California Donuts. Where to begin?

I thought New England had a lot of Donut shops but the Donutage in and around L.A. is out of control. I’ve really never seen anything like it. And I don’t mean Dunkin’, KK or Winchell’s – L.A.’s sprawl is filled with enticingly named indie shops like Perfect Donuts, Best Donuts, Sexy Donut (totally unappetizing) and my personal favorite for its simplicity, Jelly Donut. The other Times claims that L.A. County is home to nearly 900 Donut shops!, many of which are owned by Cambodians. According to some professor’s ethno-economic theory, Cambodian immigrants took over the SoCal Donut scene in the late 70s thanks to an ambitious shop owner in La Habra who convinced his buddies to make Donuts too. The ironic twist? According to the prof’s massive cultural generalization, Cambodians don’t even like Donuts.

Sadly, I didn’t have time to taste any sexy rings. Instead I completely sold out and hit all the famous spots known for things like celebrity clientele, giant roof-top Donut representations and froofy, high-end ingredients, while hoping for random mom-and-pop encounters along the way. So after a grueling day of travel Mrs. B and I finally touched down at Bob Hope International and hit the ground running. Without enough cash for a hybrid we guiltily went in true, gas-guzzling L.A.-style and rented a Jeep Liberty SUV. We slipped in our L.A. mix – lots of cacophonous Tom Waits, Beck, X, Frank Black, etc – and headed straight to the Farmer’s Market (more like a gourmet food court) for a taste of Bob’s Coffee and Doughnuts.

But before finding Bob’s I got distracted:

The place was called The Gumbo Pot and in addition to Beignets (French Donuts) and New Orleans-style chicory flavored coffee served things like fried alligator. I got a café au lait, which was smooth and authentically spiced, and an order of beignets. The guy behind me got the same only he pronounced beignet like “big-nut.” They were super-hot and fresh and two out of three were inflated correctly with a massive pocket of air inside. As usual when I eat beignets most of the powdery sugar ended up in my lungs as I inhaled but what stuck to the Donut was sweet and gooey and went well with the chewy dough. I looked over at “big-nut’s” table and dude was covered in powdered sugar.

After beignets we hit Bob’s, who many have called the best Donut dealer in L.A.. And even though we showed up at closing time my plain glazed was still nice and soft and had plenty of sweet and bright yeasty flavor. I can totally see how when fresh from the fryer, a still-smoldering Bob’s could be an award-worthy Donut.

Mrs. B had her sites on the Chocolate Caramel Nut. She attempted a new photographic technique ushering in a more sophisticated era in Blognut photography – the Donut Side View:

This could definitely take Blognut to the next level.

The CCN - which doubles as a “delicious party dessert” - was really soft and moist but also light, and I dug the clean, almost white color of the dough. It made it seem healthier in light of the seven-day Donut binge that lay ahead. Size-wise it was a little on the puny side, but the flavors were there – the rich and sweet chocolate-caramel frosting was offset nicely by the savory and textural peanut crunch and the oily finish was minimal. Mrs. B agreed this was a super way to start our California Donut Tour but was disappointed that Bob’s was out of their dinosaur and cat-shaped varieties. She’s often drawn to foods intended for infants and is perfectly comfortable eating off most children’s menus - things like mac & cheese and PB&Js you know.

The Gumbo Pot
Los Angeles Farmer’s Market
6333 W Third St. Ste 312
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Bob’s Coffee & Doughnuts
6333 W 3rd St. Ste 450
Los Angeles Farmer’s Market
Los Angeles, CA 90210

Stay tuned for Part 2 when we eat Beverly Hills Donuts.

…with lots of Donut happenings to report. Just let me get my thoughts together.

Just a heads up that Blognut will be taking this coming week off as Mrs. B and I head to California in search of tacos, In-N-Out burgers and –of course – pantloads of Donuts. After all, with over 1800 Donut shops, greater L.A. is the undisputed Donut-capital of the world. But before we leave I have a bit of protesting to do.

Over the weekend we visited the Blognut-in-laws for some tasty Portuguese BBQ and to drop off our cat (he goes by Dominic). When we got there Mom-in-law handed me a pile of newspaper clippings she’d saved from the local daily. “Thought you might be interested in these,” she said. I read them over a glass of water and an oatmeal cookie and was outraged:

CARMEL - Homer Simpson wouldn’t want to grow old in Putnam County.

Doughnuts, his deep-fried favorite, have been deep-sixed at Putnam’s senior centers because officials say they are bad for the old folks’ health and could be dirty.

Not surprisingly, some of those same seniors don’t like the doughnut police telling them what to dunk in their coffee.

“I really don’t eat those things, but don’t think at my age I need to be told I can’t,” said Joe Hajkowski, 75, of Putnam Valley, who got 250 signatures on a petition protesting the doughnut ban. “I don’t like the way seniors are being treated by Putnam County.”

Hajkowski’s petitions included such sentiments as: “We want our donuts back. We are old enough to know whether we should eat them or not”; “Please replace donuts. We are not bad people” and “We are senior citizens. We are not senile citizens.”

