Dandee Makes Case for Best Doughnut

Photos by Eric Barton

New Times gave up on the Best Doughnuts category in our Best Of Broward-Palm Beach edition four years ago, and it's all my fault. I was supposed to write that item back then, so I did some looking around for local doughnut shops. Turns out that there aren't many, especially locally owned joints, and we had written about all of them. So we ditched the category.

That's an oversight that has disappointed the folks behind Dandee Donuts Factory, which hasn't won Best Doughnut since this award in 1999. Somebody from Dandee dropped off a box at New Times this morning with a little suggestion that they ought to be considered next year.

We're bona fide journalists here at New Times and can't be bought by doughnuts. But, what are we gonna do, let these things go to waste?

So we conducted a bit of a taste test. I grabbed a Boston cream, which had your customary thick layer of chocolate and vanilla filling.



I'll come clean that I'm more of a fan of the yeast donut variety made famous by Krispy Kreme. But for a cake donut, this was a fine representation, with none of that starchy, chalky aftertaste you get from Dunkin Donuts.

The coworker who grabbed this powdered-sugar number said it was "super fresh and light," which is quite an achievement for a cake doughnut.



And this sugar-covered item that sort of looked like a doughnut dude. Somebody in my office deemed it "quite phallic," but he still took it back to his desk.



In all, Dandee got a decent review from the testers. But these days, doughnuts are the rave, with bakeries producing flavors like the famous bacon-and-maple-syrup glazed variety from Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland or the tres leches from the Doughnut Plant in New York City.

So, Dandee, we dig your doughnuts, but we'll be watching to see if your menu starts including bacon.