Having had our fill of chicken schnitzel, koblihys, and full-bodied Pilsner at the Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden, we hit the streets of Astoria in search of another local delicacy – the loukoumas (plural = loukoumades). Loukoumades are sweet, ball-shaped fritters made from yeast dough and dipped in warm honey. They are considered the Greek equivalent of a donut.

Loukoumades recently gained recognition (and a hefty helping of indie-cred) after a New York Times piece followed Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger of Brooklyn duo The Fiery Furnaces to Telly’s Tavern in Astoria, where they dined on loukoumades. After leaving the Beer Garden, Blognut heads over to Telly’s to see what all the fuss is about. Now comes the bad news - the hostess informs us that they don’t serve our desired dish on Saturdays. Not willing to except rejection, we make our way down the street to Lefkos Pyrgos, who thankfully are ready to meet our donut-needs.

We order a plate of loukoumades ($5) and 2 black coffees. They arrive swimming in a shallow pool of glistening honey resembling a school of drowning Muchkins. Compared with the Czech donuts we had earlier in the day, these were packed with flavor and loaded with sweetness – a perfect blend of cinnamon and honey goodness not so dissimilar from the Mexican variation on the fried dough and honey combo, the sopapilla. But be careful, their bite-size stature makes it easy to overindulge – Blognut was left feeling rather defeated.

With the exception of being slightly over ambitious with our honey application (which, at times, led to nearly unbearable sweetness), this was our favorite international donut-experience to date.

As an aside - apparently there is a derogatory Greek expression based on the loukoumas used to imply that someone is stupid. Eisai megalos loukoumas! literally translates as “You are a big donut!”

Donut Score - 9.5

Feeling the need to stay in touch with our Czech heritage, Blognut makes the long subway ride to the Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden in Astoria, Queens for the 24th Annual Czech and Slovak Festival (or, as it’s called on the Garden’s Web site, The 24nd Annual Czech and Slovak Festival).

We arrive in the early afternoon to beat the crowds and score a seat immediately. We share a table with an old Czech man that resembles my grandfather. He makes a joke about how he plans to steal our camera while we’re at the bar - everyone laughs.

We start our day with 2 pints of Czechvar and more than enough traditional Bohemian folk dancing. With our stomachs adequately primed on delicious Czech froth, we make our way to the food tables where, as we had hoped, we encounter a women selling authentic Czech donuts (known as Koblihys).

Before moving foward with any Donut-Commentary, we feel some clarification is in order:

Many people are under the impression that the traditional Czech donut is the Kolache (also known as Kolach or Kolacky). While this may be splitting hairs, the general Czech-Consensus is that Kolaches are more akin to pastries then they are to typical American/European donuts, with filling resting in a small depression on the top surface. Koblihys, on the other hand, resemble jelly donuts. They are large and round, with their filling completely encased in dough. Both Kolaches and Koblihys are typically filled with cheese, cream, poppy seeds, or fruit. Savory, meat-filled Kolaches have become popular with Czech populations in the United States, with cities such as Montgomery, Minnesota and Caldwell, Texas holding annual Kolache festivals. But I digress.

After speaking with the Czech-Donut-Lady, and confirming that her offerings were in fact Koblihys, we order two - one filled with prune and one filled with cream. The thin layer of powdered sugar on the prune-filled was unable to redeem its lack of taste. As was the case with the Polish pączek we dined on a few weeks back, this Koblihy reminded us of a semi-stale dinner roll. However, once again, due to vastly different cultural expectations, we don’t fault the Koblihy for not meeting our sugary, American-Donut-Needs. The cream-filled, on the other hand, was delicious. Stuffed with smooth, Boston-y creme and covered in a rich chocolate frosting, this Koblihy left us with a satisfied stomach and chocolate-covered fingers - definitely worth “Czeching” out. We washed down our donut with a pint of Staropramen and the sweet sounds of the Pilsner Brass Band.

Koblihys.

Dancing Czech men.

Thanks to Dad for speaking with us on behalf of his grandmother’s homemade Kolaches and to our friend Slim for accompanying us to the Beer Garden.

The Cupcake Cafe (Flatiron location)
18 West 18th Street
New York, NY

Blognut’s last visit to The Cupcake Cafe (Hell’s Kitchen location) was met with a limited, yet satisfying selection - the only donuts they had left were the Buttermilk Plain Cakes. We return today in hopes of trying some of their more eclectic flavors, in particular, their monstrous Sweet Potato Glazed.

