Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
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Tuesday, October 15
For olde timez sake, it would have to be Honey Fluff Donuts, our high school haunt in Countryside, IL. We'd show up at 1 am or so on weekends -- the best time to consume lots of coffee -- and "donut guy" would give us all the previous day's leftovers while he made the new batch. They moved the place a mile or so southwest sometime during my college years, but I believe they still exist near the corner of Joliet and Wolf Road.
And the new ads with Rachel Ray makes me hate Dunkin' Donuts now more than ever.
The last donut I ate came from Roots Market in Cedar Falls. I ache for another vegan donut. It hurts.
Gone but not forgotten...
The best sprinkled donut in the world was at Red's drive in on 111th st.
DINKEL'S
on lincoln
their cake donuts are divine.
cinnamon & sugar on it & i'm a happy guy.
Old Fashioned Donuts in Roseland (112th & Michigan) is fantastic. Yes, it's a bit far, but well worth. The apple fritters are gigantic and delish. They also have what i think is called the Texas donut which is as big as an adult head. No joke. The place itself is in a no frills storefront on a bustling section of Michigan Ave. After gorging yourself, head east on 111th to check out the historic Pullman neighborhood.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/UywCScGv6rdAEEpMg_nyOQ
I like the cake-style with chocolate frosting from Bennison's in Evanston. Mmmmmm..........
I'm a big fan of Spunky Dunkers in Palatine, and not just for the name. Great homemade donuts, including the "lemon drop," a biscuit-style donut filled to bursting with tart lemon filling.
Strawberry frosted donuts from Dunkin' Donuts remind me of being little, so they get my vote. I have a photo of me as a baby eating donuts w/my dad and there's a DD box on the table. DD's tag at the time (early '80s) was "Worth the Drive."
Now they're on every corner!
I'm from Boston originally, so Dunkin' Donuts is local as far as I'm concerned. But one has to pick carefully there. And I'll grudgingly admit that Krispy Kreme is often better. Dinkel's is amazing, it's true. And I also have to echo the love for Old Fashioned's apple fritters. If the coworker who lives in Elmhurst and often brings in some very good donuts shoes up today, I'll find out his source.
(And yes, I'm an editor, but I spell it "donut." The "ugh" doesn't belong in something as fine as donuts.)
Hey editorkid,
I think you meant "shows up", not "shoes up", right?
Gonna be a long day for you, huh?
I still love Dunkin' Donuts. The buttermilk donuts=delicious.
My sister and used to get donut cravings at you know like 10pm, so we'd run to the DD at Lincoln and Addison. We'd plan to get just one each or a 1/2 dozen so we'd have treats for the next day. Apparently we went often enough that the lady knew us and always knew she could easily talk us into a dozen for "just 25 cents more, girls!"
I enjoy a doughnut from Huck Finn's, but with no car, those are a rarity.
A co-worker will bring in from Abundance Bakery, also somewhere on the South Side, and man....those are the BEST! Their apple fritters are almost as big as footballs.
I'm still a big fan of the blueberry filled and Bavarian Cream filled Dunkin Donuts, and Dunkin's convenience is a plus for me. But I grew up in North Carolina, and I worked in Winston-Salem right next to the first, original, headquarters of Krispy Kreme, and there is NOTHING better than passing by when the neon HOT NOW sign is on and getting a fresh glazed right out of the oven. I heard there was a Krispy Kreme downtown Chicago, but that's too much of a hassle for me. So I just gorge when I go home to NC.
Hey Managing Editor,
I think you meant to put your commas inside those quotation marks.
Happy Friday.
When I was a kid, the spot to be was Mr. Donut at the northwest corner of Clark & Thome (that's Edgewater for you newbies), where I learned early of the stereotype regarding cops and donuts. Does anybody remember this particular Mr. Donut? I remember the interior of the place was drowned in orange.
It eventually turned into a Dunkin Donuts, which is still standing there, I believe.
Now, in Portage Park, I've come to appreciate the abundance of Polish pastries.
First of all, a hearty happy friday!
Now l if you consider a beignet a donut, then its Cafe Du Monde, all the way!
Cafe Du Monde is located at 800 Decatur Street in New Orleans.
Speaking of New Orleans, Ignatius J. Reilly use to drink Dr. Nuts, which they no longer make.
J Dilla's last alblum
is called Donuts, because he liked'm so much! RIP J Dilla. Personally I like Donuts and Beer or any thing with Beer. Tonight I plan on drinking alot of beer with out Donuts, but certainly with gin and tonics, preferably with Hendricks Gin.
Hummmm, this seems like an Allan question.
Allan,What say ye?
That little donut shop that used to be under the el tracks at the Wilson stop. It was the scariest place in the world to buy a donut. Old people just sitting there, gumming their plain cake donuts, nobody talking. Strange guys sitting in the corner taking way too long to finish that cup of coffee and mumbling to themselves. Long before the "urban adventurers" and relocated CHA residents moved in. I'd stop there every once in a while when I lived near there. I know they moved them across the street, but still.... Creepy good times.
Oh, and Yum Yum Donuts near Wrigley Field (RIP). Just 'cause I liked the name.
I second Bennison's in Evanston for donuts although I had a pretty good, giant, chocolate at La Baguette Panaderia, at the point where Ashland and Clark meet in Andersonville.
Hey Non-Editor,
Perhaps Managing Editor lives across the pond.
TFIMFF
My house. MORE NUTMEG! MORE MORE MORE!
ME, you won my "spot the tyop" contest. Congratulations; you've won bragging rights until Fuel's next thread. Enjoy.
Do they even have donuts across the pond?
Not that I'm trying to steer the conversation back to donuts or anything. Sheeze. And our donut bearer never did show up, so salesman Steve's suburban source shall sadly stay secret.
