By Dennis Chu on June 5, 2011 • ( Leave a comment )

DOUGHNUT PLANT

Address: 379 Grand Street, New York, NY 10002

I first heard about Doughnut Plant when I was watching Throwdown with Bobby Flay on the Food Network, when he challenged the owner of Doughnut Plant, Mark Israel, to a doughnut throwdown. When the show cut to a shot of the storefront, I was pretty shocked. I said, “Hmm, I wonder….” So, the next time we went out to New York City, I did some investigating and, yep, Doughnut Plant is right across the street from where my grandma’s apartment complex is.

Ever since I made that discovery, I have been a pretty frequent patron at Doughnut Plant, stopping by for some doughnuts each time I came out to the city with my family. One time, I even had the chance to briefly talk with Mark Israel when he was working at the Grand Street shop one day (he now has another shop in NYC, and also several shops in Tokyo). He is a really cool guy! What I really love about Doughnut Plant is that even though they have their signature staples each time, they also have rotating flavors depending on the season / holiday (for example, on Mother’s Day, they usually have a doughnut that has a flower petal baked on top of the doughnut, underneath the icing). I’ve tried a variety of their offerings, including the Tres Leches, Blackout, Carrot Cake, Blueberry, and Peanut Butter. But my favorite is still the Tres Leches doughnut (pictured above): triple-infused with evaporated milk, condensed milk, and cream. It is so soft and gooey inside, yet so rich and full of flavor. If you visit, I would recommend getting the cake doughnuts, since those are what Doughnut Plant is more known for.

Every time I have visited Doughnut Plant, I have never been disappointed. The consistent quality of the doughnuts is amazing and the different flavor profiles that new doughnuts they come out with are fantastic. Doughnut Plant is certainly the place to be, whether for breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner.

Here are my rankings for Doughnut Plant:

Food: 5 / 5
A wide variety of great flavors, great textures, and always coming up with new creations that are bound to wow your taste buds.

Atmosphere: ~
The storefront is pretty spartan, set up more as just a place to buy your doughnuts. You can take your doughnuts outside to enjoy them. That being said, I was not going to include this ranking into the total.

Service: 4.5 / 5
Simple, straightforward service to purchase the doughnuts and the employees are pretty friendly.

Price: 4 / 5
Most of the doughnuts run a little on the expensive side compared to other doughnut places (cake doughnuts are $2.50 a piece), but pure bliss is always worth every penny.

Overall: 13.5 / 15 (90%)