Jarams Donuts

I am not a person that just absolutely loves eating breakfast and I frequently skip breakfast.  That being said, I do have a few weaknesses involving breakfast foods, and one of those would be donuts.  After reading an Eater article about the best places to find donuts in Dallas, I decided to try out Jarams Donuts, which was one of the places they recommended and was the one closest to my house in McKinney, TX.  Thrillist also ranked them among The Best Donut Shops in Dallas.

Jaram's Donuts has a huge variety of speciality donuts, kolaches, and other breakfast items, but I was only able to try a fraction of the items available.  Below is my descriptions and opinions of the ones that I tried:
Chocolate Croissant Donut-This donut was about twice the height of a normal donut and had the light texture of a croissant.  The chocolate icing was delicious and the powdered sugar was plentiful.  If a chocolate donut and a beignet had a love child, this donut would be the result.

Creme Brûlée Donut-Hard to imagine, but it actually tasted a lot like creme brûlée.  The exterior was actually caramelized and the inside was filled with custard.  This donut gets two thumbs up for originality.

Chocolate Donut Holes with Sprinkles-My daughter ordered a dozen of these and allowed me to have one.  The same chocolate icing I had on the croissant donut was on these as well and they were high quality for donut holes.  
Sausage Kolache with Bacon- In my opinion, it was closer to a pig-in-a-blanket than a kolache.  The bread was good and the sausage was decent, but I really liked the crispy bacon that adorned the top of it.

Jalapeño Sausage Cheese Bread-By far, this was the most interesting items I tried here.  The bread had sliced jalapeño sausage and cheddar cheese that was intertwined in bread.  As good as the donuts were, I think I actually liked this item the best. 

As you can probably tell, I loved this quaint little donut shop in North Dallas.  The donuts were great and and the jalapeño sausage cheese bread was incredible.  I would rate this place in my top three  donuts shops that I have tried in DFW alongside Hypnotic Donuts and The Donut Kitchen.   

Jaram's Donuts
http://www.jarams.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=4
 

Top Pot Hand-Forged Donuts

Seattle based, Top Pot Hand-Forged Donuts, has expanded into the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  The DFW area has no shortage of donut stores and coffee houses, but the donuts and coffee here are both highly praised by critics and foodies.  CityLine, a new development in Richardson, recently opened a location and I loaded up the whole family and  took them to breakfast there one morning so we could try out the donuts.  

Chocolate Bar

We tried several varieties of donuts and we really liked most of what we tried.  My two kids loved the chocolate ring donuts, which were about double the size of the average donut and had great chocolate icing.  The same chocolate icing was also used on the bar donut I had, but even the plain old fashioned donut was quite tasty. But of all the donuts we had, the blueberry fritter was the absolute best of the lot.  Apparently it is not on their regular menu, but I would order it again in a heartbeat.  

Blueberry Fritter

The coffee was also very good and had a rich flavor.  As good as the donuts were, the coffee was equally impressive.  For some reason, Top Pot reminds me of a Starbucks that serves donuts.  Although these weren't the best donuts I have ever had, I would certainly eat here again and would even make a special trip to do so if I knew they had the blueberry fritter available.  This donut shop receives a lot of hype and I think it is mostly warranted.  

Old Fashioned Donut

Top Pot Donuts
http://www.toppotdoughnuts.com
Livin the Good Life Rating= 3
 

The Donut Hole

Having read good things about The Donut Hole, we thought we should try this place out.  They not only serve donuts, but they also serve breakfast and lunch.  After a morning at the beach, I loaded up the family with promises of both lunch and donuts for dessert.

When we arrived, the place was really busy with the late breakfast and early lunch crowd.  A busy restaurant is usually a sign of good food, but our table was passed by several times before a waitress finally took our orders after we had been seated for about fifteen minutes.  I ordered the Chicken Fried Steak and Fries, which I now regret.  The chicken fried steak was comparable to the quality that one would find in a high school cafeteria and the fries were equally bad.  Neither tasted homemade and I strongly suspect they were purchased frozen from a supplier.  

Chicken Fried Steak and Fries

My wife ordered the BLT, which was better than my meal and had bacon that was thick and flavorful.  While not the best BLT I have ever had, it was certainly a step up from my meal.  She ordered the potato salad as her side and it left a lot to be desired.  Neither of us cared for the taste of this item.  

