Lauren: You're listening to Rhody Radio, Rhode Island Library Radio Online.
[music]
Hi. This is your Rhody Radio crew here for another episode of Rhody Eats, where we rank some of the best food in Rhode Island. For this episode, we'll be tasting some of the best donuts in Rhode Island. I'm Lauren Walker, assistant director at Coventry Public Library.
Dave: I'm Dave Bartos, coordinator of adult services at the Cranston Public Library.
Emily: I'm Emily Goodman, Adult Services Coordinator at the Rhode Island Office of Library and Information Services.
Lauren: We decided to use RI Food Fight's Best Donuts, RI LoveFest 2023 as a guide in choosing which donuts to try. If you're not familiar with Rhode Island Food Fights, they host a series of fun friendly competitions between restaurants and food businesses that showcase their culinary goods to hundreds of local food lovers. Food lovers purchase a passport full of coupons, taking them on a culinary road trip to 15 to 20 participating restaurants that sample the best pizza, burgers, wings, and more. Participants vote online for their favorite and the winner is declared after weeks of delicious competition. The donut competition was held in February, and a winner has already been announced. Check out RI Food Fights on social media to see who won.
For this episode, the Rhody Radio crew will be tasting the donuts that were featured in the Best Donuts LoveFest. We picked up donuts from all over the state and we'll try them here on the air to see which ones we liked best. The donut shops featured in this episode are Allie's Donuts in North Kingstown, Blue Kangaroo Cafe in Barrington, Boba Lava Tea & Snack Bar in Cranston, Cloud Donuts in North Kingstown, DeLuise Bakery in Cranston and Providence, Dough Bros in Cranston, Glaze 'n Daze Donuts in Johnston, HASH New York system in Coventry, Honeydew Donuts in Lincoln, Silver [00:02:00] Star Bakery in Providence and Three Wishes Bakery in Johnston.
Emily: Oh, that's a lot of donuts.
Lauren: A lot of donuts. [chuckles] All right. We're going to start with the ones that I got. Let's start with HASH New York system, because that's the first one that I got today. I went there this morning, and they make the donuts to order. She was so nice. The first one, I guess, didn't come out so good, so she had them make another one for me.
Dave: Wow.
Lauren: This is the Coffee Glazed. It smelled really good, so I'm excited to try it.
Dave: Very faint coffee.
Lauren: I feel like the coffee glaze probably is all at the bottom now because it sat in the fridge all day.
Dave: I like the texture. It's not a cake donut, but it's got a lot of bite to it.
Emily: It's a little more dense than a yeast, but not as dense as a cake. I like that it feels like it sat in a pool of coffee both in texture and in flavor.
Dave: Pre-dipped as it were.
Emily: Pre-dipped and [crosstalk]
Dave: This donut's already been dunked.
[laughter]
Lauren: I like that. I agree. I feel like the coffee flavor is almost like an aftertaste because at first it just tastes like a regular glazed donut, but again it could be just because I didn't eat it immediately after getting it. I feel like Maple will go well with that. We have the Maple Donut from Allie's Donuts.
Dave: Allie's a local favorite.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: I'd say a regional favorite.
Dave: Oh, yes? Okay. That's fair because as everyone knows who listens to the podcast, I live in Massachusetts. While I will enjoy any treat you put in front of me, my favorite by far is donuts. Typically for Father's Day, my family will take me to a donut place. Allie's was one of the locations we went to.
Emily: Nice.
Dave: Nice memories of driving down the Allie's.
Emily: It's beautiful.
Dave: Maple is forever good.
Lauren: Yes, that's really good.
Emily: Allie's frosting has a very specific taste [00:04:00] to me. All I can say is I think I could almost blind-taste test an Allie's Donut versus other donuts. I wish there was more maple.
Lauren: The frosting is really fluffy. I like that.
Emily: The dough's really soft.
Dave: What I like about that too is it's clearly been fried, but you can't taste the oil. Whatever they're doing, it's not oily tasting. It's Maple Donut-y tasting, which is really nice.
Emily: I eat that in the cornfield in the fall.
