![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Donuts!
This started out as a comment on an entry by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
klyfix.
I've been questing for donuts for some time now. Jonesing for them, too.
Dunkin' has become a sad, sad joke. Their donuts are tiny, relatively flavorless, and usually stale.
In the general Woonsocket area, there are a few other options:
Betty's Donuts. I list them only because it's funny that a place called "Betty's Donuts" hasn't actually sold donuts in several years. They have pastries and muffins; no donuts.
Coffee & Cream. Famous for giving me food poisoning that hospitalized me, and has caused me to pass out every time that I've been sick (in the British sense of the word) since then. They stopped serving donuts last year; that's a pity, because they were large and quite good (they still have muffins, rectangular ones, and they're quite excellent). Their coffee is outstanding; quite possibly the best in the area. They make it with spring water.
Coffee & Cream. This isn't the restaurant on 146A, but rather the roadside drive-through shack (with a giant coffee mug in front of it, that's a fountain once in a while) nearby on route 146. I haven't been there in quite a while - I can never be sure when they're open, and I've been expecting them to go out of business ever since a DD opened up down the road - but the last time I was there, they had good, large donuts - although they were obviously not baked on the premises (I did say "shack", after all). I've often wondered if they were association with the Coffee & Cream restaurant.
Donut X-press. In downtown Woonsocket, just over the bridge. Their donuts are made on the premises, I believe. The donuts are somewhat larger than DD's, and their coffee rolls are huge. Unfortunately they seem to have gone a bit downhill over the years. The donuts tend to be greasy and overfried, sometimes a bit too crisp. They're still better than DD's useless donutoids, but not particularly worth making a trip for any more.
Tim Horton's. I'd heard about this Canadian chain for years, but hadn't had a chance to try it. A gas station near Diamond Hill had a Tim Horton's kiosk, but I never bothered to try that; I don't like stale donuts. But when they opened up a full-sized store downtown, I gave it a try. The donuts turned out to be very small and somehow precise, if that makes any sense. They weren't bad, but they weren't memorable either. We wouldn't go out of our way to get them. The coffee was poor, nowhere near as good as DD's or C&C's. Nonetheless, we still go there fairly often. Why? Because they're also a Coldstone Creamery store, and Teri and Sebastian love their ice cream.
Honeydew Donuts. The other big chain in the region, although nowhere near as big as DD. The donuts are decent, as I recall, and the coffee isn't bad. But once again, none of it made enough of an impression for me to go there again in the past several years, despite the fact that they're not that far away.
Bakerboy. This is a little place with a few tables and a full menu (breakfast, lunch, and I think dinner). It's a bit off the trail, so to speak, in a relatively rural area. I believe that the management is new. The people there are very friendly; they gave Sebastian a free donut, and their little girl took him behind the counter so he could pick one out for himself. With all that, I really wanted the food to be good. Unfortunately, it was only okay. Under the old management the donuts had been quite good, but as I recall the donuts were only so-so under the new management. But I'll probably give them another try before too much longer.
One thing I do remember is that they sell my favorite kind of plastic mug, the large insulated kind with a top. I bought a bunch of those from Dunkin' Donuts many years ago (they don't sell them any more), and we're still using them. I'll have to get some, next time I go there.
Krispy Kreme. Their donuts were hot, fresh, delicious, and addictive. But they're completely gone from the region. I think the nearest one is in Connecticut, about 100 miles away. And I'm not going to drive 100 miles for a donut!
Java City. Another local place in the heart of Woonsocket. They share a building with a pawnbroker, I believe, which is kind of creepy (they have a drive-through, too). I've only been there once, and the donuts didn't make a big impression on me. But they didn't make a negative impression on me either, so I'll probably try them again - eventually.
Jumbo Donuts. This is the next place that I want to try for donuts. There are three of them. The closest one is about a 20-minute drive away, unfortunately, in the Uxbridge direction. I suspect that they were the ones who supplied donuts to Coffee & Cream. I may have been there once. I'll review them once I've had a chance to try them, which will (I hope) be soon!
klyfix.I've been questing for donuts for some time now. Jonesing for them, too.
Dunkin' has become a sad, sad joke. Their donuts are tiny, relatively flavorless, and usually stale.
In the general Woonsocket area, there are a few other options:
Betty's Donuts. I list them only because it's funny that a place called "Betty's Donuts" hasn't actually sold donuts in several years. They have pastries and muffins; no donuts.
