Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Donuts


It's kind of funny that Canada is known as the land of the donut, I guess because Tim Horton's is such a ubiquitous sight in cities and towns and along stretches of highway. But I find California to have much more variety and presence when it comes to donut shops. On 24th Street in the Mission there are two great donut shops within a five minute walk. The Jelly Donut is a little no-fills place with blissful crullers. You will likely get a few donut-holes tossed in your bag for free. Down the street Dynamo Donuts features such flavours as lemon pistachio, chocolate rosemary almond and banana de leche.

It's the same in LA. You might think oh LA, diet and health food, but no: think donuts. You will see gems straight out of the 50s and 60s, hole in the wall places, and will often see a DONUTS sign tucked in among a jumble of strip mall shops. And there is a world of difference between these homemade donuts and those that are factory made and shipped out to stores.

When in LA my friend and I always try to make a stop at Daily Donuts at the corner of Hillhurst and Franklin in Los Feliz, across from the local library. You could easily walk by this nondescript shop and not know that you are missing out on delectable donuts. When we would go there in the morning there was always a dapper looking man kind of resembling Dexter Gordon at the corner table, reading the paper and bantering with the counterperson. Later my friend saw a magazine article about him, he had many movie roles including Gone with the Wind and played jazz in Paris in the 50s. And maybe right now he is sitting in the sunshine filtering through the plate-glass window and enjoying a coffee and donut.

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