Lauren: [laughs] This one I'm excited for because this is probably one of my favorite donuts. It's from Cloud Donuts. If you've seen around Rhode Island there's Master Homemade Donut signs, and then sometimes they call themselves something else. I think it's all the same franchise, the same donut recipe. This is a glazed jelly donut from there. It's really good. It's Krispy Kreme style.
Emily: Standalone, the jelly inside of this jelly donut tastes like candy, like melted Jello.
Lauren: The jelly is so good. I feel like it also doesn't taste super artificial at the same time. It's like candy, but also somehow really fresh.
Emily: It does not feel like I'm eating a spoonful of jam out of the fridge which is a thing I don't like about jelly donuts is just having a spoonful of peanut butter and jelly jelly in my mouth.
Lauren: You're right. It's like Jello. I never thought about that before, but it is. I like it with the glaze because usually jelly donuts are granulated or powdered sugar but glazed, for some reason, so much better-
Dave: Love the glazed.
Lauren: -in my opinion.
Emily: I don't know what it is that they do different, but their donuts are just so good.
Lauren: They really are. The only thing I can compare it to is Krispy Kreme, but we don't really have a lot of Krispy Kreme in Rhode Island.
Dave: It has that same glaze quality.
Emily: It's just the yeast donut part of it, it doesn't matter what you put on it, I could just eat them all day.
Lauren: [00:06:00] They're really good. They used to be slightly near my commute, so I would go there more often and never had a bad donut from there. The one in West Warwick is the one that I used to go to. All right. Here's my wild card, actually. I didn't mention it on the list. I was supposed to go to Knead Doughnuts and didn't realize that they were closed today. Instead, I have a zeppole from Bareli's.
Dave: It is zeppole seasoned in Rhode Island.
Emily: It is. Fun fact, when I was in college, there was a restaurant that I went to one time and they had zeppoles on the menu for a dessert. Their zeppole was just fried dough, like little mini dough [unintelligible 00:06:50]. I was like, "This is delicious. I love it so much." I came back home and I went to an Italian restaurant and I said, "Do you have any zeppoles?" They said, "No. We only make those a specific time of year for St. Joseph's Day." I said, "That sounds weird, but okay."
[laughter]
As people who listen in this podcast know I didn't grow up in the side of Rhode Island that is influenced very heavily by the Italians. Zeppole season comes around now as I'm an adult., I go into a store, one of the Italian bakeries on Atwells up in Federal Hill. Great place to find some zeppoles. I see what a real zeppole looks like and I go, "What the heck is that?"
Dave: [laughs]
Emily: It was not little pouches of fried dough. Delicious.
Lauren: This is really good.
Emily: It's a good real zeppoli.
Lauren: The cream is really vanilla-y
Emily: Yes, and not too pudding-y.
Dave: I had a funny story about zeppole where I left work, I work here in Cranston, and I went to Dave's Market up on Pontiac Ave. It was July or August. It was sometime in the summer [00:08:00] and I just needed a treat. I went there and I went to the bakery and I saw a closed clamshell container that said cream puff. I was like, "Cream puff. That sounds perfect. I bought the cream puff. I got home, I opened it up and it was a zeppole, which is almost what a cream puff is, but not quite. It's just funny that it's like, "Well, we'll just market it as cream puff when it's not St. Joseph's Day. We have that recipe, so why not?" I was not disappointed.
Lauren: You're not allowed to call it a zeppole if it's not around St. Joseph's Day.
Dave: If it's not, yes. It's just a sparkling cream puff.
Emily: Honorable mention, Dave's Marketplace and zeppoles.
Dave: That Dave's Marketplace zeppole hit the spot that day.
Emily: Delicious.
Dave: I guess we'll stay on that.
Emily: Great.
Dave: I went to four spots. The first one I'm going to go with is a Cranston institution. We'll return to the Providence location, but these are their zeppole and we will typically find these in the-
Emily: You want to tell us what this place is?
Dave: -in the staff room. Oh, did I not say?
Emily: No.