BLT and Potato Salad

The donuts ended up being the highlight of the meal, but I feel they were highly overrated as well.  I sampled the Cookies and Cream, Chocolate, and Chocolate Angel.  I usually don't order cream filled donuts, but the two I ordered looked too good to pass up.  The Chocolate Angel was filled with chocolate, covered in powdered sugar, and was my favorite of the three I tried.  The chocolate donut was average compared to other donut places and I did not care much for the Cookies and Cream variety.  Even the crumbled Oreos on top didn't do it for me.

Cookies and Cream, Chocolate, and Chocolate Angel

 Maybe I built this place up too much in my head due to the reviews I had read, but I was upset that I had wasted my family's time dining here.  The service was extremely slow and the food was disappointing.   If I ever go here again, I will only go for donuts for the kids and skip the other options.

The Donut Hole

Livin the Good Life Rating=1

Cafe Du Monde

Before we went to New Orleans, my wife informed me that we had to do two things:  eat breakfast at Cafe Du Monde and ride a trolley.  Both of those things had made an impression on her when she visited New Orleans as a child, so she insisted that we do them with our kids as well.  It just so happened that we had a trolley line close to our hotel that could take us directly to the Cafe Du Monde location at Jackson Square.  I love it when I can kill two birds with one stone while making my wife happy!

Beignets

I had read that this location of Cafe Du Monde could get very crowded on weekends, so I woke my family up at 6 a.m.  We were able to jump on a trolley and beat the crowds to Cafe Du Monde.  Despite it being really early for a Saturday morning, we took the last table available indoors.  We promptly ordered three orders of beignets, coffee for my wife and I, and milk for the kids.

Chicory Coffee

The beignets arrived covered in powdered sugar, so I was very glad that I had worn a white t-shirt.  All of us dug into the beignets and  enjoyed these donut-like treats.  I was expecting them to be light and fluffy, but they were much more dense than I had anticipated.  The flavor was very good and there was plenty of powdered sugar to go around for everyone.  They were definitely flavorful, but I didn't think they were the best beignets I have ever had.  While I usually don't put cream and sugar in my coffee, I was pleased with the restaurant's chicory coffee.

My youngest with her first bite of a beignet

The service is very quick and they seem to be experts at getting large numbers of people in and out.  By the time we left, there was a line thirty deep waiting to be seated.  We all enjoyed our experience at Cafe Du Monde, but it didn't live up to the hype my wife had been building up for a month before our arrival.  That being said, it was a decent enough breakfast and a fun place for families to go and get covered in powdered sugar.

Cafe Du Monde
http://www.cafedumonde.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Gourdough's

Austin is very well known for the quality of cuisine that is dished out from the city's food trucks and food trailers.  One can find anything from barbecue to sushi and I have thoroughly enjoyed most of what I have sampled from food trucks in Austin.  On my last full day in Austin, some buddies and I hit up Gourdough's for a gluttonous late night snack.  Who can't pass up a donut trailer that stays open until 3 a.m.?

When we first arrived I was in awe of the large menu and the different ingredients that topped their donuts.  Between the three of us, we ordered eight total donuts.  What we didn't know is that these donuts were gargantuan and piled high with toppings.  Never one to back down from a challenge (the three of us knocked out six pounds of barbecue plus sides at Franklin Barbecue earlier in the day), we sat down to indulge ourselves in these donuts.

I tried four of the eight donuts myself and have included their names and ingredients below:

Mother Clucker-Fried Chicken Strip Pieces with Honey Butter

Son of a Peach-Peach Filling, Cinnamon, Sugar, and Cake Mix Topping

Porkey's-Canadian Bacon, Cream Cheese and Jalapeno Jelly

Flying Pig-Bacon and Maple Syrup Icing

All four donuts I tried ranged from "amazing" to "I would drive three and a half hours just to eat these for breakfast."  My favorite was the "Mother Clucker", but the "Flying Pig" was delightful as well.  After eating at Franklin Barbecue and Gourdough's in the same day, I felt like I had experienced culinary nirvana.  If you live in the Austin area and have not been to Gourdough's yet, then you should be ashamed of yourself!

