Stan’s Donuts: We’re Nuts for Stan’s!

There’s nothing like a hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning.  And the only thing better than a cup of coffee is, what else, a donut to go with said cup o joe.  For the lucky residents of the Windy City, the one and only place to go for the best in rings of dough is Stan’s Donuts and Coffee.  Found in multiple locations throughout Chicago, Stan’s specializes in donuts that run the gamut from the traditional glazed rings and frosted, to fancy bismarks and fritters, and the more outlandish maple logs with bacon bits and nuts.  We’ll get back to that later on.

My recent trip to Chicago brought me to a Stan’s location on North Broadway in the cozy neighborhood of Lakeview East on Chicago’s north side.  From the minute I entered, I loved the whoosh of cool air and the look of the kitschy vibe.  However, it was the many shapes and colors of its delectable donuts that won me over.  I mean, I have seen homemade donuts before.  These, however, were bigger than normal and there were numerous flavors that went way beyond glazed and chocolate.  There were green donuts made with pistachio, orange dounts made with essence of orange, red donuts made with cherries, and donut/danish hybrids with a massive dollop of fruit compote.  The cherry-red donut tasted like a donut made with a hint of Kool-Aid and brought forth a fruity aftertaste that was quite refreshing.

The ones I sunk my teeth into were the buttermilk bar, the chocolate old-fashioned, the glazed old-fashioned, and the caramel bacon pecan bar.  The buttermilk bar was truly decadent; not your average glazed stick of dough and icing.  As its name would imply, it had a rich, buttery taste that was most filling and soft not to mention a liberal dousing of icing.  The chocolate old-fashioned was a chocolate donut smothered in chocolate icing and stripes of vanilla icing.  The classic old-fashioned is, for me, the go-to for those who cannot make up their mind.  Unlike the original glazed, which is a larger, doughier donut, the old-fashioned is slightly smaller and has the perfect ratio of icing to dough.  Lastly, the caramel bacon pecan bar was, hands down, the most eye-popping flavor I tried.  I had only heard of donuts topped with bacon but I had never actually tried one.  It was far from disappointing.  It was like a buttermilk bar but with less icing and topped with a caramel coating and drizzled with chunky bacon bits and pecan pieces.  BONZA!  One bite and it was just like biting into a piece of French toast and bacon at a diner.  The caramel had just a hint of a maple-syrup finish.  Why don’t they have this in New York?!

 If Homer Simpson and Officer Clawhauser had a favorite place to meet up after work, it’d be this place!