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Buttermilk cake doughnut from Dat Donut
Tasting notes: This one left a bad, shortening-like taste in our mouths, and several tasters noted "off" flavors.
Chocolate doughnut from Dat Donut
Tasting notes: Nice crunch, but dry.
Chocolate raised doughnut from Dat Donut
Toasted-coconut doughnut from Dat Donut
Tasting notes: Faint coconut flavor from flakes sprinkled on the frosting.
Pineapple glazed doughnut from Dat Donut
Tasting notes: Are you sure this is pineapple? (No.)
Sprinkles doughnut from Dat Donut
Strawberry glazed doughnut from Dat Donut
Tasting notes: Though basically identical to the Old Fashioned Donuts version, this strawberry-glazed was a touch lighter.
Strawberry filled doughnut from Dat Donut
Tasting notes: Eep. Under-fried and doughy.
Strawberry sugar doughnut from Dat Donut
Tasting notes: Though no one was wild about the synthetic strawberry flavor, this one was slightly superior to its nearly identical competitor, the strawberry-filled sugar-dusted doughnut from Old Fashioned Donuts.
CRITICS' PICK: Glazed doughnut from Dat Donut
Tasting notes: Flawless. An exemplar of the form. Yeast flavors shine through. Superlight. Like God.
Chocolate Chocolate Old Fashioned doughnut from Do-Rite Donuts
Tasting notes: Heavy on the frosting, this was like eating a doughnut-shaped cake.
CRITICS' PICK: Chocolate Old Fashioned doughnut from Do-Rite Donuts
Tasting notes: Incredible crunch, just enough chocolate, pure satifsaction.
Fruit Fritter from Do-Rite Donuts
Tasting notes: Love the halved fresh strawberries.
Candied maple bacon doughnut from Do-Rite Donuts
Tasting notes: Not only are all bacon doughnuts wrong, but even sans bacon, this doughnut is overly soft.
CRITICS' PICK:Pistachio passion fruit doughnut from Glazed & Infused
Tasting notes: The tart passion-fruit flavor was a delightful reprieve from a sea of sweet doughnuts.
Pistachio Meyer lemon doughnut from Do-Rite Donuts
Tasting notes: The crumbly, cakey doughnut doesn't come together with the big chunks of pistachio and sweet icing.
Valrhona chocolate glazed cake doughnut from Do-Rite Donuts
CRITICS' PICK: Vanilla bean-glazed cinnamon crunch doughnut from Do-Rite Donuts
Tasting notes: Love the layer of cinnamon woven into the dough, love the crackly glaze, love the pronounced cinnamon flavor, love this doughnut.
Vanilla bean glazed doughnut from Do-Rite Donuts
Tasting notes: So light. Almost too light. LIke sugared brioche, passed off as a doughnut.
Vanilla glazed doughnut from Doughnut Vault
Tasting notes: Performed surprisingly poorly in the taste test. Tasters loved the texture but felt the strong flavor of the glaze was a detriment to overall doughnut bliss.
CRITICS' PICK: Chestnut glazed doughnut from Doughnut Vault
Tasting notes: Nutty, puffy and with absurdly flaky icing, this is doughnut perfection.
Chocolate glazed doughnut from Doughnut Vault
Tasting notes: Very subtle, delicate chocolate flavor.
Gingerbread stack from Doughnut Vault
Tasting notes: Strong, dark ginger flavor.
CRITICS' PICK: Old Fashioned doughnut from Doughnut Vault
Tasting notes: With a more moist interior than its competitors, this specimen is our pick for best Old Fashioned in Chicago.
CRITICS' PICK: Grape jelly-filled doughnut from Doughnut Vault
Tasting notes: The jelly doughnut to end all jelly doughnuts. Inspired.
Pistachio Old Fashioned doughnut from Doughnut Vault
Tasting notes: Spunky combination of pistachio and coconut.
CRITICS' PICK: Bacon butterscotch doughnut from Endgrain
Tasting notes: Enoch Simpson is the only person who understands how you properly put bacon on a doughnut. He does so minimally, subtly and with a nutty butterscotch foil that makes the whole thing taste like caramel corn-not like a skillet.