Gourdough's
http://gourdoughs.com/
Livin the Good Life Rating=5

The Donut Kitchen

Donuts are the preferred breakfast food of my two children.  If truth be told, they are one of my favorite breakfast items as well.  A new donut shop, The Donut Kitchen,  opened on July 1st in West McKinney.  Although I am usually aware of new restaurants in McKinney, I didn't realize that there was a new donut shop on my side of town.  Luckily, a friend recommended that I check this place out.

Since I first found out about it's existence, I have actually eaten here twice.  Most donut shops are basically all the same, but the donuts at The Donut Kitchen are primarily cake-based and are absolutely incredible.  They have a wide variety of specialty donuts that you will not find anywhere else.

Clockwise from Top Left: Maple Bacon, Texas Sheetcake, S'Mores, and Strawberries & Chocolate

So far, I have sampled the following donuts: Texas Sheet Cake, Maple Bacon, Strawberries & Chocolate, S'Mores, Fruity Pebble, and Mint Chocolate Chip.  They were all very good, but my favorite was the Texas Sheet Cake.  The chocolate icing and chopped pecans give this donut the authentic flavor of Texas Sheet Cake.

Not to be outdone, they also serve up some terrific kolaches and breakfast sandwiches.  The kolache is very large and contains a full-sized andouille sausage link that is wrapped in a flaky pastry and served with dark ale mustard.  I consider myself a connoisseur of kolaches and the one served at The Donut Kitchen is top notch, especially when served with the mustard.  

Kolache with Dark Ale Mustard

On my second visit, I was able to try the Fried Chicken Breakfast Sandwich with Texas pesto.  Most fried chicken breakfast sandwiches are served on biscuits, but this particular sandwich is served on a light and flaky croissant-style roll.  The batter on the fried chicken was phenomenal and the Texas pesto gave it excellent flavor.

Fried Chicken Breakfast Sandwich with Texas Pesto

The Donut Kitchen is unquestionably the best donut shop I have sampled in Collin County.  Hypnotic Donuts is the only place in the DFW area that is comparable in quality to The Donut Kitchen.  Although I love Hypnotic Donuts, this new place is practically in my backyard and much closer than East Dallas.  I can guarantee you that my family will be frequent visitors to this new donut shop.  Judging from the large crowd we saw on a Saturday morning, I believe that others feel the same way about this.

The Donut Kitchen
http://www.thedonutkitchen.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=4

Hypnotic Donuts

My wife and I both had a rare Friday off from work, so we both wanted to do something fun with the kids.  Spending a day off with the kids doesn’t sound like much fun, but we made plans to make it as fun as possible for both adults and kids.  We eventually ended up taking them to Klyde Warren Park and the Perot Museum, but first we had to have breakfast.  I had heard great reviews about a place called Hypnotic Donuts, so we made plans to eat there. 

My youngest eating her first donut hole ever

This quaint little donut shop is located in a shopping center in the White Rock Lake area of Dallas.  It looks pretty similar to any other donut shop with the exception that it has hippyesque art on the wall.  When you look at the menu on the wall, you realize that this is not your average donut stop.  They have donuts with such names as Nutella the Hun, Zoo Ropa, Salvation, Peace, Mexico, etc.   They also have a wide variety of biscuits and chicken biscuits.

The Turtle and a chocolate donut

My family got some donut holes and a couple of donuts with sprinkles.  I chose a chocolate donut and one called the Turtle, which was a chocolate cake base donut that had ½ chocolate icing and ½ caramel icing.  I consider myself to be a connoisseur of donuts, and both of these were absolutely outstanding.  I also ordered Maribeth’s chicken biscuit, which had tator tots and peppered gravy on the chicken biscuit.  When it arrived, it was absolutely huge (about the size of a double quarter-pounder with cheese).  Eating one of these will make you reconsider your daily breakfast routine.  I actually considered the fact that if I woke up 90 minutes earlier every day, I could realistically make a trip here every morning before work.  With all do respect to Mr. Cathy and Chic-fil-A, this was the best chicken biscuit I have ever had.

Maribeth's Chicken Biscuit

My entire family absolutely loved this place.  Even though it is about a 30 minute drive from our house, we will be going back again here in the near future.  The donuts may have been the best donuts I have ever had and the chicken biscuit was out-of-this-world amazing.  I give Hypnotic Donuts an 5 on my 5-point scale.  I highly recommend a trip to this place for breakfast!

Hypnotic Donuts

9007 Garland Road

Dallas, TX

http://www.hypnoticdonuts.com/

Livin the Good Life Rating=5