You will thank me if you do. And you can throw rocks at the ex while you're in town
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America's top twenty donut chains
- Thread starter GON
- Start date
. Bonus!GON
$175 Site Donor 2026
Dunkin donuts doesn't sell fresh donuts, their donuts today are nothing like the Dunkin donuts you ate in your childhood.
The donuts sold at Dunkin today were made weeks, months ago, likely in a commissary thousands of miles away from the retail store. These week/ months old donuts arrive to the store frozen, the donuts are thawed, then placed in a rack for display.
I was spoiled by Carol Lee Donuts decades ago as an undergrad student at Virginia Tech. The bakery used to be on College Avenue next to the Lyric Theater just 5 minutes off-campus. They relocated to the old converted gas station building on North Main Street about 25 years ago. It is indeed a homegrown treasure in this day and age of franchised, corporate doughnut chains.
Funny but true story: My freshman roommate was dating the daughter of the Dean of Engineering at VT. She worked part time at Carol Lee Donuts while a student at VT. The dough dispensing machine at Carol Lee's would occasionally get jammed and she decided to clear it with her index finger...which quickly became stuck in the dispensing nozzle! The manager summoned the Blacksburg Fire Department to disassemble the machine and free her finger from the nozzle.
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Yeah Dunkin’ tastes like cardboard to me. I like the Krispy Kreme glazed when the hot sign is on. We have a small local chain around here called Jolly Pirate doughnuts and they are really good. My favorite there is what they call a buttermilk doughnut and is basically a lump, no hole, and tastes like a sour cream doughnut I’ve had at other places. It has very light glaze on a crispy outside and moist and soft on the inside almost like pound cake. Here is a travel review.
https://5centsplain.wordpress.com/2...jolly-pirate-donuts-huntington-west-virginia/
Well, that explains it.
When I went to school in Inglewood, CA there was the original Randy's a block away. Think of the huge donut on top of the shop, world famous. Tried it twice in four years and was not impressed. Now they have expanded and have 5 stores in Vegas. Must be the famous sign as the donuts aren't bad, but aren't anything to write home about.
During a quarter when I commuted, I'd roll into Inglewood at around 5:30 AM. Would stop by Duncan's a bit later for coffee and a delicious fresh donut or two. Then, they made good donuts, but that was early in the last millennium.
As a vet I've stopped by KK and Dunkin once a year for a free donut on Veteran's Day. KK are a guilty pleasure, but after about two bites of the fresh glazed wonder, the cloying sweet greasy disk becomes too much. Others are ok, but i find the high prices and tiny donuts not worth the effort. Duncan is now overpriced even when free, and I've given up on them.
Best donuts in the world, bar none, were Stan's in Westwood, CA. I only regret I discovered him late in life (actually my dear wife told me about the legend). He retired in '20 and passed away 2 years ago. Not sure if his named shops now in Chicago carry on the tradition.
If you are ever in Vegas, currently the best shop here is Ronalds.
Most of the doughnut places that are chains are just terrible greasy and I can't stomach much of it. If I want a good doughnut I go to one of my local grocers who has an on site bakery and makes stuff from the chains look like carp.
Dunkin use to be good 20 years ago when the donuts were made fresh daily at the shop they were bought at. Now they're smaller and never as fresh. Krispy Kreme is great when fresh from the shop. The ones they sell at the grocery store and even Costco aren't worth the carbs.
There are 675 Timmies in the NE of the USA.
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GON
$175 Site Donor 2026
Isn't Timmy a Canadian chain? This is American donut chains.
GON
$175 Site Donor 2026
Comon now. Next you will be asking me about Canada's national pastime shifting from hockey to cricket.
Patman
Staff member
Tim Hortons is actually owned by Restaurant Brands International which also owns Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs. Their headquarters are in Toronto but they are an American and Canadian company and they also have part ownership from Brazil.
But there are enough Tim Hortons locations in the US now (807) so it really could be part of this discussion
GON
$175 Site Donor 2026
This is the very first line of the graphic:
So, if one connects the dots from what you are implying, Tim Horton's was founded in the US.
If that is the case, the formal independence of Canada on 17APR1982, although technically accurate, but by what @Snagglefoot and you are indicating, is that Canada by spirit and intent, is actually a US territory, and thus that is why Tim Hortons qualifies as being a US founded donut chain........
Guess we will have to add Tim Horton's to the list of US founded donut chains.
Intriguing...
Live from Timmies:
Patman
Staff member
I vote we add Timmies to the list if they make their donuts on-site, and disqualify Dunkin' for their shabby trick of centralized manufacture and sales of stale donuts.
Patman
Staff member
Timmies stopped making their donuts on site a few years ago. They are baked in other locations and frozen now
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