Carrot cake doughnut from Endgrain
Tasting notes: There is actual shredded carrot in here. Ambitious, but...
Lemon bar doughnut from Endgrain
Tasting notes: Good move tucking bright, lush lemon curd inside.
Nutella milk stout doughnut from Endgrain
Tasting notes: Tastes like a chocolate bagel.
CRITICS' PICK: Coconut cream doughnut from Firecakes
Tasting notes: Between the crunchy coconut-coated exterior and the perfect proportion of cream filling, this was a surprise stunner.
CRITICS' PICK: Apple fritter from Firecakes
Tasting notes: Not too sweet, with big chunks of apple. Bonus points for being one of the few apple fritters on the North Side.
Honey glazed doughnut from Firecakes
Tasting notes: Strong flavor left a bad aftertaste.
Maple glazed pineapple and bacon doughnut from Firecakes
Tasting notes: The most restrained of the bacon doughnuts, Firecakes' take on the genre was actually too subtle.
Buttermilk Old Fashioned doughnut from Firecakes
Tasting notes: Intense flavor and oily texture.
CRITICS' PICK: Peanut-butter cup mini doughnut from Firecakes
Tasting notes: Mini-doughnuts are the future. Win.
Valrhona Chocolate iced doughnut from Firecakes
Tasting notes: Sounded more exciting than it tasted.
Vanilla bean glazed doughnut from Glazed & Infused
Tasting notes: A close runner-up to Dat Donut for best glazed doughnut, but a touch overglazed.
Banana cream cheese doughnut from Glazed & Infused
Tasting notes: On the one hand, kind of good. On the other hand, actually kind of gross.
Bismark Special from Glazed & Infused
Tasting notes: like having a doughnut with fresh jam on it.
Blueberry lemon doughnut from Glazed & Infused
Tasting notes: Tart, lively flavors. Almost like eating real food and/or fruit.
Coffee glazed doughnut from Glazed & Infused
Tasting notes: Crumbly texture, deep coffee flavor.
CRITICS' PICKS: Cr�me br�l�e doughnut from Glazed & Infused
Tasting notes: Genius. The glaze is a dead ringer for the crackly top of cr�me br�l�e, which is the best part anyway.
Maple bacon Long John from Glazed & Infused
Tasting notes: Like many G&I doughnuts, this one suffers from an overly heavy hand with the glaze, here coupled with harsh spicing.
Terry's Toffee doughnut from Glazed & Infused
Cake doughnut from Old Fashioned Donuts
Tasting notes: Tastes like oil, feels like a brick.
Cake doughnut with vanilla icing from Old Fashioned Donuts
Caramel raised doughnut from Old Fashioned Donuts
Cake doughnut with chocolate icing from Old Fashioned Donuts
Chocolate-glazed, cream-filled doughnut from Old Fashioned Donuts
Devil's food cake doughnut from Old Fashioned Donuts
Tasting notes: One of the stronger doughnuts from OFD, thanks to a pleasantly crunchy chocolate-glazed exterior.
Glazed raised doughnut from Old Fashioned Donuts
Tasting notes: Funky oil taste.
Strawberry-glazed raised doughnut from Old Fashioned Donuts
Tasting notes: Ever-so-slightly heavier than the otherwise identical Dat Donut strawberry-glazed. Neither especially notable.
Strawberry-filled doughnut from Old Fashioned Donuts
Tasting notes: Not wild about the synthetic strawberry flavor.
Glazed raised doughnut from Old Fashioned Donuts
Tasting notes: Spoiled by a funky oil taste.
Now that we have a wealth of donut shops, the time has come to taste test which donuts in Chicago are worth your...dough.
We are living in the golden age of donuts in Chicago. To prove it, we picked up a dozen donuts from the best spots in Chicago—Glazed & Infused, Endgrain, Doughnut Vault, Do-Rite Donuts, Old Fashioned Donuts, Dat Donut and Firecakes—and did a taste test of all of them in one sitting, to determine the standout flavors from each. Check out the slide show to find out the best donuts, the worst donuts and more notes from the tasting.
RECOMMENDED: The best donuts in Chicago
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