VG Donut & Bakery, Cardiff

Where all the cool people hang out.

All year long, I have been pestered by people asking me, “Have you been to VG’s?” And I always respond, “Yeah, once, a while back, but I plan to go again soon.” What took so long for me to get around to visiting VG’s? Well, I wanted to go with my good friends Big B and Sir Isaac, and it wasn’t until this past weekend that we were able to align our plans. Those plans included a nice, smooth 13-mile run along the coast, during which we talked about . . . donuts. What, did you think we would talk about all the pretty ladies who ran past and winked at us, and then argue about who got the most winks? Pshaw!

Get 'em while they're hot!

The line out the door of VG’s wasn’t too bad, as it moved quickly and the staff took orders with practiced efficiency. In surveying the racks, I noticed that there weren’t any crullers, nor were there any maple old-fashioneds, which are two of my favorite varieties. Sir Isaac, who will always get a cruller if one is available, was a bit grumpy, but nevertheless gave in and got an apple fritter plus a few cake donuts with sprinkles to take home to the Mrs. and Lil’ C.

Crumbs galore.

Big B and I tried out the crumb-topped raised donut and a few others, but this one really stood out among the rest. It was light, fresh, and 100 percent coated with crumbs. As soon as I bit in, the nooks and crannies of my mouth were swarmed by countless cinnamon crumbs. Although I considered the crumb donut my favorite, Big B was more a fan of the blueberry buttermilk bar, which, I have to admit, was pretty darn decent; it did not, however, come close to being the best buttermilk bar I’ve encountered.

Big B's b-b-bar.

Said Big B, “This is the best blueberry buttermilk bar I’ve had. The crumb cake was light with a really good flavor.” Then he went on to tell us about some—ahem—interesting things that came up in his conversation with the gal behind the counter. I’ll leave it to your imagination, but let’s just say that they did not talk about donuts, and it left the rest of us a bit wide-eyed and shaking our heads.

"These are good donuts, Daddy!"

Sir Isaac, once he got past his foul mood at being denied his crullers, mellowed out and said, “The fritter was just plain. I liked the variety of cake donuts with colorful toppings, but nothing was creative.” Lil’ C, however, is quite fond of sprinkles, and will give the thumbs-up to a bowl of steamed spinach if it came topped with chocolate sprinkles. “These are good donuts, Daddy,” she told Sir Isaac when he got home. Mrs. Newton wasn’t too impressed with her glazed old-fashioned, though. That lady has high standards, as Sir Isaac will tell you proudly.

The folks at VG's sure know how to be festive.

I need to point out that VG’s is more than just a donut shop. They offer a wide variety of cookies, cakes, pastries, and breads, which we left untouched. I did, however, manage to capture this really cool picture of a snowman cake. That one must have taken a lot of work!

The atmosphere at VG’s is great—it’s a nice place to hang out after a run, ride, or swim, and there are plenty of seats outside on the patio. The staff is friendly, the service is quick, and you can even get up close and watch the cake decorator in action by the exit. Good times, good times.

But the verdict on the donuts? Good but not spectacular. I’ve had many donuts from other places that are much better, and there are dozens of places around town that offer more variety. When we rack up the points on the D-Meter, taste counts for 60 percent, variety 20 percent, innovation 10 percent, and customer experience 10 percent. If customer experience were weighted more, VG’s would likely climb a few spots on our list, but as it turned out, VG’s scored 78.7 on the D-Meter, which puts it at #11 on our list, falling just short of cracking the top ten. I know a lot of folks who will give me grief over this, but I have no problem with making this statement: VG’s is a cool place, but if you want the best donuts in town, head up to Peterson’s; it’s worth the trip.