The great doughnut debate began Aug. 2, when William Huestis, executive director of Putnam County’s Office for the Aging, sent a memo to the senior nutrition centers in Carmel, Mahopac, Putnam Valley and Cold Spring that the practice of accepting free, day-old pies, cakes, doughnuts and other baked goods had to stop.

Seriously, what gives?! These people can think for themselves and evaluate the potential health consequences of enjoying a Donut. Plus, when you’ve made it that far you should be able to eat whatever the hell you want. Now Heustis has valid - and I’m sure well-intentioned concerns. He states later in the article, “There are people (seniors) with chronic conditions who were eating three or four doughnuts a day and cakes and pies. We were concerned about wellness and diet.” And if someone’s a severe diabetic or has cardiovascular disease then sure, they should probably avoid sugary, trans-fat-laden Donuts. And maybe someone like my grandma - who has a severe self-control problem around sugar - should be monitored to see they don’t polish off a dozen at a time. But banning them altogether? Can’t center employees instead bring up their concerns to the seniors cramming the Donuts. Or approach the families and/or friends of the offenders?

Plus, psychological well-being is just as important as physical health right? So if the average, relatively healthy senior with intact mental faculties draws pleasure from eating the occasional Donut, who’s to say they can’t but them? As CG-72 points out, maybe it’s something to do with insurance liability. Maybe the senior center’s insurance plan states they must provide health-promoting food or something. Who knows. But until I see a viable, documented reason why these folks can’t have Donuts, I – alongside Joe Hajkowski, 75, of Putnam Valley - will continue to fight this asinine regulation.

If you agree that the seniors of Putnam should be able to enjoy their donuts, please join me in filling out this e-petition which I will present to Putnam County’s Office for the Aging. By “e-petition” I really just mean comment on this post with your name and a brief statement of support. Sorry for going all political on you, but I feel this has to be done.

See you in a week.

-Blognut

Mrs. B and I are kind of obsessed with Top Chef Season 3 at the moment. She due to her crush on Colicchio – who I have to admit seems super cool – and me due to my elation that there’s a chef on TV that doesn’t act like this guy:

But if I can rewind a few seasons, the NYC food world has been buzzing in recent months about Season 1 winner Harold Dieterle’s new Greenwich Village restaurant Perilla. The critical consensus seems to be that while Perilla isn’t blazing any culinary trails, its straightforward American bistro menu and cozy atmosphere will prevail where so many over-hyped, over-thought New York eateries have failed. But most important to the restaurant’s success? They serve cube-shaped Doughnuts.

So on a recent Saturday night we head to Perilla for a nutritious meal of Doughnuts and beer. The place has a simple, low-key storefront on the tree-lined confines of Jones Street, which incidentally, is where the cover shot of Dylan’s Freewheelin’ was taken (check out Blognut’s Doughnut recreation). So how fitting that the house stereo pumps Bob as we walk in.

We sit at the bar and split an order of Pastry Chef Seth Caro’s very cheffy sounding Lemon Fennel Doughnuts with milk chocolate and black plum sorbet. While waiting we down a few Schneider & Brooklyners, a collaborative brew between the Brooklyn Brewery and Schneider, and my current favorite summer beer.

The Doughnuts arrive looking like tiny Rubik’s Cubes dusted with cinnamon. Or maybe a very sparse Q*bert level. And despite the modernism, the dish retains the down-to-earth comfort of fried dough and ice cream. The dough is crisp on the outside and soft and eggy on the inside. And I love the fennel. It’s subtle, which is key when subjecting a Doughnut to a foreign herb. I jab the cube with my fork and a river of liquid-y lemon crème filling gushes out and balances the fennel-cinnamon spice, as does the sweet, chilly sorbet. I’ve been slow to come around on gourmet Doughnuts, but Perilla’s are choice. Best sit-down Doughnuts in NYC. Hands down.

Perilla Restaurant
9 Jones Street
New York, NY

As promised, this past weekend I busted out the new deep fryer and spent the better part of Sunday constructing the winning Donut submission in Blognut’s recent The Simpsons Movie soundtrack giveaway. I still suck at cooking anything that’s not a grilled meat and I probably should’ve picked a simpler winner like the Red Velvet Cake, or maybe the Chocolate topped with ham and made things easy on myself. But Sumintra’s ginger-raised Donut filled with ginger cream and topped with lemon glaze sounded too good not to mess with. Now I have to admit I modified the recipe slightly, choosing not to impregnate a perfectly good Donut with the vile glop that resulted from me trying to make ginger-flavored cream (anyone have a good recipe?). I instead made a lemon pudding filling and added candied ginger to the glaze to make up for lost spice.

They turned out pretty well. The dough was airy and light and had just enough spongi-ness. It could’ve used a kick of cinnamon and nutmeg but the ginger and lemon zest came through well enough to save it from tasting like a bland slab of Wonderbread. The lemon pudding filling tasted like lemon pudding which I guess is expected and the lemon glaze - which at first I made too thick and called a “frosting” - had a tart citrus bite which got along well with the candied ginger. Have a look:

Dramatically lit kneading.

