Sorry for the lack of posts – I was in DC most of last week for real job stuff and then got distracted by a Clinic concert and a friend of a friend’s circus. Part of me had wanted to toss a plain glazed through the gates of the white house lawn just to see what would happen. Lights? Alarms? Armed secret service dudes, etc. But instead I ended up at Starbucks eating a fairly moist and sweet Chocolate Glazed from Top Pot with an iced coffee.

Top Pot is small Seattle chain and, along with The Doughnut Plant and Voodoo, is really one of the few Doughnut shops furthering Doughnut culture – as opposed to hanging on by a thread of yeast dough like so many indie Doughnut shops faced with DD and KK infiltration. Almost two years ago – is this blog that old? – Blognut field-correspondent Beta Blognut reported on Top Pot and dropped near perfect scores on their Pink Feather Boa and Double Trouble Chocolate Cake. This of course was back when we still used a Doughnut rating scale before realizing that really all Doughnuts are pretty good and nothing ever received a bad score. But rating scale or no rating scale TP Doughnuts are tops and I was happy to find them in a Portland, OR ‘bucks last year. I assumed this was just a regional North Western situation, but after the DC encounter I did some Google-ing and learned the partnership’s gone national.

Apparently as of of April 8th Top Pot has reached Starbucks in all 50 states, replacing the corporate coffee monster’s really fatty and really just-OK Doughnuts. And I’ve got so many questions. Did TP give up their recipe? Do they fry them in Seattle and Fed-Ex all over the country? Maybe use regional bakeries like ‘bucks does for certain products? I’m waiting to talk with the folks at Top Pot for the details so stay tuned. Here’s a shoddy camera phone pic:

While I’m in DC for a few days Field Correspondant Beta Blognut has left us with arguably the most unappetizing photo I’ve ever seen. And is that a horseshoe crab?

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Judging by the fact that our free summer drink and Doughnut contest only received 18 entries, I’m guessing either, 1) pairing drinks wtih Doughnuts is too hard, or 2) one free Krispy Kreme Chiller plus a few Doughnuts isn’t enough to motivate contest participation and this contest was probably stupid. But either way, thanks to those of you who entered. I’ve listed the winners below and will be contacting you shortly for your mailing addresses.

Chels - Strawberry-frosted and champagne

Christina - Chinese five-spice cake yeast doughnut, glazed and sprinkled with finely chopped cashews and white hot chocolate

Karen - Grape Jelly Donut with sweet peanut butter shake

Leslie - Minty smoothy and a bourbon cream-filled donut (Mint Julep theme)

Royal Pac-man - Munchkin and espresso