Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

thanks for this great posting on donuts.

i too have noticed the disappearance of donuts. there was that great "old fashioned donuts" on the SE corner of Lexington and E. 86th street (which closed about a year ago) and also the 24hr "Coffee Shop" that sold donuts at the SE corner of 8th Avenue and 23rd street (which closed about six years ago). when those places were open i would eat two donuts a day.

have you tried the donuts at Cupcake Cafe? their cake donuts are good (they at times have pumpkin) though their jelly donuts can be too thick with bread.

eli zabar's on madison avenue and 80th street sells an excellent jelly donut. so does cafe sabarsky on SE corner of 5th Avenue and 86th street - which i have had w/ an apricot filling.

but the best jelly donut for me that i can't pass up if i see them in the window is at this small polish grocery store w/ the purple awning in the middle of block on 1st Avenue between 6th & 7th street (western side). they seem to be made of challah and w/ a smudge of raspberry jam in it. YUM!

Why in the world did I skip going into the office that day?

Cookshop usually has some nice donuts made from scratch in the mornings on weekends. You can skip the big brunch and just order a couple of those and some coffee. I've seen chocolate chip there, and jelly. They tend to run out before the late brunch crowd even gets there.

But the best donut I had recently was a cinnamon donut from a farm stand on Sound Ave out on the North Fork... Fifty cents. Just made.

It's probably a good thing we're in a donut dark age here in NYC. If we ever get ready access to great donuts, we're doomed.