2011 Los Angeles Donut Summit

August 3rd, 2011 by justJENN

I was thrilled to be asked to be a ‘celebrity judge’ at the Blogging L.A. Donut Summit 2011! What qualifies me to judge donuts? I eat A LOT of donuts. Or at least I thought I did until I saw 40 dozen staring back at me…

Los Angeles donut fans from across the Southland brought a dozen from their fave local donut shops. This is the greatest idea ever because L.A. is so big, there’s no possible way you can drive out to all of these places to try so many donuts. So here they all were in one place, in pretty pink and white boxes, stacked, prepped and ready to be devoured.

I met my fellow judges, Shelley (The Fry Girl) and Billy (the 99 Cent Chef). Armed with clipboards and iced coffee, we were off! I attacked the donuts with a plan, by going down the ‘Donut Categories’ list and trying to identify the winners in my book. Best glazed, best filling, most roundest (?).

I gave my best effort and found some really unique and lovely donuts I never knew existed. Did you know Philippes makes donuts? Yes, Philippes the reknown French Dip sandwich shop! They were cake donuts, beautifully round (design is important to me), not at all greasy, just the perfect sweet bite. A wonderful surprise that I plan to buy to compliment my Philippes sandwich from now on.

Another fave was The Donut Man‘s peach donut. He’s the donut king but to venture alllll the way out to Glendora from the Westside is not exactly a fun trip traffic wise, it’s quite a haul.

Luckily a donut fan brought them in and WOW, they were truly amazing. While Donut Man’s strawberry donuts may be what he’s famous for, the freshness of the peaches won me over.

So what was the one donut that stood out above all the rest? Which one did I still want to go back to despite eating my way through 40 dozen donuts? Stan the man. Stans’ Donuts in Westwood makes a peanut butter filled chocolate covered donut. While the combination sounds intimidating, the sweetness wasn’t overwhelming. A perfect balance to be cherished. Turns out, Stan’s chocolate peanut butter filled donut was the clear judges choice for all three of us!

Judging a donut contest was a whole lot of fun! Perhaps it was the three cups of caffeinated Intelligentsia iced coffee talking, but at the end of it all after trying 40 dozen donuts, I STILL found myself wanting to eat more donuts. Now that is TRUE donut love.

Here’s a complete list of winners, thanks Blogging L.A.!

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