So there’s this new site called Blogsoop, where NYC food bloggers unite. It’s like Citysearch in that it offers readers Web-based restaurant commentary, only instead of relying on hired writers it uses a database of reviews from established food blogs, each of which can be meta-rated by readers in terms of helpfulness. In my opinion Blognut is far from “established,” but even so, the fine folks at Blogsoop have been so kind as to put together the Blognut Top 7, a compilation of my seven favorite NYC Donut spots with accompanying reviews. So go check it out and eat all the Donuts.

Frankies 457 Court Street Spuntino
457 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY

Spuntino [NOUN] - An informal meal or a snack; also, a casual Italian eatery

Frankies 457 has been a regular stop on Blognut’s dinner circuit for quite some time. This former-speakeasy turned quaint Italian trattoria is nestled deep in the heart of Carroll Gardens and definitely lives up to the recent hype it’s received from the NYC-foodie crowd. Co-owned by 2 Frankies, Frankie Castronovo and Frankie Falcinelli, Frankies 457 quickly became a neighborhood favorite and serves up some of the best Italian food in the area. If you don’t mind waiting for a table, the simple and comforting recipes made with high-quality ingredients make for a warm and delicious dining experience.

After having eaten numerous Super-Good dinners at Frankies, Blognut decides to finally try their brunch.

Saturday morning, 11:30: We arrive at Frankies and join the slew of groggy Brooklynites already enjoying their morning Spuntinos. Surprisingly, we are seated right away.

Blognut orders the French toast with Canadian maple syrup and the prosciutto and pecorino sandwich. The toast was incredible – sliced extremely thick, and battered with cinnamon excellence, it was some of the best we’ve ever had (looking back, this was probably due to the fact that it sort of tasted like a cinnamon/sugar doughnut…mmm). The sandwich was a hit as well – we loved it. Thinly sliced prosciutto and a perfectly dry pecorino on flatbread provided by the Sullivan St. Bakery.

Frankie’s sandwich menu is definitely one of their strong points. Simple combinations such as sopressata and provolo, Faicco’s sausage & broccoli rabe, and mozzarella, tomato and arugala, are perfect for savory-seeking brunchers. Other menu highlights include an extensive selection of crostinis, cured meats, and formaggio. For dinner, Blognut would highly recommend the home-made cavatelli with Faicco’s hot sausage and browned sage butter.

Food Score: 9.8

Monday morning: As promised, Blognut strolls into Madison Square Park with the intention of acquiring a Warm Heirloom Apple Fritter from Shake Shack. The popular burger/hot dog stand was scheduled to reinstate their breakfast menu this morning but to our disappointment, they’ve decided to hold off on any morning eats.

Blognut walks up to the Shake Shack window and speaks with a Shake Shack-Lady (presumably the manager):

Blognut (perplexed by the lack of patrons): “Hello. I think I’ll try an apple fritter?”

Shake Shack Lady: “I’m sorry, we’re actually not serving breakfast – we’ve decided to postpone the launching of our breakfast menu.”

Blognut (now sad): “Really? …how come?”

Shake Shack Lady: “We’ve decided to start staying open later in the evenings. We close at 6:00 and end up turning people away every night – we’re now going to be open until 9:00 PM. We’re planning on revisiting the idea of serving breakfast though, probably this June.”

Lady with German Shepard walks up (also seeking breakfast).

Lady with German Shepard: “I thought you guys were starting breakfast this morning?”

Shake Shack Lady informs her of the new plan, then offers both of us a donut to compensate for the lack of breakfast (she pulls out 2 large trays of what look like Dunkin Donuts from the kitchen).

Lady with German Shepard: “Sure, I’ll have a glazed.”

Blognut (to Shake Shack Lady): “I’ll have a chocolate glazed”

Blognut (to Lady with German Shepard): “Can he have one?” (referring to dog)

Lady with German Shepard: “He can have part of mine, as long as it’s not chocolate.”

We accept our complimentary Nuts and the 3 of us walk away happy.

The Hill Diner
231 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY

The Hill Diner is plain in every way. The storefront is plain, the tables are plain, and the walls are plain. While Blognut is all for chic, minimalist decor, the Hill Diner is just plain boring. Not bad, and not good.

Thursday evening: Fearing an impending rain shower Blognut stays close to home for dinner. We arrive at the Hill Diner at 6:30 (sometimes we like to eat early) and sit outback in the newly-opened-for-summer garden. We plan our escape route in case the storm hits. In keeping with the surroundings, the menu is somewhat plain too – essentially diner cuisine with an air of sophistication.

Blognut orders the Chicken Schnitzel with mashed potatoes, fennel, and honey mustard sauce. The waiter is friendly and funny - we joke about the word Schnitzel.

The chicken was mildly flavorful and completely inoffensive, as were the potatoes – the kind of meal you enjoy and never think about again. Blognut highly recommends adding doughnuts to the menu in order to make the Hill Diner-experience more memorable. (Also, when will the criss-crossing lines of sauce, squirted from a squeeze bottle as a means of culinary-finesse, end?)