Dave: Oh, I didn't? Cranston is-- the sugar is already--
[laughter]
Emily: Feel distracted about whether or not we went to the Providence one.
Dave: This was the Cranston location of DeLuise Bakery. We'll typically find these in the staff room at our library here in Cranston around St. Joseph's Day, a very healthy helping of powdered sugar on the top of this one. The first thing I'll say is it's a mess.
Emily: They're all a mess.
Dave: This one particularly was so filled. We've cut all the donuts here into quarters, and that's the only one that has completely just gooshed out all over the plate.
Lauren: Even the jelly donut held up pretty well but the zeppoles--
Dave: Again, that's not really a complaint.
Emily: I feel like I got more filling on this one than the Bareli's quarter that I got. I feel like the pastry also, stronger. I can tell that it was piped into a circle. [00:10:00] That's my expertise coming from watching Great British Baking Show.
Lauren: [chuckles]
Emily: I know what I'm talking about here.
Dave: [chuckles] What I love about going to DeLuise is the feel of being in the old Italian bakery. It's an experience. You go and you get the zeppole and you look at all the things. There was someone there getting stuff for a birthday, getting something on top of birthday cake, and just tons of party pizza, and tons of stuff, and just to be in that place is really fun.
Emily: One of my favorite things about that location but also that style of bakery, is also back in the corner behind the workers is the traditional drip coffee pot where you can get a cup of coffee that is very much homemade. No bells and whistles, just a good old auto-drip cup of coffee. All right, so our next zeppole--
Dave: Our third zeppole, this came from Silver Star in Providence.
Lauren: That's enormous.
Dave: It is humongous. They had a similar vibe. It had a very old-school bakery feel to it. There was a lot of stuff there. Very, very nice folks.
Emily: Since our audience is a listening audience, I'll mention that this filling is a much more yellow than the other two.
Lauren: I was going to say that too.
Emily: Which leads me to believe it'll be a bit more pudding-like.
Dave: It's more of a Boston cream filling, like Bavarian cream sort of deal.
Emily: I'm making a mess of this.
Dave: Which I really like. I really like that it doesn't scream zeppole to me in the same way that the kind of more slack filling-- or I don't know how you would describe this less thick filling. It's not thin than these other ones, but it's a little more--
Lauren: [unintelligible 00:11:46] difference in the base.
Emily: This one for me feels stiffer and it is smoother where I feel like the DeLuise and Bareli's are a little bit [00:12:00] more grainy for some reason in their frosting or filling. Here, at this tasting, I prefer both of those two. This thick, I don't know, pudding filling, is not doing anything for me.
Lauren: I think I might prefer the shell of this one and that nice vanilla filling in the Bareli's one. This one has a very-- it's like a stiff shell like the last one but it almost tastes buttery. I don't know what's in it.
Emily: Yes, it does.
Lauren: That could be totally off base but--
Emily: [unintelligible 00:12:32]. Alone, I feel like I would just want to eat this with butter on it as a breakfast pastry. As a zeppole, I think I'm going to go with Cranston institution, DeLuise.
Dave: Excellent.
Emily: Are you making a zeppole choice, Dave?
Dave: Oh gosh. I will have to rep for DeLuise. Actually started here at Cranston right around St. Joseph's Day. My tour of the branches, I ended up at the Auburn branch, and Karen said, "You're not leaving until you've had a zeppole." I was like, "This is the greatest place to work in the history of places to work."
[laughter]
Dave: Got to go for the hometown favorite. Next, we have-- trying not to decide.
Emily: [unintelligible 00:13:16]
Dave: I think we're going to go in decreasing levels of atmosphere for the ones that I went to.
Emily: Okay.
Dave: We had old Italian bakery, old style bakery, that feel. We're going to go to Blue Kangaroo, which is in Barrington. I love to drive to Barrington. I love to see the water and drive slower than everyone else because I'm enjoying it so much. That's a classic going down 114. That was just a very small cozy cafe. They do all sorts of foods and drinks and just a little bit of everything and some baked goods. This is a classic chocolate cake donut. We'll do this guy. I will say when I don't know what to get, the chocolate cake is my go-to. [00:14:00] [inaudible 00:14:00] generally satisfied with the chocolate cake donut.
