So, sometimes we get questions in the LA City Nerd email inbox to which we don't know the answer. It's a reality - we don't know everything about the City. (gasp!) So, I implore you, the readers who happen to stumble upon this post, to reply with your best input in the comments section to the following question: "Any suggestions on where to find an honest donut in Los Angeles? Not a over-sugary unhealthy thing. More of a semi-healthy baked cake with a light coat of delicious frosting?"
Simple enough, right? Well, I don't have an answer.
I know what's not the answer: Krispy Kreme. They are over sugary. So, don't even mention them. I'm not sure if Randy's (not in LA City) fits the qualifications specified in the question either. Maybe it's Stan's that has what he's looking for? I don't eat donuts all that often, so I look to you, Los Angeles, to answer.
Again: where does such a donut exist?
(After you answer, read Michael Newman's April 4, 2007 take on the importance of the SoCal Donut industry here.)
Photo from you-are-here.com
20 comments:
In my opinion, the best donuts are at Donut Man - especially in the springtime (read: now) because of their fresh strawberry donuts.
Donut Man
915 E Route 66
Glendora, CA 91740
(626) 335-9111
anonymous beat me to it. The Donut Man is the Platonic Ideal of donuts. If there are no strawberry donuts, get a tiger tail. If there are no tiger tails, wait for the next batch.
Yep, the choice of those in the know is Donut Man. Sorry, it's outside the city limits, but you can drop your guard and be LA County Nerd for the sake of donuts.
Oh! I already replied to this query.
I believe that Bob's Doughnuts at the east end of the Original Farmers Market (3rd and Fairfax) has the best doughnuts in the City. The apple fritter is incredibly delicious!
When i was youngster my favorite place was Primo's off Sawtelle. Fresh baked doughnuts like the butterfly are a far cry from today's glaze crusted dry monstrosities.
I can't get to Glendora! I heard "fratelli's" in Beverly Hills was good, but I can't (for religious reasons) go to Beverly hills either.
My favorite is California Donuts at 3rd and New Hampshire -- an early morning oasis for the sugar-starved.
Go directly to Stan's. Do not go anywhere else. Enjoy a really good doughnut and say hi to Stan for me.
I forget the name of the place but its in the shopping center at Hazeltine and Burbank in Sherman Oaks, the one with the Indian restaurant. Bob Hertzberg hangs out there all the time.
I love donuts and the only place I get donuts is at a Foster's Family Donut store on Foothill Blvd in La Crescenta> on Saturday Mornings that place is rocking with customers!
My favorite place is California Donut at 5753 Hollywood Blvd. (between Western and Bronson, just west of Wilton). They have a great selection and are really friendly. Their chocolate cake donut with rainbow sprinkles beats the pants off Winchell's. (I'm not a true donut connoisseur, though, so I recommend this place as a neighborhood stop-in type; don't go out of your way.)
Winchells Doughnut House, though, Donut Man sounds delicious.
1.Bob's Farmers market.
2. Granny's, Summerland and Western San Pedro
3. Winchell's
The donuts at the shop in the "Marios" mini-mall on the south side of Santa Monica blvd., just west of Crescent Heights are surreal.
Kay's doughnuts in the strip mall at Ventura Blvd. and Beverly Glen in Sherman Oaks. Seriously awesome and worth putting up with the folks in big sunglasses.
Yeah.
La Habra. Where there are blue collar workers, there are donuts. I do not know why.
La Habra has the most donut shops of ANY small town that I know of. Really, it's bizarre. You can't go three blocks without seeing a donut shop. Though the Kripsy Kreme did get closed recently, and the "Donut Queen" was shut down due to rats.
Now I wanna donut.
Damn!
But one of my favorite places is Michelle's, on Santa Monica at Edgemont in Hollywood, which embodies everything that is right with L.A.'s donut world (not to be confused with the capitalized Donut World about five miles south. Nor with the two other Michelle's Donuts.) There are the doughnuts themselves, of course, though I prefer the pound cake. There is the help, unfailingly polite and cheerful, and generous with the free samples.
The best part, however, is the sign out front. This place used to be a Winchell's, but when Michelle took it over, she just turned the 'W' upside down and cobbled together an extra 'e' from spare 'n' parts and -- presto! -- Michelle's Donuts was born. From the LA Times, Michael Newman 4/4/2007
How about, is there ANY place to get donuts downtown? Not pre-packaged ones. And I also know about the Mexican baked goods stand at Grand Central Market, which is quite fine in its own right.
I'm talking about the classic American donut stand. In downtown. (East of Alameda, south of 101, west of 110). Is there one? If not, can somebody put one in please?
If this is constitutionally limited to being within the L.A. city limits, the easy solution is to drive to Glendora for Donut Man, bring the donuts back to L.A., and presto! you hold the best donuts in the City of L.A. in your lap.
I don't even know where Glendora is! The city of La has got to do better than this...
Count me out on Stan's near UCLA & Fairfax farmers market is too touristy.
Blinky's donuts on Topanga Cyn at Dumbetz in Woodland Hills. Really great donuts!
To the anon above, re: Donut Man... Glendora is about 15 miles east of Pasadena, off the 210 Freeway. It's Los Angeles County, and considered part of the LA area (from an LA native to the influx who often seem scared to drive east of Western: Get out of your bubble, people! You don't know what you're missing - trust me, it isn't just the donuts!) :-)
Someone above mentioned Foster's Donuts in La Crescenta. If memory serves me right, Donut Man in Glendora years ago was originally Foster's.
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