Top Ten Donut Meter Scores:

1. Peterson’s Donut Corner, Escondido — 94.0

2. Sunny Donuts, Kearny Mesa — 87.0

3. Savoy Donuts, Escondido — 85.5

4. RB Donuts, Rancho Bernardo — 83.0

5. Donut Haven, Hillcrest — 82.7

6. Super Donuts, Carlsbad — 82.0

7. Danny’s Donuts, Vista — 81.0

8. Christy’s Donuts, Kearny Mesa — 80.0

8. Honey Donuts, Santee — 80.0

10. Golden Donut, University City — 79.3

Festive Fritters

Pumpkin pie is a tradition for many of us on Thanksgiving, but I absolutely, positively, cannot stand pumpkin pie. The gooey texture, to me, is just repulsive, even though I enjoy the taste of pumpkin. What to do, then? Can my beloved donuts be served as dessert on Thanksgiving? There’s no law against it, so I made the bold decision to turn the traditional pumpkin pie into . . . pumpkin pie fritters. Pecan pie is another popular dessert this time of the year, so I used half the batch of dough to experiment with pecan pie fritters.

Rolled out and ready to rumble!

There are several ways to make fritters: some recipes use a cake dough, while others use a lighter yeast-based dough. I went with the yeast dough, even though prepping said dough takes more than twice as long as prepping a cake dough, as one needs to allow the dough to rise not once, but twice, in a proofing oven. Not to mention that making yeast dough creates twice the mess in one’s kitchen . . . but the time and mess can be worth it if the dough comes out right. In my case, it came out from the proofing oven wonderfully, soft and light and full of potential.

These babies were begging me to let them dive into the fryer.

The pumpkin and pecan goo, which one normally just dumps into a pie shell, was precooked to remove moisture—anyone who has made pumpkin or pecan pie will be familiar with the runny consistency of the pie fillings, which solidify only during baking. After precooking the fillings over the stovetop for ten minutes at medium heat (and draining the syrup off the pecan pie filling), they were ready to be incorporated into the dough. For fritters, taste trumps appearance, so there was no need to cut picture-perfect rounds using donut cutters. The filling is simply spread over half the dough, which is then folded over the filling and cut into dozens of tiny pieces. After cutting, the dough is then rolled into a log and sliced into rounds. Cut, slice, repeat, and it’s ready to fry when you have a big lump that resembles . . . a lump. That’s the only way to describe it.

Fry 90 seconds per side, drain, and then drizzle with icing while still warm, and—abracadabra!—the fritters are done. These things looked awesome waiting on the rack, but I was able to control myself and wait until after the feast later that day to take my first bite.

Finished and ready for the feast.

I have to admit, these things came out spot-on, especially the pecan pie fritters with maple icing. Even four days later, after the fritters had been sitting in my freezer untouched, a co-worker sampled one of the pumpkin fritters and described it as mind-blowingly delicious. Okay, maybe she didn’t say “mind-blowingly,” but I could read it in her eyes when she said “delicious.”

Want the recipe? Drop me a line and I’ll be happy to share it with you—it’s just a tad too long to post here, but the effort was well worth the results. I’m adding this one to my work-in-progress, The D-Man’s Donut Abstract, which is set to be released, oh, sometime around when I reach retirement age. By then, it should be a fairly thorough volume, unless donuts fall out of fashion before that day arrives. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen, okay?

Best Donuts & Deli, Clairemont

Yes, yes, I know that I neglected to post a review of a donut shop last weekend. But everything’s fine now, and I’m back on the wagon, checking out local donut shops in my ongoing effort to inform the masses of all the wonderful (and some not-so-wonderful) fried dough that is available for our consumption.

This weekend, I was in dire need of a serious refueling after hitting the trails for a 16-mile run, which is the longest I’ve run in the past three months. There’s nothing quite like the thought of a warm, fresh donut at the finish line to get one through those last few miles.

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In this case, it was more than just donuts that pulled me through that workout—Best Donuts & Deli is not just a donut shop but a Mexican bakery as well. When I walked in, I was surprised to be greeted not by the usual kaleidoscope of icing and sprinkles but by the odd shapes and names of dozens of previously unknown Mexican pastries: calabazas, pan dulce, bollios, pasteles. Half of the racks held these curiosities, and the other half contained a limited selection of raised, cake, and old-fashioned donuts, plus a few crème-filled donuts, fritters, and bear claws. While the selection of donuts was somewhat disappointing, the availability of all the Mexican pastries was a nice surprise.

