After pressing enter on a "donuts near me" Google search, I was surprised by just how many donut places were in fact, near me. Chicago is donut rich and that makes it a wonderful place. Do-Rite Donuts was on the north side of the block my hotel was located. I made a right out of my hotel, another right at the first intersection, and again, another right at the next intersection. I then walked passed Do-Rite Donuts without realizing it. When I made it to the end of the block, I knew I had gone to far, turned around and looked a little harder. The entrance to Do-Rite was not actually on the sidewalk, but up on, what you could call, a covered patio. Part of the building was also under construction, so a temporary awning and scaffolding hid the entrance. Fortunately the neon sign claiming "Fresh Donuts All Day" guided me in like a beacon.
Now there are three Do-Rite Donuts locations in Chicago, two are called Do-Rite Donuts & Chicken, and one is called Do-Rite Donuts and Coffee. The latter being the one the closes at 2pm, while the other two stay open until 7pm - most days. I'm going to go out on a limb here and make an assumption - the donuts & coffee location doesn't have chicken. The one I went to was on East Erie Street, and it was a chicken location. Of course, I was there for the donuts not the chicken, so I can't speak to that side of the business at all, but that might appeal to some people.
Inside, a long counter separated the donuts from the patrons, and several people seemed to be waiting off to the side for orders already placed. There's not much real estate inside the store for sitting and dining, but there are several tables outside. The line in front of me was not long so I quickly tried to figure out which donuts to sample. The display case held 17 donut varieties, some of which were clearly more popular than others - those being a vegan orange olive oil donut, Oreo and cream, candied maple bacon, blueberry crumbcake, and red velvet donuts. As I'm writing this I'm thinking I probably should have tried at least one of those, but instead I pick from the varieties that still had a full tray.
While normally I go for at least a half dozen to get a good sample, I opted for a quarter dozen since I had a flight to catch in a few hours. I left with a birthday cake, cinnamon raised, and vanilla bean glazed. Again, not the most exciting selection, but I think it's important a bakery master the standard flavors.
First I had birthday cake ($2.95), a donut that won me over due to its high volume of colorful sprinkles. It was a cake donut (which makes sense), with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles. According to the website, the birthday cake is one of the gluten free flavors. I didn't see any signage indicating that in the store, so I can't say for certain. It was an average donut experience, there's really not much to say. It delivered exactly what I expected.
I next tried the cinnamon raised donut ($2.75). Initially I thought it was going to be a standard cinnamon sugar donuts but it was not. It appeared to be a glazed yeast donut that was then coated in cinnamon sugar crumbles, which made for an interesting texture. The sugar crumbles encased the donut in a crisp outer shell, but once you broke though, it revealed an airy donut that would spring back after each bite.
Finally came the vanilla bean glazed, a true classic, and the shining star of the trio I sampled. It was a large airy donut that would collapse in your hands and melt in your mouth. As I took a bite it seemed to reduce down to nothing, almost in a way similar to cotton candy. You can see from the photo I took of it, that simply picking it up made it collapse. I think I may have been the most delicate donut I ever ate, and that made for a wonderful experience.
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