Lauren: Kind of a subtle chocolate.
Emily: It is very dense. Almost fudgy.
Lauren: Is there coconut involved or something in the glaze? Does anyone else taste coconut. Maybe not.
Dave: I'm getting the chocolate coffee, like the coffee you put in chocolate to make it chocolate-y without making it coffee-y.
Lauren: Okay. Maybe it's a coffee.
Dave: It's that bitter-- not a complaint.
Lauren: No, I like it. It js pretty dense. I don't know if I could eat a whole donut.
Emily: I don't think I would choose it for myself in the future, but with a caveat being I strongly prefer yeast donuts to cake donuts across the board.
Lauren: I generally do too. Maybe that's-- also if I'm going to get a cake donut, it's probably going to be a chocolate cake donut.
Dave: [crosstalk]
Emily: I like a good old-fashioned cake donut.
Lauren: Is that what the HASH one would be? Do you--
Emily: I don't know.
Lauren: I couldn't quite categorize it. it doesn't really seem like it's-- maybe it's a [inaudible 00:15:02]
Dave: Sort of a heavy piece.
Emily: It has a hole in the middle. It's not a hole in the middle of the donut, it's a hole in the donut that is--
Dave: In the sense of what?
[laughter]
Lauren: The ring.
Dave: The center of the ring? Yes.
Emily: Yes, that goes through it that leads me to believe that it is a yeast, that maybe it is dense because it was dipped in a liquid and sat in the fridge. It might also be more similar to this DeLuise dense yeast donut that I'm also looking at. I don't know.
Dave: All right. Then my fourth one, I went to Honey Dew. Honey Dew is-- just speaking of a local Rhode Island institution, it's our alternative to the Dunkin' Donuts. It's exactly what you would expect. Not to denigrate them as having no atmosphere, but it's the atmosphere of a Honey Dew. They're delightful. I also have a chocolate cake donut from there.
Emily: Nice.
Lauren: Chocolate cake versus chocolate cake.
Emily: [00:16:00] It looks very different for our listeners at home. This is about twice the height of the Blue Kangaroo cake donut.
Lauren: Thank you for describing things visually.
Emily: You're welcome.
Dave: It's a lighter color, which will lead me to believe it'll be less chocolatey. I don't know. We'll see.
Emily: I looked it up because I was very curious. Honey Dew Donuts is actually headquartered in Plainville, Massachusetts. You, Dave, get to claim Honey Dew as your institution. I believe Rhode Island's institution countering Honey Dew, Dunking Donuts, et cetera would be Sip 'N Dip.
Dave: I was going to say Mary Lou, but no. There's also Mary Lou's Coffee. You'll see that in your gas stations. Sip 'N Dip, yes.
Lauren: I feel like I've seen Mary Lou a lot of places, though. If you go on a road trip, I feel like they could be based here. I remember Sip 'N Dip. I used to live in Warren, and I would stop at Sip 'N Dip for my coffee. Sip 'N Dip is good.
Dave: Fact-check right here on the air. I appreciate it.
Lauren: Well, we are librarians.
Dave: That's right.
Emily: [laughs]
Lauren: Dave, what's your assessment of the Honey Dew?
Dave: I think it's fine. I like the texture. It's a tad on the crumbly side, but they're perfectly donut. What the Honey Dew tastes like to me is getting the entire family in the van for a trip to the beach and stopping at the Honey Dew on the way to the highway because it's on the ways of the highway. It's just that place where everyone will be satisfied with what they get. You tank up a little bit and you start driving to the beach. It has that feel to it.
Lauren: You have very nostalgic associations. I feel like this is my least favorite one that I've had out of these so far.
Emily: I have really mixed feelings about it because it is dry. It needs a coffee to go with it.
Lauren: That's a good point maybe with coffee it's better.
Emily: I do like how much lighter it feels than the other chocolate cake donut. I wish that I could take elements of both [00:18:00] of them and mix them together to make a better chocolate.