Raw Donuts.

Frying Donuts two at a time.

I forgot to get a picture of the Donuts actually getting filled so here’s a shot of Donuts waiting to get filled.

Candied ginger.

Finished Donuts with “glaze.”

Finished Donuts with “frosting.”

Filling.

Ginger-raised, Lemon-filled Donuts with Lemon Glaze and Candied Ginger

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 1/2 cups milk
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1/4 cup butter
* 1/2 cup warm water
* 2 packages active dry yeast
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 6 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (about)
* 2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
* 4 cups cold milk
* 2 packages instant lemon pudding (3.4 ounces each) (homemade lemon creme would be better but I didn’t have it in me)
* And like I said, try throwing in a few teaspoons of cinnamon and one of nutmeg

PREPARATION:

Scald milk in saucepan; stir in sugar, salt, and butter. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Measure warm water into a large mixing bowl; sprinkle in the yeast and stir until dissolved. Stir in lukewarm milk mixture, eggs, and half of the flour; beat until smooth.

Stir in lemon peel and remaining flour to make a soft dough; mix well.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead for about 8 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place in a buttered bowl, turning to grease all sides. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, for about 45 minutes, until doubled in bulk. Punch down and turn out onto lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Roll out half into a large round, 1/2 inch thick. Cut with floured doughnut cutter, with center section removed. Place doughnuts on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining half of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes. Fry in deep hot fat, 365°, until golden brown, turning once. Drain on wire rack with Village Voices underneath; cool thoroughly before filling.

While doughnuts are cooling, pour milk into a deep bowl. Add pudding mix and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Refrigerate for at least 5 to 10 minutes. Spoon pudding into a pastry tube with wide nozzle and pip into the cooled doughnuts. Apply glaze to your liking (recipe below).

GLAZE:

* 1/2 cup powdered sugar
* 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

I don’t know what’s more exorbitant, a $250 tasting menu or a $4.25 Donut. But either way Thomas Keller backs up his monster costs with outstanding food. I’ve never actually been to The French Laundry or Per Se thanks to the $$$ mentioned above but foodies and foodists seem to agree Keller’s one of the best – if not the best - chef in the country right? So I’m sure they’re good. And now I know first hand his Donuts are definitely worth laying into.

The downside to Bouchon Bakery? It’s on the third floor of a mall beneath an enormous “SAMSUNG” sign . Hardly the freshly picked culinary utopianism of the Laundry. But it’s a nice mall if that counts for anything. With shiny floors.

The upside? Like I said, Donuts. And I guess the fact that after dining you could go buy shorts if you wanted to. Or pants.

Now I’m not usually a fan of bready European-inspired Donuts. Instead opting for the vacuous, all-American raised dough that just sort of disappears in the mouth. But Bouchon’s got its breadiness down: forgiving without losing form; fresh yeasty flavor with a backdrop of sweet. Plus, an assault of gourmet fixin’s like Bouchon’s could make even a stale of dinner roll taste good.

Today the bakery has two Donuts. The first is topped with a modest smear of white frosting garnished with a sprinkling of cinnamon crumbs. It’s stuffed with one of the most unique and bad-ass Donut fillings I’ve ever had. I’m probably getting this totally wrong, but to me it tasted like a custardy lemon yogurt, all smooth and tart and bitingly sour. I tried getting Mrs. Blognut’s opinion but she was busy stuffing her head with Sour Watermelons and declined. Where Keller’s genius really comes through is in his flavor pairings. The dough, frosting, crumbs and filling meld together perfectly into a single complex and gorge-worthy taste; it’s more like sucking down some frou-frou French dessert than eating a Donut. But crap it’s good.

The second Donut’s got another mysterious filling. It’s kind of a runny, not-very-sweet caramel-apple concoction pulling influence from apple pie filling, apple butter and caramel sauce. It’s coated all the way around with granulated sugar and goes down quick, soaking up the belly full of Brooklyn Summer Ale I’d picked up that night in McCarren Park at the Sonic Youth show.

If I had to chose I’d go with Donut #1 but definitely a fine effort.

So while most chef-y Donuts pale in comparison to a simple Donut-shop glazed, Keller and his minions at Bouchon have managed to elevate our fried friend to gourmet standing without losing the carnal, fried, artery clogging “Donut-ness” of the Donut.

Bouchon Bakery
10 Columbus Circle
Third floor, Time Warner Center
New York, NY
212-823-9366

Let the fun begin. Blognut’s Cuisinart CDF-100 Compact 1.1-Liter Deep Fryer has arrived. So this weekend I plan to put on some frying music – something deeply southern like Elvis or Skip James or Dolly’s Jolene – and churn out homemade Doughnuts two at a time. The charcoal filter supposedly means my apartment won’t reek of oily friedness for two weeks like it did last time.