Coffee & Cream. Famous for giving me food poisoning that hospitalized me, and has caused me to pass out every time that I've been sick (in the British sense of the word) since then. They stopped serving donuts last year; that's a pity, because they were large and quite good (they still have muffins, rectangular ones, and they're quite excellent). Their coffee is outstanding; quite possibly the best in the area. They make it with spring water.
Coffee & Cream. This isn't the restaurant on 146A, but rather the roadside drive-through shack (with a giant coffee mug in front of it, that's a fountain once in a while) nearby on route 146. I haven't been there in quite a while - I can never be sure when they're open, and I've been expecting them to go out of business ever since a DD opened up down the road - but the last time I was there, they had good, large donuts - although they were obviously not baked on the premises (I did say "shack", after all). I've often wondered if they were association with the Coffee & Cream restaurant.
Donut X-press. In downtown Woonsocket, just over the bridge. Their donuts are made on the premises, I believe. The donuts are somewhat larger than DD's, and their coffee rolls are huge. Unfortunately they seem to have gone a bit downhill over the years. The donuts tend to be greasy and overfried, sometimes a bit too crisp. They're still better than DD's useless donutoids, but not particularly worth making a trip for any more.
Tim Horton's. I'd heard about this Canadian chain for years, but hadn't had a chance to try it. A gas station near Diamond Hill had a Tim Horton's kiosk, but I never bothered to try that; I don't like stale donuts. But when they opened up a full-sized store downtown, I gave it a try. The donuts turned out to be very small and somehow precise, if that makes any sense. They weren't bad, but they weren't memorable either. We wouldn't go out of our way to get them. The coffee was poor, nowhere near as good as DD's or C&C's. Nonetheless, we still go there fairly often. Why? Because they're also a Coldstone Creamery store, and Teri and Sebastian love their ice cream.
Honeydew Donuts. The other big chain in the region, although nowhere near as big as DD. The donuts are decent, as I recall, and the coffee isn't bad. But once again, none of it made enough of an impression for me to go there again in the past several years, despite the fact that they're not that far away.
Bakerboy. This is a little place with a few tables and a full menu (breakfast, lunch, and I think dinner). It's a bit off the trail, so to speak, in a relatively rural area. I believe that the management is new. The people there are very friendly; they gave Sebastian a free donut, and their little girl took him behind the counter so he could pick one out for himself. With all that, I really wanted the food to be good. Unfortunately, it was only okay. Under the old management the donuts had been quite good, but as I recall the donuts were only so-so under the new management. But I'll probably give them another try before too much longer.
One thing I do remember is that they sell my favorite kind of plastic mug, the large insulated kind with a top. I bought a bunch of those from Dunkin' Donuts many years ago (they don't sell them any more), and we're still using them. I'll have to get some, next time I go there.
Krispy Kreme. Their donuts were hot, fresh, delicious, and addictive. But they're completely gone from the region. I think the nearest one is in Connecticut, about 100 miles away. And I'm not going to drive 100 miles for a donut!
Java City. Another local place in the heart of Woonsocket. They share a building with a pawnbroker, I believe, which is kind of creepy (they have a drive-through, too). I've only been there once, and the donuts didn't make a big impression on me. But they didn't make a negative impression on me either, so I'll probably try them again - eventually.
Jumbo Donuts. This is the next place that I want to try for donuts. There are three of them. The closest one is about a 20-minute drive away, unfortunately, in the Uxbridge direction. I suspect that they were the ones who supplied donuts to Coffee & Cream. I may have been there once. I'll review them once I've had a chance to try them, which will (I hope) be soon!
no subject
no subject
Near as I can tell Krispy Kreme left the Boston area largely because the company in general over-expanded too quickly and thus got into trouble. I find it hard to believe that the one in the Pru wasn't making a profit.
The one time Dunkin' Donuts annoyed me was when I got a breakfast sandwich on a crossiant; the crossant wasn't light and flackey but was heavy. Kind of odd, that.
Hmm, haven't had donuts in a while. There is a DD in Cleveland Circle (where I got the above noted sandwich) and now that I think of it I can't think of any non-DD donut shops anywhere along Beacon Street between Cleveland Circle and the St. Mary's stop.
no subject
"One donut won't kill you". But its a start.
no subject
But oh, it tasted so good...
no subject
no subject
no subject