Today I found out Madonna used to work at Dunkin’ Donuts. No word on the details, but it was sometime in the late 70s when she first moved to New York to be a dancer. Now she’s mysteriously English and only eats a macrobiotic diet - “I don’t really eat food in restaurants.” - so I’m sure she’s cut all ties to working class food - but it’s nice to know she had honest beginnings.

Brief conversation with coworker about Madonna Donut revelation:

Blognut: Did you know Madonna used to work at Dunkin’ Donuts?

Coworker: Madonna sucks.

Took another break from Donuts, this time for hot dogs. And considering the bulk of my recent writings seem to involve Donuts, Dogs and Beer, for health’s sake I should really focus my next piece on the country’s best cucumbers. Or lettuce or something.

Click here for hot dogs.

From Blognut reader Sharon:

Hi Blognut -

My four year old son designed and created his birthday cake with 72 donuts from Donut Pub. It was pretty amazing and the kids went nuts for it.

That is my son Samuel in the back licking his lips! He had never seen or heard of a donut cake and out of the blue one day told me that he wanted a donut cake at his party. We went to Donut Pub a few weeks before and he picked the type of donuts he wanted for the cake. We picked up six dozen the morning of and Sam and a friend of mine put the cake together. It was amazing.

-Sharon

Outstanding! Got any other innovative uses for Donuts, let us know.

Photo courtesy of Mrs. Blognut walking to get her hair cut - 5:50 PM, March 21, 2008.

Some of you may be familiar with our ongoing series, “Celebrities Caught Thinking About Donuts,” in which primarily B-list celebrities are caught in the act of thinking about Donuts. Well we’re mixing things up this time. Here’s a shot of former New York State Governor, Eliot Spitzer, definitely not thinking about Donuts.

Donuts were integral to the first Wayne’s World. Wayne and Garth were regulars at the fictional “Stan Mikita’s Donut Shop,” an obvious nod to Canada’s biggest Donut chain, Tim Horton’s. Tim was a hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the ’50s and ’60s, as was Stan for the Chicago Blackhawks. The police officer in the shop is Officer Koharski, no doubt a refrence to NHL referee Don Koharski who was once told by New Jersey Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld to “Have another donut, you fat pig” after a playoff game (incident covered by Blognut here).

The best known Donut scene from the movie has Garth anthropomorphizing a Donut man he’s created by sticking pieces of a glazed twist together with coffee stirrers and asking it, “Hey Mr. Donut Head man, who’s trying to kill you? I don’t know, but they better not.” Then he stabs it repeatedly with a small red hockey stick.

Know of any other Donut screenshots, let me know in the comments.

I hadn’t been to Virginia Beach since high school when I used to play Pearl Jam songs on the street in exchange for quarters and the occasional complimentary Indian buffet. So on our recent visit to the area, when not downtown eating Ed La Dou’s original BBQ Chicken Pizza at the California Pizza Kitchen – 2 visits in 3 days! – I was desperately looking for Donuts that weren’t Dunkin’ or Krispy Kreme. Because unless my Internet-ing skills have dwindled, the expansions of Mass’s DD and Carolina’s KK seem to have collided somewhere along the shores of Virginia, effectively squashing the local Donut scene.

But like Illinois senator and unconfirmed Donut-lover Obama says, there’s still hope for change. In so many towns overtaken by suburbia’s franchised sprawl, the underground Donut movement refuses to die, smoldering until the public’s corporate frustration becomes so great it can only be pacified by a home-made fritter. And I wouldn’t be surprised if this is happening in VA Beach.

Read the rest of this entry »

This week I’ve taken a break from Donuts to focus on Irish pubs. Back tomorrow with Donuts from Virginia Beach.

Update: The Irish Pub piece wasn’t working for a bit but my friends at MSN have made it all better.

ROSEBURG, Ore. - This past week two guys in cowboy outfits offered Donuts to two sheriff’s deputies. The cops declined and later investated a convenience store robbery in which Donuts were stolen and cowboy boot prints were found on the floor. The two guys were arrested. Once again Donuts find themselves at the forefront of justice!

Finally made it to Spitzer’s Corner a few weeks ago. This Lower East Side gastropub has one of Manhattan’s best beer selections (Chouffe, Rochefort, Aventinus, etc), serves pork fat popcorn and is not named after New York’s governor. Plus they’ve got a short-rib hamburger! I know, crazy.

I met up with MM for dinner at Spitzer’s before heading to the Bowery Ballroom for the Bon Iver/Black Mountain concert, which was pretty good in a pack of wolves-meets-Black Sabbath kind of way. And there was really no menu deliberation necessary for either of us. Because like I said, short-rib hamburger! Medium-rare with aged Vermont cheddar.

Then, right there under “Desserts,” the menu read, “Bag of Donuts.” It’s rare to find the heavenly and healthy triad of beer, beef and fried dough so you really have to go for it whenever possible.

Read the rest of this entry »