image credit: gotsmile.net

Combine flour, egg, sugar and you get donuts (or doughnuts). Brought over by the Dutch in the 19th century, donuts were fried balls of cake in pork fat.

Despite donuts’ humble origin, mere “olykoeks” or “oil cakes,” there’s much to be loved. I have nothing against anything fried or sweet. Americans love their donuts. Annually, roughly 10 billion donuts are made in the US alone, raising the per capita consumption for donuts to 63 donuts per person. That is, a lot of donuts.

From plain just-glazed-donuts to crazy you-say-what-donuts, donuts have never been so full (wonderful) guilty pleasure. Check out these great Bay Area picks!

• Bob’s Donut & Pastry Shop ♥ 1621 Polk St, San Francisco
• Rose Donut & Cafe ♥ 1818 Saratoga Ave, San Jose
• Psycho Donuts ♥ 2006 Winchester Blvd, Campbell

Bob’s Donut, your traditional nutty goodness

**Bob’s Donut (San Francisco) and Rose Donut (San Jose) are both old-school donut cafes that provide the best quality, hand-made, classically-prepared doughnuts. Dense and rich and moist, the quality of their donuts is exceptional. If you are looking for outlandish birthday presents, try their giant donuts (as big, if not bigger than your head!)

** Bob’s Donut is open 24 hours, everyday, so you can always count on fresh donuts even if you go late at night.

As for Psycho Donuts, it truly brings out the “NUTs” in donuts. According to Chef Ron Levi, when it comes to creating new flavors, “go completely crazy!”

Indeed, with over 30 flavors ranging from “Dead Elvis,” which pays tribute to Elvis’ favorite PBJ sandwich (cream-filled, bananas, bacon, peanut butter, jelly), to strawberry-ice-cream-like-“Strawberry Field” (strawberry icing, dried strawberries, pocky stick), to “Kooky Monster” (blue drizzled Oreo cookies) to “Sticky Monkey” (Bananas Foster in donut form), these sweet concoctions will satisfy the staunches sweetaholics.

Donuts come in four shapes: round, bar, square and triangle. Square-shaped ones, such as “Cereal Killer” (Cap’n Crunch) and “S’mores” (chocolate, graham cracker, marshmallow), are among the most popular flavors.

Having a hard time choosing? Ask the staff for a bubble wrap or a spin on the Wheel of Donuts.

Can’t decide? Take a spin of Psycho Donut’s donut wheel

For those who prefer something less achingly sweet, go traditional with “This One N That One” (glazed donuts) or Fung Shui (green tea).

Nurse Aleena believes that Psycho Donuts’ success lies in “memorable customer service, you are always greeted with a ‘hello,’ and high quality donuts.”

Nurse Aleena holding a fengshu (greentea) donut

Still can’t decide? Nurse Aleena can offer you bubble sheets to de-stress

Published in 老中新聞 2013 May 1, 2013 Aug 1