Lauren: I think that if you did that, you would get a Dunkin chocolate cake.
Emily: Interesting.
Lauren: I feel like the Honey Dew has more of the flavor of a Dunkin chocolate glazed, but then the texture is somewhere in between these two. To have the Dunkin advocate in the donut episode.
Dave: Pause to them up for a moment to consider that we've all eaten two donuts each so far, which is perfect.
Emily: [unintelligible 00:18:31]
Lauren: To thank you for that-
Dave: You're welcome.
Lauren: -that score.
Emily: [crosstalk]
Dave: I'm ready. Keep going.
Emily: Now it's my turn. I went to four locations also. Let's start-- since you were doing cake donuts, why don't we start with this one from Three Wishes Bakery in Johnston. It is a gluten-free bakery.
Dave: All right.
Emily: Upon picking this one up, it feels nice and moist and dense for a cake donut. It does have chocolate frosting and sprinkles on it.
Lauren: That's really good.
Dave: Yes, that's fantastic.
Lauren: Wait. This is gluten-free?
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: Oh my goodness.
Dave: Wow.
Lauren: What a time to be alive.
Dave: Shouts out to being the only Jimmy's one that we've got. The black and white jimmies on top.
Lauren: There's sprinkles if you're a sprinkles person.
Emily: It's actually kind of a nefarious history of the jimmies.
Lauren: Oh, yes. Jimmies is actually a super racist term. You want to call them sprinkles.
Dave: Oh, I appreciate knowing.
Lauren: Even though it's a common New England term for them, I always say sprinkles now.
Dave: I appreciate being called it.
Emily: Welcome.
Dave: Also, I appreciate the sprinkles on this one and I'm going to teach that back to my family. That gluten-free is fantastic. I would go there just to get this donut.
Lauren: That's really good. The frosting is super chocolate-y. [crosstalk]
Emily: I'm not usually a sprinkles person, to be honest with you, but somehow with the donut and the frosting, the sprinkles just really-- they added something. Really lovely. Next, we'll hop [00:20:00] over to DeLuise in Providence. DeLuise has been, I think, in the running of the Rhode Island Food Fights, a donut LoveFest challenge for many years. They had a sign-up that they were a judge's favorite from either this year or a year past when I went in.
Lauren: I like this sandwich technique that you're doing. [unintelligible 00:20:19]
Emily: Oh, yes. I made it up right now. It just felt right.
Lauren: [chuckles] It's like the cupcake thing.
Dave: I was going to say, that fudge frosting is phenomenal. I love that.
Lauren: That's a good donut.
Emily: It is, I think, in maybe my top five donuts in Rhode Island, not only in this challenge but just if you were to say to me, "Do you want to get a chocolate frosted donut?" I would say, "I know where to go."
Dave: Oh.
Lauren: That's really good. I do remember you saying that you were like, "Just so you know, I'm getting this donut."
[chuckling]
Lauren: That's how I feel about the jelly one from Cloud Donuts.
Emily: All right. Our next one is going to be Boba Lova or Boba Lova, depending on who you are and who you ask. I did not ask while I was in the stor. It would have been a good idea. These are bubble donuts, I think, is what they're called. They look like a beaded bracelet.
Lauren: They're like a flower.
Emily: Oh, okay.
Lauren: [crosstalk]
Emily: That still sounds a little bit nicer.
[laughter]
Lauren: That's beyond theme, Emily.
Emily: I chose the Samoa flavor of donuts. It's got chocolate frosting, I think, or chocolate caramel frosting, with pieces of coconut and chocolate drizzle.
Lauren: It's interesting. It's very chewy.
Dave: Yum.
Lauren: I don't necessarily dislike it. Do we know what kind of-- you're the donut expert? Is this [unintelligible 00:21:41]
Emily: Oh, yes.
Lauren: [laughs] Is this something else?
Emily: It feels like a yeasted donut, but definitely chewier.
Lauren: The audio of all the coconut falling on top of my face.
[laughs]
Lauren: Coconut rain.
