Dōnatsu-Closed

Dōnatsu
330 E 2nd St Ste C
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-265-7545

Dōnatsu is a vegan donut shop that recently opened in Little Tokyo.  It's in the shopping center across 2nd Street from Kura Revolving Sushi!  It's a fairly small shop with a few tables inside. 

Apple fritter- $3.50!  This was awesome!  First, this was freshly made, warm to the touch.  So smooth it just melted in your mouth.  Good flavor, not too sweet, and good amount of apple.

Service was good.  There were two apple fritters in the display case.  Instead of getting those, the guy at the counter went to the back and got me a freshly made apple fritter!  You can't beat that!

I would go back to Donatsu anytime!  

Voodoo Doughnut

Voodoo Doughnut
100 Universal City Plz
Universal Cityshop, CA 91608
818-622-6646

Voodoo Doughnut is a well known donut shop in Portland.  They opened up a location at City Walk about a year ago.  Since I was already at City Walk, I decided to see what the hype about Voodoo Doughnut is all about.

I would compare Voodoo Doughnut to California Donut, with their creative ways of making donuts.  The store is a bit small, with the counter/display at the back.

Butterfinger donut-$1.95.Chocolate cake donut, with vanilla frosting and butterfinger crumbles on top.  This was ok.  The outside of the donut was a bit overdone.  It lacked flavor and didn't taste like butterfinger at all.  I wouldn't order this again.

Service was pretty good.

I don't get the hype of Voodoo Donut.  California Donut has more creative and better tasting donuts!!

Rainbow Donuts

Rainbow Donuts
1432 S Azusa Ave
West Covina, CA 91791
626-917-4933

I haven't been to the shopping center where Rainbow Donuts is located, in about 2-3 years.  Last week I drove by and noticed that a Boston carpetbagger donut chain opened up in the same shopping center!  Then I read the story about Teddy's Tacos being saved from demolition, at least for a few months, and they mentioned Rainbow Donuts.  So, I decided to support the mom and pop business!

Both donuts were good, and much better than any carpetbagging chain!! 

Coconut glazed donut  $1.  A ton of coconut on this donut.

Chocolate glazed donut $1.  A large donut, with a generous amount of chocolate. 

I got there about 3:30pm, so the donuts had been sitting around for awhile.  I'm sure the donuts will taste better in the morning!

Service is good. 

Rainbow Donuts is a part of the fabric of this community for 30 years.  It's sad they may struggle with a carpetbagging chain, right next door. 

California Donuts

California Donuts
3540 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90020
213-385-3318

I knew about the fresh strawberry and peach donuts from Donut Man in Glendora.  But, until recently I never knew about the snickers donut at California Donut!!  So, I made a trip down to Koreatown and see what this snickers donut was all about.

California Donuts is open 24 hours and located in a very busy strip mall.  Parking is terrible here.  There is usually a line but the line moves quickly!

Bear claw- $1.95.  This was ok.  They had the apple and raisins inside.  Nothing special and I wouldn't order this again.

Snickers donut, $3. I thought the snickers donut was just a donut with peanuts, carmel, and chocolate with the donut replacing the nougat!  But, instead there is an entire snickers bar inside the donut!!  I'll repeat that, there is an entire snickers bar inside the donut!  This is an awesome donut.  Not as sweet as you might expect.  But, just wonderful!!

Service is good.  Nice people and the line moves quickly!

I would go back to California just for the snickers donut.  But, they have other donuts like the fruity peebles, thin mints, samoa, and a panda donut made with Oreo cookies!! I'll be back soon!!

Grizzly’s Biscuits & Donuts-Closed

Grizzly’s Biscuits & Donuts
353 W Bonita Ave
Claremont, CA 91711
909-399-0991

David Allen recently reviewed Grizzly’s Biscuits & Donuts, so I decided to give them a try.  Grizzly's is an upscale fresh donuts place in the Claremont Village.  They have all different types of donuts, which start at $2 and I saw a couple at $4.  Now some people may gasp at paying $2 for a regular donut, but remember Donut Man charges $4 for their fresh strawberry and peach donuts!

