cafe,  chelsea,  lower east side,  restaurant reviews,  sweets

Doughnut Plant and Its Impossible-to-Pronounce Treats

You know how I have a blog? That’s called donuts4dinner? Well, until a couple of weekends ago, I had never been to Doughnut Plant.

Dunkin Donuts, where the doughnuts come stale and in ultra-boring flavors and always seem way more delicious in my mind than they actually are? All the time.

Doughnut Plant, where the doughnuts are continuously made fresh while you watch and come in flavors you’ve never seen before and are actually more delicious than you expect? Never.

Doughnut Plant NYC

I won’t tell you all of the things my boyfriend and I had already consumed during our walk around Chinatown and the Lower East Side that day, but suffice it to say that we only needed one doughnut.

After much deliberation–coconut cream? cinnamon bun? tres leches?–

OH, CRAP. I just remembered the most amazing thing that happened while we were waiting in line. It was all quiet in the store, and behind us, I could hear this skinny blonde saying, “Should we get the tres leches?” to her companion. Only she was pronouncing it tray lesh. You guys, she thought it was French or something. Which is hilarious on its own, because what kind of hole are you living in that you’ve never heard of tres leches cake and can’t figure out that it has a Spanish pronunciation?

But MORE IMPORTANTLY, if leche is a word in French–and I’m not even sure it is–it sure doesn’t mean “milk” like it does in Spanish. So what did she think this doughnut tasted like?!

I swear I’m not trying to be elitist here. I’m just so interested in what was going through this girl’s mind and am dying to know if she was visiting from Ohio, because that’s the only place I can imagine tres leches cake still being unknown.

Doughnut Plant NYC Peanut Butter and Banana Square Doughnut

Anyway, we ultimately decided on the peanut butter and banana square doughnut, because

1) the squares are the biggest and most gluttonous,
2) jam filling is too healthy,
3) peanut butter is, like, my favourite thing in the world next to pizza.

It did not disappoint. This thing was fluffy, fresh, crunchy, sweet, nutty, banana-y, and huge. I have to be honest here and say that I don’t even really care about bananas, and I loved the banana cream. I’m not saying marshmallow cream wouldn’t have been better, but still. I also don’t like eating sweet things with nuts in them, because long after the sweet taste has vanished, I’m still finding savory nuts in my teeth, but these nuts were brittle and easily crunched, as if they were caramelized. And when I found them in my teeth later, it was a treat.

Doughnut Plant
379 Grand Street
New York, NY 10002 (map)

220 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011 (map)

14 Comments

    • donuts4dinner

      Well, someone just pronounced “confit” with a short I and a hard T to me, so between that and this, the world is ending.

  • Noel

    So near my house is a Mennonite bakery with, I swear, the best donuts on the face of the earth. Why are you not visiting me?

    • donuts4dinner

      I can’t imagine the Mennonites pumping out peanut butter donuts, but you’ve sparked my interest. Too bad you live FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND miles away, even from Ashville.

  • Kim

    I 100% speak Spanish with a French accent and still would have side-eyed that girl.

    Also, they sell these things at Oren’s and I drool all over the case but haven’t tried one yet.

    I want to know what else you guys consumed that day. Suffice it to say.

    • donuts4dinner

      Accents are adorable and charming and never incorrect. If she had been Australian or something, I might have cut her some slack.

      We’d had leftover Chinese, Katz’s and Russ and Daughters, two kinds of bubble teas. I could have obviously eaten more, suffice it to say, but you know how Kamran is about not dying from diabetes.

  • Mrs. Bachelor Girl

    “Peanut butter is, like, my favourite thing in the world next to pizza.”

    Aaaaand this is why we were clearly meant to be BBFFs.

    Also, you should know that you and your pictures make me want to gnaw on my monitor on a weekly basis.

  • Lucy

    no need to be haughty-there are plenty of mexicans in ohio!

    also, you were making a mistake not getting the tres leches. hope you get to go back.

    • donuts4dinner

      Ha! I only said that because I’m from Ohio originally and grew up on a family farm where the closest we got to Mexican food was Taco Bell. Are you from there, or are you just an Ohio apologist?

      I do intend to go back and try it all!

  • Lucy

    okay fair enough. I’m from Ohio too (go bucks!) and I get the whole small-town attitude.

  • Cristy

    I’m such a civilian when it comes to food. Although, I would’ve been smart enough to not say it out loud if I didn’t know what it was… which I don’t. The peanut butter sounds dreamy. Nom.

    Also – I love that you said that “jam filling is too healthy” – awesome!