In the 14 years since Tres Shannon—a founding member of Portland’s famed Voodoo Doughnut—stuck Cap’n Crunch to his creation and called it voodoo, our city has cultivated a reputation as a Glazed Vegas on the cutting edge of fried dough decadence.
Somewhere along the line, though, we lost our way, driving donut innovation without regard for good sense or good taste. The simple pleasures of vanilla and chocolate and cinnamon gave way to multi-flavored monstrosities that subverted the very idea of dessert.
But for those who have no stomach for spinach cakes with a cumin-and-royal-jelly demi-glace, Portland is still a constellation of sugary gems and lardy treasure. There’s a perfect dozen scattered across the city: sweet and simple, just waiting to be chomped, dunked, and gobbled. (Alternates included for those who want to grab a second dozen.)
Marshall Mathers
Voodoo Doughnuts, multiple locations, voodoodoughnut.com
Voodoo’s built their reputation and tourism business on novelty—cakes dusted with Kool Aid, topped with Dubble Bubble, a seemingly endless supply of suggestive taglines, a record label—but they’ve also hit on a few really winning recipes. The best of the bunch is this modest cake ring armored with a mosaic of miniature M&Ms that will leave your sweet tooth tingling in ecstasy.
Alternate: Dirt
Old-Fashioned Cinnamon Crunch
Tonalli’s Donuts and Cream, 2805 NE Alberta
Tonalli’s offers Portland’s best selection of top-notch donuts, from fried banana bars to chocolate cake rings, and everything in between. But the easily overlooked king of the glass case is this old-fashioned, cloaked in cinnamon crunchies. Imagine the crumbs at the bottom of the coffee cake box glazed onto a donut, and you’re on the right track.
Alternate: Angel’s Buttermilk Pie (Comes in various flavors. Try peach.)