6:15 PM - Blognut steps into The Cupcake Cafe taking refuge from the dusty, construction-laden mess that is 18th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. The scene brings immediate disappoinment - the glass cake plate normally housing the Sweet Potato donuts sits empty. We confirm with the Donut/Cupcake Man that he isn’t hiding any in the back - “Sorry sir, we didn’t make any today,” he says, with what I think is a Scottish accent. Despite the bad news, this trip to the Cafe is still a success. We score two old fashioned cake donuts - a pumpkin spice and a chocolate. As we leave, we get a hearty “Cheers” from the Scottish Donut Man.

The best part about The Cupcake Cafe’s donuts is their subtleness. These dense, great-for-dunking cake creations have only a hint of sweetness, which can come as quite a shock to sugar-seeking donut eaters. The Pumpkin Spice tasted more like a scone than a donut while the chocolate resembled cocoa powder in flavor (this is a good thing - we promise). In this era of overly sweetened Pop-Nuts drowned in glistening glaze, both of our donuts were a refreshing change.

Blognut ate only half of each donut, setting aside the rest for tomorrow morning’s dunking.

Donut Scores: non-dunked/dunked

Pumpkin Spice - 7.5/8.0
Chocolate - 7.5/8.0

A Brooklyn Life reports today on their suspicion that a new Dunkin Donuts may be opening soon on the corner of Bergen and Smith in Boerum Hill.

Blognut is fairly certain that this may be the next step in Donut-Entrepreneur Peter Ungaro’s quest to eliminate what little mom-and-pop donut influence Brooklyn has left.

Saturday morning – Blognut arrives in Toronto, and, after a long discussion with our cab driver about the Buffalo Sabres and the future of hockey in America, we arrive at our hotel. We immediately hit the streets looking for a donut.

While the Toronto metropolitan area has over 500 donut shops to choose from (see previous post), the downtown location where we’re staying is dominated by Tim Horton’s – there were 6 within a few blocks of our hotel, further proving my theory that Canadians love donuts.

We stop in the first Tim Horton’s we see and order their newly-released Carrot Cake Donut and a small black coffee. The Canadian Donut Man looks at my $20 bill graced with an oversized Andrew Jackson head and says “Where do you think you are, America?!” – then he turns to his fellow Donut-Man and they both laugh hysterically. We leave to look for an ATM, all the while questioning our cab driver’s assertion that every place in downtown Toronto takes American dollars. Luckily this Horton’s is attached to a bank – we withdraw $40 Canadian and return for our donut.With our order in hand, we hit the streets looking for another donut shop – all we can find is another Tim Horton’s. This time we order a Canadian Maple frosted and sit down to enjoy our purchase. We pull out the Carrot Cake donut from our first stop and set it next to the Canadian maple. The Canadian Donut Man at this Horton’s then comes over and says “Didn’t you only order one donut?” “Yes,” we respond – “This one is from the Tim Horton’s down the street.” He looks perplexed but returns to his station behind the counter. We eat.

The Canadian Maple was the perfect welcome to Canada – not only a great tasting donut, but a symbolic representation of the nation’s most widely recognized icon, the maple leaf. It was filled with a Boston-esque crème and frosted with Maple Intensity – far more potent than its Dunkin Donuts counter part here in America. The Carrot Cake tasted almost exactly like its namesake, but due to its fried exterior and the inherit perfect-ness of the donut’s ring shape, it was much more suited to be eaten with hands than its wedged cousin. While Tim Horton’s may be a major chain, it was a nice diversion from the Pop-Nut monotony here in the States.

While going through US customs prior to our flight home, we were asked to declare any purchases we made while in Canada – we declared two donuts at a total cost of $1.50.

Donut Scores:

Carrot Cake - 7.5
Canadian Maple - 8.8

So Blognut’s going away this weekend to Toronto. In planning our trip we naturally investigated the donut shops in the area - we came to the conclusion that Canadians must love donuts.

A search on Toronto.com for “donuts” turns up a whopping 514 results in and around Toronto! Now we know what you’re thinking - most of the hits must be Pop-Nuts, right? Nope. While the most common findings on the list are, as expected, the three major donut chains in Ontario - Coffee Time, Country Style, and Tim Horton’s (the Dunkin Donuts of Canada, named after the famed Toronto Maple Leaf) - nearly half the listings are independents. Blognut was left feeling a little overwhelmed. Unsure of where to even begin - but reassured of our decision to focus Blognut’s coverage on US-based donuts - we’ve decided not to plan on hitting any specific Donut-Locations. Odds are we’ll find some.