(As long as we're pulling rank here...)
Editor's Law, a correlary to Murphy's: When one is publicly criticizing someone's grammar/punctuation, one will make a grammar/punctuation mistake oneself.
The hardest thing for an editor to do is to edit him- or herself. (I proofed the above three times before posting, and found two errors.)
The donuts sold at the Oak Park Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings are the bomb. (start tomorrow!)
Also, I always liked the donuts at Dunkin Donuts, that were called "dunkin donut", the one with the handle, but they got rid of those a few years ago.
My all-time favorite donuts come from Battle Creek, Michigan at the Sweetwater Donut Mill at the Capital Avenue exit, across the street from the Shell station. Getting donuts there was a must on our early Saturday morning drives to Detroit.
Around here I have to vote for Krispy Kreme, but only if they're hot off the conveyor. Out in Woodridge (I think) there's a Krispy Kreme on Rt 53 near Maple Avenue. I like to go there and watch the donuts on the conveyer, especially when they go through the waterfall of glaze. If I were to die, heaven would be riding a conveyor belt, showered in Krispy Kreme glaze.
Oh, and Spook: I'm in New Orleans as I type this. I'll have a beignet in your honor (they're one of my favorites, too. Unfortunately NOLA isn't a Chicago suburb... yet.)
Spook...
Didn't Ignatius also sell Lucky Dogs? Or something like it?
Andrew...
I don't think you don't need a comma after "posting", since it's immediately followed by "and". But I could be wrong.
Ah, donuts and copy editing. It's a beautiful thing...
I've never been to the Spunky Dunkers in Palatine, although I love driving by that place for the name alone. I'm nostalgic for cinnamon/sugar twists, which unfortunately have morphed into "bowties" at Dunkin' Donuts. Now? I loves me the apple fritters with actual apples in them.
I'll second eep's Sweetwater's Donuts mention, although I prefer the two Kalamazoo locations. Man, those are some good donuts! And they have a drive-thru! And it's open 24 hours!
Get the apple crumb -- it will make you happy.
why, yes indeed, Mr. Ignatius J. Reilly,
was offered and did except a lucky dog vendor position, (temporarily with the Lucky Dog Company)
pushing a hot dog shaped cart through the French Quarter with a hand drawn sign taped to the front, reading "12 inches of pure pleasure!"
Andrew!
How dare you inform me
that you are in my only american oasis
while I, rot, in this miserable city and can only say that I’m listening WWOZ Public Radio!!!!!
And you’d better not venture into any of my favorite bars, Vaughn’s, Check Point Charlie’s, Buffa’s, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, Rock N Bowl, etc. I will never forgive you, never! But now is your chance to tell the truth, that you really are in Iowa or Cleveland
Oh, the donuts at the Oak Park Farmers market... the best.
We'll be biking there tomorrow!
Skafiend: the comma is optional; I used it for emphasis.
Spook: None of those is on our list ...currently. Stopped at Snug Harbor last night, headed to Pravda (a new place on Decatur) and possibly d.b.a. tonight. Tomorrow, who knows? Buffa's is only a block from where we're staying.
I usually don't correct grammar usage online, but since the debate is already open...
Andrew, your previous post should not have a comma. It actually is not optional in this case because you should not use a comma to separate 2 verbs or verb phrases in a compound predicate. If, however, you had written, "I proofed the above three times before posting, and I found two errors," then you would use the comma to connect 2 independent clauses.
Ah, comma rules. Who doesn't love them? :)
But back to donuts, has anyone ever made homemade donuts by deep frying biscuits???
I second the Dinkel's cake donuts - I prefer the ones with the chocolate frosting, though.
Yes. And they suck.
justin,
whole foods has vegan donuts & donut holes. i think they're made with spelt flour, but they're pretty delicious (especially the pumpkin flavor). of course, you could attempt to deep fry in the comfort of your own kitchen. but doesn't that seem like a lot of work?
I liked Winchell's Doughnuts when they were in the area. I must be the only one who liked them, since they came and went rather quickly. And I was a kid, so what did I know. Krispy Kreme is way too sweet and soft and mushy. I just don't see what people rave about.
A good cake doughnut is where it's at. Don't call jelly filled things doughnuts; they are rolls, or pastries. If it doesn't hang from a dowel, it's not a doughnut. Bismarks and glazed jelly rolls were great when a local bakery made them and I got them when I was little, but maybe I've outgrown that.
(The overuse of ands above is grammatically incorrect, a comma should separate sweet from soft. But I went for emphasis. I checked my poetic license, and my and stamp is still valid, though that reminds me to renew my run-on sentence permit. Those babies expire annually.)
peanut, but I've checked Whole Foods! Next time I'll ask where they hide them. Thanks!
Sadly, I doubt this place still exists, but the Wauconda Orchards made some awesome cinnamon sugar donuts that were the bomb-diggity. Since most of the orchard land was sold I doubt that thier deliciousness is still possible to find. :(
(My friends worked in the kitchen and used to throw cheese into the ceiling fan, good times were had there>)
You guys were so hung up on donuts and commas that you missed the fact that Andrew spelled corollary wrong.
Do I win a donut?
Spunky Dunkers in Palatine is excellent. A short drive away near the intersection of Higgins and Arlington Hts. Road in Elk Grove Village is Jarosch Bakery....the best sugar twists and other bakery delights.
The Krispy Kreme on Devon is huge and almost always empty....everything is too sweet.
DDonuts is only good for the coffee.
Its Actually A Well known fact that Jimmy Hendrix Like Plain Cake Donuts, He hated Them With Jam In contray to the popular joke, which is very misleading!!!
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Ellen / June 1, 2007 6:35 AM
Dunk Donuts, Lake St, Melrose Park. Their cinnamon sugar is their best.