My visit in the Fall to Vancouver revealed to me a gaping hole in Austin's gastronomic scene. We have a paucity of high quality donut resources. And, to a lesser extent, sources of good pastries and baked goods. Sure, there are the usual cheap donut shops with inventories of greasy, sugar coated industrial donuts but in the popular downtown, S. Congress and Domain areas one only finds the ever present Starbucks shops with their "back from the depths of a backroom freezer case" icky "baked goods." Each sealed in plastic and just waiting for a trip through the microwave-broiler oven and into a white and green paper sack.
I've found one or two real, locally grown, well run donut establishments that could go toe-to-toe with shops in Vancouver but the difference between the two cities is that Vancouver delivers a great donut shop, where donuts are the hero and coffee is the side kick, on every other block in the downtown area. Wonderful shops with a seemingly endless selection of clever and traditional donuts, in some cases surrounded by pastries and, as an afterthought, sandwiches. While in Austin if one wants to get outstanding donuts at the two or three establishments across the whole city you'll likely have to get into your car, drive through lots of traffic, find expensive parking, pay dearly for your donut and then eat it in a small, dark room which was clearly an afterthought.
A standout in Austin is Salty Donuts on South Congress Ave. It's a clean and well lit place. The donuts are ample, well portioned, fresh and delicious. The coffee is up to snuff even if you prefer espresso based coffees. The dining room is small-ish but welcoming.
But here's the sad thing. We have maybe one or two donut establishments of this caliber in all of metropolitan Austin while a city like Vancouver is blessed with at least one really good donut place within a short walking distance of anywhere in the downtown area. Ample, professional, delicious locations filled not with just a few "greatest hits" donuts but really sinfully wonderful choices made with top shelf ingredients.
Sadly, I fear that even with all our growth and the construction of enormously tall towers, Austin will never become a first class city with an enviable lifestyle if we cannot or will not address the lack of both incredible donuts and places in which to enjoy them along with proficiently brewed coffee. An oversight which I hope developers and the city council members will move to fix as one of the highest priorities on the agenda. Sad to be considered a "cool" city without the basics of the good life for its inhabitants.
Just an observation that hit me right between the eyes on my last walk through our donut deprived downtown. And, just to be clear, Voodoo Donuts and their over-the-top shocker donuts aren't cutting it. They've gone full Halloween with their offerings. A parity of deluxe donuts with all the sugar and fat but none of the subtle and captivating allure of a really well thought out and well produced donut.
Austin. Too many cars. Too much thought given to making more and more parking spaces. Not enough attention being paid to critical donut theory. Dammit.
15 comments:
interesting, it seems like the kind of thing that might come into fashion, might also reflect local tastes, could be an entertaining bit of of googling perhaps, finding out which cultures were into donuts and relative concentrations of in bc and tx, two different climate zones as well, if that plays a role. cronuts were all the rage here a few years back, might have been a french pastry chef living in new york who invented them, saw him on youtube
Donuts are our secret weapon. Any invading force would be slowed to a crawl once they became addicted to them. The sugar content would make the invaders do dopey we could just walk up and take away their weapons. Naturally we would give them another donut in exchange and then say we are sorry.
Speaking as a native of the state which whelped Voodoo Donuts: I once again apologize to all Texans for exporting our shame to your state. They're awful donuts whose only claim to fame are the unusual toppings (which are no longer all that unusual, since everyone else is now doing the same thing.) Even in Oregon, it's a place frequented mainly by tourists who go there to get something "Oregonish" to take back to their hometown. If only they knew.
I long to once again find a donut shop that makes, from scratch, a maple bar and the icing which goes on it. We used to have such family-run establishments in nearly every town, but today all the donut shops buy their pre-made dough and icing from either Sysco or U.S. Foods. They all taste the same, all across the country. That might be okay if they were actually good, but the dough is flavorless and the icing sickeningly sweet.
It's easier to achieve total enlightenment than it is to find a good maple bar!
Adam, I photographed the Cronut inventor when he was down in Austin for SXSW. They did a big PR event at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel. He got tons of great press but a few weeks later his bakery got shut down because of an ongoing rodent infestation. Shot a hole right through his great public relations campaign. He was a great marketer; I'm sure he'll survive.
Good to have all the skeletons cleared out of the closet BEFORE you invite the public in.....
He also invented a chocolate chip cookie in the shape of a cup. It was served with milk in the cup. One drank it down, chewed some cookie, ate some more, etc. It didn't have as catchy a name as the Cronut (croissant+donut) so garnered nowhere near the press...
His bakery was (is?) located in NYC.
Move to Vancouver: Problem Solved.
If only the Canadians welcomed older Americans.... I'd be there before you could say, "Pistachio Glaze."
The Dominque Ansel Bakery is still open and doing business. Previously mentioned issue quickly resolved.
As a Canadian, I have two things to say.
First, TH donuts are not very good; they are pre-made thousands of miles from the point of sale, frozen, shipped and then cooked in the store where they are sold.
Second, TH donuts are all sugar ad fat. A TH donut habit is like a Golden Arches french fry habit, your cardiologist would not approve. They make you slow and fat, unless you swim 10,000 yards.
Austin, being a young progressive city full of young hipsters, they probably understand my last point.
Re: Tim Horton's. Please see caption under photo above.
Also, let's cut out the age-ism. Young hipsters are not the only ones concerned and informed about good nutrition and the value of exercise. Really, I just heard this from a 67 year old swimmer who puts in the yards.....
If you think finding a good donut is difficult try finding a good bagel. Not the grocery store or costco bagel but the bagels found in a good NYC shop.
Kirk, you are so right about the lack of good donuts in Austin. That said, Better Half Coffee at Walsh & W. 5th St. makes a great orange blossom cruller but they always sell out by mid-morning. And I think Lola's Donuts on Manor Rd. is pretty fab but it's open only Fri -Sun in the mornings.
I agree that Voodoo donuts aren't a high quality offering. However, their signature bacon maple bar is a really good idea that deserves to be explored and refined further!
what eric rose said :-)
Robert Hudyma said :-) <--- there must be some way for you to move here :-)
Lee's and Lucky's Doughnuts #ForEvah :-)
There's a high-end gourmet donut chain (3 outlets) here in Ottawa called Suzy Q. Better than TH. There's another chain called Mavericks, with locations around the country, much bigger enterprise, haven't tried them yet, but their web site shows an espresso machine in the intro video so you can tell they're aiming higher.
By the way, you need to learn the various ways to refer to Tim Horton's. Some call them Tim's, others call them Timmie's. My brother calls them Timmy Ho's, my favourite. There are probably others.
There used to be a small town bakery in Embrun, south of Ottawa, that made their own donuts. They were fabulous.
What's much more difficult to find than a good donut is a good croissant. We're lucky to live near a couple of bakeries that make excellent ones.
What is always shocking to me is how universally bad the food offerings are at that big coffee chain out of Seattle. With all that money behind them, you'd think they could source better baked items.
Post a Comment