Go Nuts for Doughnuts
Two weekends ago, it was SEVENTY degrees in Chicago. I know, I couldn’t believe it myself. A far cry from the negative sixteen degree weather I experienced on my first day in the Windy City, the pleasant weather necessitated that I go outside for my weekend shenanigans.
Enter DOUGHNUT CRAWL.
My suitemate Emily is quite the doughnut connoisseur, so early on in our co-habitation of room 1902, I was informed of Chicago’s status as something of a hub for the best doughnut shops. Why, 4 of the top 25 doughnut eateries in the country are located in good ol’ Chi-town! I shirked my homework responsibilities on Friday night and did some serious research on local doughnut shops and the best, most unique doughnuts at each spot. I even printed out an itinerary and a custom Google Map with pinpoints for each location. Imagine how successful I could be academically if I applied this kind of dedication and focus to anything of importance! HA!
I forced my suitemate Maggie to get up at 8:30 am because Doughnut Vault’s doors opened at 9:30 am, and we had to get in the line early, gosh darn it! The sun was already peeking out from behind the clouds by the time we got there, and the line out the door curved around the corner. We decided on a plain glazed doughnut from Doughnut Vault, because we had heard that it would “change our lives.” That’s what my copious research (and my suitemate Emily) said, at least. Doughnut Vault is special because it’s only open until they sell out, and the whole place is about the size of a walk-in closet.
Hungry for more, we moseyed our way over to Firecakes Donuts, where we shared a Peanut Butter Cup doughnut. At this point, Maggie and I were each only eating 1/2 a doughnut at each location, but full-ness was really starting to settle in. “Eating doughnuts shouldn’t be this hard!,” I said to my food baby.
Our itinerary took us next to Do-Rite Donuts in the heart of Chicago, where we split a Lemon Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Doughnut, lightly dusted with candied lemon zest. Fat and happy, I could have stopped after this doughnut, but we were on a breakfast confection mission! We pushed on.
Our next stop was in Chicago’s French Market, a delightful collection of shops and cafés with a French twist. As luck would have it, a cheese and wine festival was happening inside! We nibbled on fancy cheese for a solid 15 minutes before we remembered our doughnut quest, proceeding to wander around in search of Beaver’s Donuts. The mini doughnuts here were rolled in various combinations of cinnamon, sugar, and chocolate, and they were a welcome variation in our doughnut challenge.
Lastly, we stopped at Glazed and Infused for the famous Maple Long John, a maple oblong doughnut with a piece of candied bacon on top. I had hit my limit back at the French Market, however, and I could only take one bite of my $3.25 doughnut. Roommates – 0, Doughnuts – 1.
Here is proof of our defeat:
The doughnut crawl was a nice summary to my HOD internship semester in Chicago, but I think I’ll need to do a little bit more stomach-expanding and training before my next extreme food challenge. Nashville cupcake/taco/fried chicken crawl, anyone?