Gourmet doughnuts are raising Portland’s dessert bar
March 11, 2010 by karenvitt
Filed under Neat STUFF, Neat TREAT
By Karen Vitt, NEAT editor in chief
D’oh! Nuts, someone should have introduced gourmet doughnut desserts to Portland years ago!
Hot and fresh and timed to put a twist on the designer doughnut trend sweeping the nation, a few inventive local chefs have now decided it’s time to make the doughnuts – but to make them fancy, and serve them for dessert.
Drizzled with caramel sauce and topped with chocolate or ice cream, the sophisticated doughnut desserts we’re seeing take the designer doughnut trend one step further. First there was the cupcake craze, then there was the “weird” doughnut phase a la Voodoo Doughnut’s Bacon Maple Bars or Fruit Loop-studded discs, and then came designer doughnuts.
But while doughnut shops across the country are dishing up fun flavors like Orange Cranberry, Mocha Cake with Latte Glaze, Pomegranate Thyme and Lemon Chamomile Crème Custard, it would seem Portland is skipping right over the designer doughnut fad to create entire gourmet doughnut desserts. (Other than Voodoo, the only other offbeat doughnuts we found locally are the Banana Pudding and Banana Caramel Cake doughnuts at Krispy Kreme through April 18.)
We discovered our first local gourmet doughnut dessert at Red Star Tavern in downtown Portland, where Pastry Chef Jake Mickelson dishes up a doughnut version inspired by red velvet cake. For his first-ever doughnut offering, he serves heaps of Red Velvet Doughnuts, topped with cream cheese flavored ice cream and encircled with chocolate sauce.
“I think restaurants are always trying to make the kind of food that people love to eat,” Mickelson said. “Doughnuts may seem trendy at the moment, but they have real staying power. Every culture had some form of fried dough. It’s something that the whole world craves.”
It’s definitely something Portland craves – Mickelson said the Red Velvet doughnuts became such a popular menu item with customers and staff that they’ve added them to the breakfast menu, too (though without the ice cream, boo).
We also talked to Robert Thomas, chef and owner of Swift Lounge on Northeast Broadway (in the old Colosso restaurant space), and he said he first encountered the joy of doughnuts-with-ice-cream years ago while cooking at restaurants in New York City. Thomas now offers his own upscale rendering of the old-school NYC favorite, serving hot, fresh doughnuts sautéed in butter until crispy, then topped with heavy whipped cream and caramel sauce.
Thomas said his dessert is becoming more and more popular through word of mouth (literally?), and he fondly recalls a gal coming into the restaurant alone on Valentine’s Day to polish off the entire doughnut dessert by herself. “That’s my kind of girl,” he joked. “I should have asked her out.”
Sounds like our kind of girl, too!
Finally, if you’re looking for a simple doughnuts-with-ice-cream dessert fix, Alberta Street is home to everyone’s favorite doughnut-slash-ice cream shop, Tonalli’s Donuts & Cream, where they’ll happily top your homemade doughnut with fresh ice cream – but without the 4-star service.
Red Star Tavern
503 S.W. Alder St.; 503-222-0005
www.redstartavern.com
Swift Lounge
1932 N.E. Broadway; 503-288-3333
Tonalli’s Donuts & Cream
2805 N.E. Alberta St.; 503-284-4510
Voodoo Doughnuts Too
1501 N.E. Davis St.; 503-241-4704
voodoodoughnut.com
I knew my love of doughnuts would catch on eventually – I usually head to our local farmer’s market where you can get one fresh and made to order dunked in a number of things for $1 each. So glad to know of these new hot donut spots!