If you’re looking for a completely normal dining experience, check out the Hill Diner.

Food Score - 7.0

Gothamist reports that on April 17th, Shake Shack, the ridiculously popular outdoor burger stand in Madison Square Park, will reinstate their breakfast menu. Breakfast will be served from 7:30 to 10:45 AM and, in addition to the Breakfast Shack (scrambled egg, cheese, fresh pork sausage, and “Wake-up” sauce), will include the Warm Heirloom Apple Fritter. Blognut hopes the fritter can live up to the perfect 10.0 score the Shack holds on Citysearch.

Check back Monday, April 17th for an in depth Fritter-Analysis.

On June 23, 2006, Blognut will learn how to make doughnuts.

The Institute of Culinary Education here in NYC has announced that they will be offering a specialty baking course called Doughnuts, Beignets, and Fritters. There will be 3 sessions offered this spring/summer – May 21st, June 23rd, and September 21st. The course will be taught by former Army sniper-turned-pastry chef Chad Pagano, with each session lasting 5 hours.

Students will learn to make apple fritters, French beignets, old-fashioned buttermilk cake doughnuts, classic doughnuts, jelly-filled doughnuts, and ricotta-yeast doughnuts, among other Nut-relatives. Tuition is $90 and no previous Nut-Experience is required.

Other courses being offered that Blognut recommends include: Best Homemade Pizza, Soul Food and Old School Hip Hop with DJ Q, and Authentic Southern BBQ. For a complete list of courses see the ICE’s Web site.

It’s going to be a great summer.

Cupcake Cafe
522 9th Avenue
New York, NY

As one of the top contenders in the ongoing NYC-cupcake-battle, the Cupcake café is best know for its ridiculously dense cakes and rich, colorful, buttercream frosting. Sharing a window display with these buttery marvels, it’s easy to see how a baked-good as simple and endearingly humble as a doughnut could get overlooked – but the Nuts at Cupcake are just as impressive as their cakes.

Sunday afternoon: Blognut enters the Cupcake café.

Initially blinded by the rows and rows of brightly buttercreamed cupcakes, it takes us a few minutes to notice the bowl of plain doughnuts sitting in the front window. They only have 3 left. The café specializes in old fashioned plain cake donuts with flavors like buttermilk, pumpkin, whole wheat oat, whole wheat orange, chocolate, and lemon.

For the more adventuresome Nut-eater they also offer a raspberry-filled and a sweet potato-glazed. We order a single buttermilk Nut and grab a table in the corner while customers steadily file in and out. While our purchase looks like any other plain cake doughnut, it turns out to be heavier, weight-wise, than most contemporary Nuts.

Blognut eats it. The Nut’s simple external appearance gives way to a rich, complex flavor which greatly surpasses our Nut-Expectations. Slightly sweet and unbelievably dense, this is the perfect Nut for dunking (on our next trip to Cupcake we’ll certainly be ordering a coffee). This is by far the most interesting plain cake doughnut we have encountered in New York.

Post-Nut, Blognut wanders over to the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market across the street, and digs through bins of records, piles of dishes, and stacks of picture frames. Serendipitously, Blognut emerges with a prize: a perfectly-preserved, vintage Mister Donut coffee mug.

The Donut Pub
203 W 14th Street
New York, NY

Sunday morning: When Blognut first heard the name The Donut Pub, we couldn’t help but imagine a dark, wood paneled dive-bar serving up pints of stout and sugary crullers. We also conjured up images of beer-battered glazed and Pinot Noir-grape jelly-filled Nuts - turns out we were wrong. The Pub’s specialty is simply donuts.

While not a pub in the true sense of the word, The Donut Pub is open 24 hours/day, offers diners a friendly, neighborhood hangout, and has been serving up some of the best donuts in NYC since 1964. Patrons can sidle up to the Pub’s formica counter (appropriately, there are no tables, just stools) and choose their poison from a mesmerizing and diverse display of Nuts.

Blognut orders coffee, a marble glazed, and a black and white-frosted Boston creme. This is the first marble glazed we’ve encountered since visiting Old Fashioned Donuts on 86th and Lexington last summer (OFD was a classic Nut-dealer in the Upper East Side — sadly, Blognut recently learned that it’s closed its doors). Promptly deemed the “Black and Tan” of donuts by Blognut, the marble was a perfect blend of chocolate and plain cake dough with just the right amount of glaze rounding out the flavor. The black and white Boston creme puts a new twist on another Blognut favorite, the traditional New York-deli black and white cookie. This soft, delicous Nut is filled with smooth Boston creme and frosted with that instantly recognizable half chocolate, half white pattern.

The Donut Pub definitely has one of the most impressive selection of Nuts in town - Blognut highly recommends it for those seeking a satisfying Manhattan-Nut.

On the subway ride home a scraggly-haired indie kid sits across from Blognut holding a Cinnamon bun encased in a brown paper Starbucks bag - sucker.

Donut Scores:

Marble glazed - 8.7
Black and white Boston creme - 9.3