FOOD REVIEW: Duck Donuts
(Cry Of The Banshee - Brocas Helm)
I've had a day to think about how I was going to write this review, and I keep coming back to the same thing in my head:
It was the best donut I've ever eaten.
If you know me, if you've driven around the area in search of the perfect donut with me, you may be muttering, "That's...strong language from him."
Like a lot of food in Kansas City, you're spoiled for choice when it comes to donuts. There are bigger chains, smaller Mom'N'Pop joints, and the occasional parent that's chosen to try and make them from scratch. I've eaten most of the good stuff, and a lot of the bad stuff. I have absolutely no issues stating that Duck Donuts over on 95th and Mission blew them all out of the water.
"But Steve," you cry, "what about your first love? What about LaMars?"
Don't get me wrong, I love me a good LaMars donut, but if I was pushed up against a wall and told to pick between the two, Duck Donuts would come out every time. Their product is just that good.
A wise man described them to me as the Chipotle of donut shops and he wasn't wrong. Of course, when he was talking about the burrito joint, he was referring to how you're allowed to build your donut. You start with the donut itself. Duck's specialty is a cake donut, but calling it a cake donut is betraying a few things about the product. It's absolutely a cake donut, but it's not like any other caker that you'll ever eat. It absolutely dissolves in your mouth when you eat it. It's light, smooth, and in spite of the fact that it's fried, it's somehow not greasy at all. For anyone who has ever tried to make a donut at home, or watched them made at county carnivals, you know what a trick that is. Because of this, the donut doesn't sit in your stomach like a two-ton weight a few minutes after you've eaten it. You don't feel like you've just consumed an oil-soaked sponge. It's just...delicious.
It's a good enough product that it could easily have stood on its own, but like all of the best eateries, they didn't stop there. They started putting stuff on their donuts, which only exposes another unique aspect of this shop. If you can think about it, Duck Donuts probably has it available for placing on your donut. Every traditional topping, and a few that aren't, are available for your selection; you can mix and match them however you want and they'll create your donut for you on the fly within minutes. From dough to donut, to topped, to finished. Less than 5 minutes. The thing I can't wrap my head around is the fact that, in spite of the fact that the donuts are HOT when you get them, they're not a runny mess of flavored sugar and toppings. Ask anyone who has ever tried to ice a warn cake, the situation gets out of hand very, VERY quickly. Somehow, you end up with a box of donuts that looks like a prop for a commercial. You know the kind, those too-perfect foods that never, ever look like the ones you actually get when you're at the store? Yeah, they do that. Every time. I sat there and watched these guys churn out amazing donuts that were picture-perfect over and over again while I was waiting for my own batch to come up. Get 'em however you want 'em, they're always going to come up hot, fresh, and brain-meltingly delicious.
Now, ordinarily I don't do this next bit, but I sort of have to because of how blown away I was by another aspect of the place: Their employees.
Everyone was happy inside of this store. I suspect very strongly that it had something to do with the employees working behind the counter. They were all bright without being glaring, cheerful without being irritating, helpful without being pushy. They were...happy. There are lots of food joints out there that claim to have happy employees working behind the glass but this is one of the only places I think I've ever actually seen it. Their happiness was infectious. It was in their food, and very quickly their customers. Based on my interactions with them, I have to assume that a bunch of that happiness comes from the two store owners that were there, working the line with their people. Both of them were warm, cheerful people that you really just wanted to sit and talk with about their business and their craft with. If they have a second, they're perfectly willing, but a second is about all they've got. The place is absolutely hopping with folks there to partake in the round little bits of delight that they're selling.
Best of all? I was assured by one of the owners that the center of the donut contained absolutely no calories at all. She said it with a straight face too, and if that's not all the reason you need to go and visit this place, I'm not sure there's hope for you.
The price is reasonable, the location is reachable, the people are phenomenal, and the food...well, like I said:
It was the best donut I've ever eaten.
I've had a day to think about how I was going to write this review, and I keep coming back to the same thing in my head:
It was the best donut I've ever eaten.
If you know me, if you've driven around the area in search of the perfect donut with me, you may be muttering, "That's...strong language from him."
Like a lot of food in Kansas City, you're spoiled for choice when it comes to donuts. There are bigger chains, smaller Mom'N'Pop joints, and the occasional parent that's chosen to try and make them from scratch. I've eaten most of the good stuff, and a lot of the bad stuff. I have absolutely no issues stating that Duck Donuts over on 95th and Mission blew them all out of the water.
"But Steve," you cry, "what about your first love? What about LaMars?"
Don't get me wrong, I love me a good LaMars donut, but if I was pushed up against a wall and told to pick between the two, Duck Donuts would come out every time. Their product is just that good.
A wise man described them to me as the Chipotle of donut shops and he wasn't wrong. Of course, when he was talking about the burrito joint, he was referring to how you're allowed to build your donut. You start with the donut itself. Duck's specialty is a cake donut, but calling it a cake donut is betraying a few things about the product. It's absolutely a cake donut, but it's not like any other caker that you'll ever eat. It absolutely dissolves in your mouth when you eat it. It's light, smooth, and in spite of the fact that it's fried, it's somehow not greasy at all. For anyone who has ever tried to make a donut at home, or watched them made at county carnivals, you know what a trick that is. Because of this, the donut doesn't sit in your stomach like a two-ton weight a few minutes after you've eaten it. You don't feel like you've just consumed an oil-soaked sponge. It's just...delicious.
It's a good enough product that it could easily have stood on its own, but like all of the best eateries, they didn't stop there. They started putting stuff on their donuts, which only exposes another unique aspect of this shop. If you can think about it, Duck Donuts probably has it available for placing on your donut. Every traditional topping, and a few that aren't, are available for your selection; you can mix and match them however you want and they'll create your donut for you on the fly within minutes. From dough to donut, to topped, to finished. Less than 5 minutes. The thing I can't wrap my head around is the fact that, in spite of the fact that the donuts are HOT when you get them, they're not a runny mess of flavored sugar and toppings. Ask anyone who has ever tried to ice a warn cake, the situation gets out of hand very, VERY quickly. Somehow, you end up with a box of donuts that looks like a prop for a commercial. You know the kind, those too-perfect foods that never, ever look like the ones you actually get when you're at the store? Yeah, they do that. Every time. I sat there and watched these guys churn out amazing donuts that were picture-perfect over and over again while I was waiting for my own batch to come up. Get 'em however you want 'em, they're always going to come up hot, fresh, and brain-meltingly delicious.
Now, ordinarily I don't do this next bit, but I sort of have to because of how blown away I was by another aspect of the place: Their employees.
Everyone was happy inside of this store. I suspect very strongly that it had something to do with the employees working behind the counter. They were all bright without being glaring, cheerful without being irritating, helpful without being pushy. They were...happy. There are lots of food joints out there that claim to have happy employees working behind the glass but this is one of the only places I think I've ever actually seen it. Their happiness was infectious. It was in their food, and very quickly their customers. Based on my interactions with them, I have to assume that a bunch of that happiness comes from the two store owners that were there, working the line with their people. Both of them were warm, cheerful people that you really just wanted to sit and talk with about their business and their craft with. If they have a second, they're perfectly willing, but a second is about all they've got. The place is absolutely hopping with folks there to partake in the round little bits of delight that they're selling.
Best of all? I was assured by one of the owners that the center of the donut contained absolutely no calories at all. She said it with a straight face too, and if that's not all the reason you need to go and visit this place, I'm not sure there's hope for you.
The price is reasonable, the location is reachable, the people are phenomenal, and the food...well, like I said:
It was the best donut I've ever eaten.
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