Emily: I like that I can eat it in small bites. [00:22:00] It rips into little sections. I don't know.
Dave: My only, I would say, gripe is the coconut's a little too overpowering. I do like coconut, but I'm just getting coconut from it.
Lauren: Yes. I agree.
Emily: There's not as strong a chocolate or caramel flavor. Our last one is from Glaze 'n Daze Donuts, Also a judge's choice, I believe, from this year's challenge. They also had a sign up in their location. Excuse me. [coughs] Boba Lova had the best. If I were to rank the places that I went, 10 out of 10 Boba Lova or Boba Lova's vibe was the best. I know that, Dave, you like the old-fashioned traditional bakery feel. I feel very underwhelmed by that, just sort of walking in counter, dead space in the middle, and then I walk out. There's nothing happening. This place, you could go and Instagram your time there. It felt really hip and modern, very Gen Z if it were, which I really appreciated. It was fresh and exciting to go in.
Lauren: If we're going vibe-wise, my favorite place was probably HASH New York System. It's a small little place, but I think-- it's like a diner, basically. They make the donuts to order, which is awesome. Also, Kirsten who's working there is the nicest person. I just sat at the counter waiting for my donut, watching the Today show. There were people, and they were all talking. It was just a very nice-- it was a very Coventry regulars. I felt like I was the only one there who had [unintelligible 00:23:53]
Dave: Nice.
Lauren: All right. Let's get [unintelligible 00:23:55]
Emily: All right. Now we've got the donut from Glaze 'n Daze, which is in Johnston right [00:24:00] next door to Three Wishes, the gluten-free one that we had before.
Dave: That's convenient.
Emily: It is. This is a Crème Brûlée donut that is filled to order with your choice of filling. They have things like custard or vanilla or maybe chocolate. There's a maybe White Chocolate Raspberry. I chose Cinnamon Apple because I felt like that would go well with Crème Brûlée.
Dave: With Crème Brûlée.
Lauren: [unintelligible 00:24:29] it's really good.
Emily: Here we go.
Emily: Do you want to do that to the microphone?
Lauren: You're supposed to tap Crème Brûlée. [unintelligible 00:24:34]
Dave: Oh. [tapping]
Lauren: It does have a tap.
Emily: It does.
Dave: It has that nice-
Lauren: It is percussive.
Dave: -crispy top. Goes really well with the apple. That was a good choice.
Emily: Thank you.
Lauren: Yes, that's really good, she said about every donut.
Emily: This one definitely, for me, most unique of the donuts that we've had today, and overall one of the most unique donuts, I think, I have met in my life. Price point-wise, it's exactly where I want a donut to be-
Lauren: Which is?
Emily: -which is not $5.
[chuckling]
Lauren: How much was it?
Emily: The sign said $2.50.
Lauren: It was interesting. Every donut I bought was exactly $2 [unintelligible 00:25:16].
Dave: Wow.
Lauren: Yes. I had cash on me. It's such a satisfying feeling to just be like, "Here are $2 bills. Now, I'm done with this transaction." [laughs]
Emily: Mine ranged from $1.50 to $4.
Dave: I would say the zeppole. The zeppole is more expensive, but--
Lauren: I can't speak to the Bareli's price for their zeppole because someone actually brought them into work.
Dave: Nice.
Emily: Bonus from Glaze 'n Daze also, we got three munchkins with our singular donut, which I think is an added customer service plus.
Dave: That's fantastic. If there's one thing I was thinking I would need to go with these three donuts I'd eat eaten, it would be a donut-
Lauren: [crosstalk]-
Emily: A mini donut?
Dave: [00:26:00] -to go on top, yes.
Emily: I think I'm going to eat mine right now-
Dave: I'm totally planning on it.
Emily: -for sure.
Lauren: I'm finishing my piece of the Glaze 'n Daze. What's our favorite?
Dave: We're picking favorites. I'm happy to go first.
Lauren: I really liked the Three Wishes. As a gluten-free donut, I would even just say, as a donut, it is an excellent donut. I really liked the sprinkles. I really liked the way all of the textures went together. It was, I would say, the best overall. This donut rule. Of these ones, that's the one I'm going to pick.
