Quest for the Best: Doughnut Plant Review

As anyone who knows me (or at least the size of my ass) personally knows, I have rarely met a pastry or baked good that I didn’t like. So I’m on a quest to find some of the best goodies New York City has to offer.

Location: 379 Grand St. NY, NY

Website: Doughnut Plant

Price: Each doughnut is around $2.25

Atmosphere: Definitely take-out only. The store is beyond tiny and basically consists of just a counter where you place your order.

My Review: While the doughnuts at Doughnut Plant are tasty, I failed to see anything so remarkable about them to warrant the price. If it’s just a doughnut you’re craving, and any doughnut will do, you can get cheaper at any Dunkin’ Donuts or Krispy Kreme. Doughnut Plant’s claims to fame are the unique flavors they offer, like blackberry jam-filled with peanut butter glaze and crème brulee, and the fact that they use no preservatives, artificial flavors, or eggs in their products. So perhaps they’re a healthier alternative to traditional doughnuts, but if you’re having a doughnut, is nutrition really the first thing on your mind?

As for flavors, I tried the tres leches and the much-lauded coconut cream doughnuts. The tres leches (that’s “three milks” for those who took French in high school) was basically a denser version of a glazed doughnut. It’s cake-like and apparently made with three different kinds of condensed milks, which really just made the cake moister than a typical doughnut would be. The whole thing was coated in a basic glaze, and was tasty overall, but not as remarkable as I was anticipating.

After being heralded in Time Out New York, the bigger disappointment was the basically flavorless coconut cream doughnut. The doughnut part was as basic as can be, and the cream filling didn’t really taste like coconut; it was more like a bland custard that they forgot to add the coconut part to. The whole thing is coated in a coconut glaze which was the only place I got any sort of coconut flavor from. Again, it wasn’t bad, but a bit of a let-down when I was expecting some sort of coconut nirvana.

Bottom Line: The doughnuts are tasty enough, but not really worth the price or the trek to the Lower East Side. If you already live in the neighborhood, and are jonesing for an unusual-flavored treat, then Doughnut Plant isn’t a bad place to visit. But I’ll probably just grab a glazed cruller from the Dunkin’ Donuts down the block for half the price and be just as happy.