Could have been much better with a more indiv

We tried out the apple and pumpkin calabazas, which are pastries similar to calzones. I had to try the pumpkin just because it’s the season for pumpkin, but was somewhat disappointed with the bland pumpkin filling, which tasted rather like it came straight from a can. The apple calabaza didn’t fare much better, although both had a nice crust that wasn’t overly sweet. I ended up nibbling the edges of the crust and leaving the pumpkin goo alone after a couple of bites.

Fluff and crunch

The raised donuts, however, were worth the trip to Clairemont. I spotted a raised donut with chocolate icing and chopped peanuts—a combination more often seen on cake donuts—and the blend of light, fluffy dough and crunchy topping was a hit. Also on the menu was an apple fritter with plenty of cinnamon but not enough apples for my taste. When it comes to fritters, I’ve had better; some may disagree, but in my book a fritter should be oozing and bursting with fruit, not speckled with fruit.

One unusual thing about this establishment is that the racks are self-serve: just grab a tissue paper and help yourself to whichever specimens suit your fancy. While this is a nice concept because one can bypass a crushed or misshapen donut in favor of one with a more elegant appearance, keep in mind that plenty of other fingers may have fondled those very specimens, and there’s no telling where those fingers have been. I’d much rather allow someone behind the counter to pick out my donuts with a gloved hand, secure in the knowledge that only the healthiest, cleanest donuts end up on my plate.

I have no idea what these are, but they looked good!

While Best Donuts & Deli offered a good selection overall due to the many types of Mexican pastries, their variety of actual donuts was just average. Taste was average as well, and the self-serve nature of the customer experience was “eh.” Nevertheless, we observed a steady stream of customers, many of whom went straight to the racks with determined expressions, intent on grabbing their favorite calabazas and pasteles before the stocks ran out. We're rating this place as a donut shop, however, and in that regard, Best Donuts & Deli scored 67.5 on the D-Meter, which put it near the bottom of our rankings. Want a calabaza? This is a good place to start. Want a donut? There are plenty of other, better places around town.

Top Ten Donut Meter Scores:

1. Peterson’s Donut Corner, Escondido — 94.0

2. Sunny Donuts, Kearny Mesa — 87.0

3. Savoy Donuts, Escondido — 85.5

4. RB Donuts, Rancho Bernardo — 83.0

5. Donut Haven, Hillcrest — 82.7

6. Super Donuts, Carlsbad — 82.0

7. Danny’s Donuts, Vista — 81.0

8. Christy’s Donuts, Kearny Mesa — 80.0

8. Honey Donuts, Santee — 80.0

10. Golden Donut, University City — 79.3

(Still) Searching for the Secret

If you’ve been following these blog posts, you’ll know that I am a big fan of old-fashioned donuts. Force me to choose just one donut from a wide selection, and I’ll go with a maple old-fashioned. I have always wondered how donut shops make these distinctly shaped donuts; my preferred way of consuming them is to break off the edges in sections, leaving the icing-coated center for last.

Last weekend, I attempted to make my own old-fashioned donuts at home. Let’s call it practice for the day when I finally open up my donut shop. Judging from the results, that day is still quite a ways off.

Don’t get me wrong, my old-fashioned donuts came out tasting pretty good, but I failed miserably in my attempt to give the donuts the signature shape of an old-fashioned. I used a recipe from the Top Pot cookbook, in which sage advice was dispensed about using a lower cooking temperature, as well as a double-flip method—that means flipping the donuts over in the oil twice rather than once, as is standard practice when making other varieties.

I'm calling this one the Gazelle.
It went down fast!

Two flavors were attempted: plain old-fashioned and chocolate old-fashioned. Vanilla icing and maple stripes went onto my plain old-fashioned, while the chocolate was coated with maple icing and pecans. Both came out a bit more dense than I’d hoped, possibly due to the fact that I don’t have a big industrial mixer to make my dough nice and light—that’s item #1 on my shopping list before I open my donut shop. The taste, however was surprisingly good for homemade donuts, especially the chocolate-maple-pecan bomb.

What should I name this one?

I may just need to follow in the footsteps of Meng, the manager of Sunny Donuts in Kearny Mesa. He attended Dunkin’ Donuts University (or maybe it’s Dunkin Donuts College, I’m not sure), where he learned how to make all types of donuts, before forging ahead with his own creations. I wonder if DDU has a football team. Now that’s a team everyone would want to cheer for!