughnuts but if you believe most of the 631 yelp reviews, many of them can and have.

I did as dutifully instructed and lucked out because I went early the morning before the 4th of July holiday weekend started.  The people who would ordinarily pick up a couple dozen doughnuts for the office on their way to work weren't there because many people were taking the day off to extend the holiday weekend.  There were only 5 people in line in front of me at 7:30 am but even so, I had to wait about 10 minutes because the guy in front of me got the last of the already-made doughnuts and I had to wait for the next batch to come out of the fryer.  Which was great because I got really fresh doughnuts.  They were still warm by the time I got home and logged onto my computer to start the workday.

I have to say, this was a very good doughnut.  Even as a non-doughnut person, I could appreciate how "cakey yet fluffy" (as one yelp reviewer described it) the doughnut was.  The glaze wasn't too sweet and the doughnut itself was pretty yummy.  If you like Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Stan's Donuts are better - they're bigger, tastier, not as sickly sweet, and at 85 cents a doughnut, a much better value.  They're like Krispy Kreme doughnuts on steroids.  In a good way.  And better.  If you are a doughnut person and haven't had a Stan's Donut yet, this could be your Holy Grail of doughnuts.