Lauren: I think my favorite is still the jelly donut, but I think I would go maybe Three Wishes as a close second too. I was very pleasantly surprised.
Emily: I respect your choice.
[chuckling]
Emily: Three Wishes would probably be in my top five from today. I'm going to go with a tie, and I think for very good reason, DeLuise and Glaze 'n Daze, for me, just take the cake. I can see why they were the judge's choice. I would go back time and time again for these donuts. Also, your jelly. I don't usually like a jelly donut. I think I made that pretty clear.
[laughter]
Emily: I did. Just because I enjoy their donuts so much, would be happy to eat [inaudible 00:27:18] Cloud, or Master, or New England homemade or whichever location I find myself at.
Lauren: I think, actually, I'm going to change my second choice. I forgot about how much I liked the HASH New York System. That was the first one I had. After all these donuts, my brain completely spaced on it.
Dave: 12 donuts later.
Lauren: -but I did really like that one. Maybe Three Wishes would be third for me. I [unintelligible 00:27:41]
Emily: I would really love the opportunity to eat a HASH donut fresh.
Lauren: Same. [laughs]
Emily: To be honest, I think that might change the game a little bit, but--
Lauren: You guys, I almost ate it this morning.
[laughter]
Lauren: Maybe I should have. [crosstalk]
Emily: You're a better person than me-
Dave: You could have just said.
Emily: -because I wouldn't have bought two.
Lauren: I was [unintelligible 00:27:58] in my car, and I was looking at it. [00:28:00] I should have just gone. I thought it was just going to be a regular donut. I didn't realize it was going to-- she even opened the container when she gave it to me-
Emily: Oh man, presentation.
Dave: Wow.
Lauren: -as if she was proposing to me with a donut, and I would have said yes.
[laughter]
Lauren: I'm already married, and I would have been like, "I'm sorry, but this donut is amazing." [laughs] It smelled really good. It was hot.
Dave: To speak to all donuts everywhere, I think there are ones that they're very place-specific. I'm thinking of your fall apple cider donut. The apple cider donut is never going to taste better than when you get it fresh from the apple cider donut maker in the middle of the pumpkin patch, and you're eating it with that crisp fall air. People bring me apple cider donuts to my house. They're like, "We were out and we know you like them. Not a lot of people-
[laughter]
Dave: -but [crosstalk]
Lauren: Dave, once a week, has people showing up randomly at his house in the fall.
Dave: My brother-in-law will be like, "We were out at the pumpkin patch and we brought you apple cider donut." It's never as good. It's never as good as fresh from the fryer, dusted with the cinnamon sugar right there in the pumpkin patch, very place-specific. That feels like how the HASH would be. It's like, "I got my donut, and now I eat it. I'm experiencing all of this at the same time." I'm sorry you missed out on that. You'll have to go back.
Lauren: It's okay. I'll go back.
Dave: We'll all have to go back.
Lauren: There we go.
Emily: Lauren's going to become a regular. She can start leaving home for work about 45 minutes early to go sit at HASH Donuts and get your coffee and your donuts. That's our voting. We'd love to hear what you all think are the best donuts in Rhode Island. Please send us an email at rhodyradioonline@gmail.com or find us on social media and send us a direct message with where else we should have gone to get a delicious donut.
Lauren: For more information about RI Food Fights and their upcoming events, find them on Facebook or visit www.rifoodfights.com. [00:30:00] Rhody Radio is proud to be a resident partner of the Rhode Island Center for the Book and brought to you by library staff and community members all around the Ocean State.
Dave: Rhody Radio is honored to be supported by a grant from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities seeds, supports, and strengthens public history, cultural heritage, civic education, and community engagement by and for all Rhode Islanders.
Emily: You can find more from Rhody Radio on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. If you enjoyed today's episode, subscribe to Rhody Radio and rate or review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help us reach more Rhode Islanders.
Emily: Thanks for listening.
Lauren: Thanks.
[music]
[00:30:48] [END OF AUDIO]
Comments