Tangerine, ginger fritter, $4.- This was a terrible donut and a waste of $4.  The donut was hard and chewy and had only a hit of tangerine and ginger flavor.  You're better off going to Donut Man and getting their apple fritters for $2, about twice the size and half the price!

S'mores donut- marshmallow, chocolate, over a cinnamon donut, $3.50.  This was a good but overpriced donut.  It's a neat thing to try once, but not so outstanding that I would order again. 

Service was OK. Nothing outstanding and nothing bad.  But, they did charge tax on the donuts.  Now, every donut store I've been to, there hasn't been tax.  Maybe the tax laws changed?

Hipsters, douchebags, and pretentious jerk people make like Grizzly's, but I wouldn't go back to Grizzly's again!  The donuts are overpriced and average at best!  Make the drive to Donut Man!

Donut Man

The Donut Man
915 E Route 66
Glendora
626-335-9111

I reviewed The Donut Man in 2008, when their famous strawberry donuts were out of season!  So, I went back after seeing a TV show that strawberry donuts are back! According to the owner of Donut Man, strawberries are in season from about Feb to September.  Peaches-the other fresh fruit donuts, are usually in season around July.

Bear claw, $2.  I always saw bear claws on the menu board but never on the racks.  One day I asked about them and here is the story.  Since bear claws take so much time to make, they are only made once a day, about 2 am!  Yes, that's 2 in the MORNING.  They are usually gone by about 8am that morning.  You can order them in advance.  So I placed an order for some bear claws.

This huge donut is filled with apple, that isn't as overpowering as the apple filled donuts I had in my first visit.  There are also some raisins mixed in with the apples.  The donut itself is very dense, moist and topped with a frosting, with peanuts, that has just the right amount of sweetness.  I liked this donut and it's well worth the $2 price tag.

Tiger Tail, $1.75. A long glazed donut with chocolate stripe, this is one of my favorite donuts from Donut Man.  Pretty simple, yet so good. 

Strawberry donut, $4.  Now, the world famous strawberry donut is packed with fresh strawberries in a nice sauce.  It's good, but not my favorite.  But, worth the time in line and drive, if you never had one before.

Service.  The day I went, service was good.  People were nice and friendly.  Now, if you go at night, service can be lacking.  I'm not talking about the long lines.  During strawberry donut season, long lines are the norm.  Hell, even when strawberry donuts aren't in season, lines can be long around 8pm, because Tiger tails are just coming out, hot and fresh!!  One night I dropped by and I was the only person there.  I walked up and the workers clearly saw me through the window.  I watched as they were making the strawberry donuts.  But, when I got to the window, it took about 5 minutes before anybody said anything to me.  Now, remind you, this is after making eye contact with the worker making the donuts.  They were too busy talking about the NFL playoffs.  When the guy finally came, he kept talking about football, that even though I ordered two donuts, a tiger tail and a chocolate with nuts, he kept forgetting which donut I wanted.  Maybe, if he concentrated on helping the customer, instead of saying the Seahawks are going to win the Super Bowl, he would have been done in about a minute, instead of the 3-4 minutes it took to finally get my order of TWO donuts, right.

A couple weeks later, I called and the owner happened to answer the phone.  To the credit of the owner, I told him the story and he said he would talk to his night manager and staff.  I hope he followed through!

If you're a foodie, Donut Man has to be on your bucket list!

Randy's Donuts

Randy's Donuts
805 West Manchester Blvd.
Inglewood
310-645-4707

I really just wanted to go to Randy's Donuts to see an example of Novelty Architecture. I didn't realize that when I went to Donut Hole, that was also an example of Novelty Architecture. Maybe the most famous example of Novelty Architecture, is stored in some warehouse right now; Tail o'the Pup.

Anyways the only problem with going to Randy's at night is that the huge donut on the roof didn't show well on my pictures. 

The glazed twist and the chocolate bar were 90 cents each. Both were the standard donut, nothing bad or outstanding about them.

Service was nice. The lady who helped me was very nice, much nicer than most donut shops.

Randy's Donuts isn't a destination donut shop, like Donut Man. It is a place I would go back to, if I'm the area.  They are open 24hrs and when I went, which is clearly at night, they had plenty of donuts ready to eat.