Back on Monday.

Donut recommendation from our friend Face in recently-flooded Melrose, Massachusetts:

Kane’s Donuts
120 Lincoln Avenue
Saugus, Massachusetts

Kane’s has been churning out homemade donuts to Saugonians for over 50 years and has become somewhat of a local legend. While offering standard fare such as jelly-filled and Boston-Creme donuts, Kane’s is best known for their more adventuresome varieties like the honey-dipped and the classic Bismark. Half donut - half pastry, the Bismark is loaded with black raspberry filling and smothered in whipped cream, confectioner’s sugar, and more raspberry.

In a discovery that nearly caused Blognut to fall out of our chair, Kane’s also offers - get ready - a coffee roll measuring 12 inches in diameter!

Blognut has not visited Kane’s yet, buts plans on doing so in the near future.

Melrose.

Kane’s photo courtesy of J. Harrington.

This month’s edition of the international food rag Saveur has a piece by food writer John T. Edge reviewing 7 US-doughnut shops worth visiting. We were happy to see our local favorite The Doughnut Plant on the list, and even happier when Edge referred to Plant-founder Mark Isreal as a “doughnut Don Quixote.”
Also on the list:

Butler’s Colonial Donut House - Westport, Massachusetts
Started by a former Dunkin employee and his wife, Butler’s is best known for its Long Johns - yeast-raised rectangles filled with black raspberry jelly and covered in real whipped cream.

The Donut Man - Glendora, California
This roadside stand run by Donut Man Jim Nakano churns out raspberry and peach varieties made with freshly picked fruit.

Shipley Do-Nuts - Oxford, Mississippi (although a Texas-based chain)
Simple yeast-raised doughnuts which Edge feels have the consistency of Wonderbread - Blognut visited their store in downtown San Antonio last year.

Tex Drive-In - Honokaa, Big Island, Hawaii
Hawaiian drive-in specializing in malasadas - holeless Portuguese doughnuts.

Top Pot Doughnuts - Seattle, Washington
Started by two Seattle brothers who have acquired trademark rights to the classic Doughnut Corporation of America, Top Pot serves glamorous doughnuts like the Valley Girl (lemon-filled with lemon icing) and the Pink Feather Boa (rose-colored, vanilla-iced with flaked coconut).

Zingerman’s Roadshow - Ann Arbor, Michigan
This trailer-based operation serves lemon zest and nutmeg-spiced doughnuts based on a traditional Dutch recipe.

John T. Edge’s book Donuts: An American Passion comes out this month (published by Putnam) as part of a 4-part series “celebrating American food icons.” Blognut can’t wait.

Thanks to Dr. Rod for letting us know about the Donut piece in Saveur.

Netflix movie recommendation from our friend Vogelish:

Donut Man: On Tour/Resurrection Celebration

Join that crazy Donut Man (Rob Evans) on tour for a sing-along adventure. Donut Man, Duncan the talking donut and the kids from the Donut Repair Club travel around fixing donut holes, teaching kids about God’s love and performing songs (”King of Kings,” “Praise Him”) from the Integrity Music Just-For-Kids series. In Resurrection Celebration, Donut Man and the kids help a friend deal with a tragedy while they rehearse for an Easter play.

Min’s Donuts
337 9th Street
Brooklyn, NY

Saturday morning: Feeling as though we’ve been neglecting the numerous doughnut offerings right here in Brooklyn, Blognut heads deep into Park Slope for our inaugural visit to Min’s.

Anticipating the friendly, donut-munching patrons and formica counter tops we now expect from local Brooklyn donut shops, Blognut was disappointed to find Min’s Donuts a cold, unwelcoming establishment. With not even a hint of neighborhood charm, Min’s definitely has the “we were at one time a Dunkin Donuts” feel (although we were unable to confirm our suspicion with the Donut Lady).

As is the case with many Dunkin-wannabees (see HoneyDip Donuts and the Donut Connection), the donuts at Min’s taste like watered-down versions of their Pop-Nut predecessor’s.

Blognut orders a plain glazed (the true test of a Nut-Purveyor) and a chocolate glazed cake. The plain glazed was a little on the dry side, falling far short of its Dunkin rival in both flavor and consistency. The chocolate however, was moist and relatively flavorful – a much better DD rip-off.

Next time we’re craving a donut on 9^th Street in Park Slope, Blognut will probably just hit the Dunkin Donuts down the street.

Lame donuts.