The big donut post! I didn’t really feel like I could really go on for an entire post about each one so I decided to knock them all out in one shot. This was actually easier than I anticipated because there are only 3 dedicated donut shops in Roseville (unless I’m missing a new one, but I don’t think so). There was a fourth, Mr Donut at Cirby and Vernon, but it seems to have gone out of business.
I’ve long been of the opinion that there are only 3 kinds of donut shops:
- Krispy Kreme (see my next photo post for Roseville’s Kirspy Kreme)
- Gourmet Donuts shops (Such as Doughbot Donuts in downtown Sacramento)
- Everything else
Krispy Kreme is, well, Krispy Kreme. They’re delicious and consistent, and I practically lived off their original glazed while going to school. There’s something very special about getting one of them right off the line when they’re making them fresh. I’ve only had Doughbot once. I found “The Dude” (a White Russian Bavarian creme-filled donut with a vodka-Kahlua glaze & sprinkled with ground coffee) to be decent, but it just didn’t do much for me given the insane online hype that surrounded the shop when it opened, so I haven’t felt compelled to go back. Finally there is the third kind, which pretty much every other donut shop falls into. This is the kind of donut you’ll find in an unmarked, pink box that someone brought into the office. They all generally carry the same kinds and I would be hard pressed to identify the shop unless the name was stamped on the box somewhere.
I figured the best way to go about this would be to simply get the same donut at each place and compare them side by side. One of my longtime favorites is Old Fashioned Glazed, so that’s what I went with.
My first stop was at Baker Ben’s Donuts at the corner of Folsom and Douglas, behind Roseville Square. This shop is open 24 hours and I often see at least one person sitting and reading a paper inside at just about any hour when I drive past it. On this Saturday morning at about 10am there was a steady stream of customers coming and going when I arrived. Their display was large and full of all kinds of donuts. The woman running the front was shorter than the display case and didn’t actually see me right away but was all smiles and laughs when she finally did. I ordered my 80¢ donut and was on my way.
Next I hit Manley Donuts at Sunrise and Cirby. This one is tucked into the L-shaped shopping center across from Bel Air. They are open M-F 4:30-3 and Sat-Sun 5-2. This was the first time I’ve been here. It’s a smaller shop than Baker Ben’s but still has some seating toward the back of the narrow space. They had a much smaller offering and I got the very last old fashioned glazed. The woman working here wasn’t quite as smiley as the one at Baker Ben’s but was pleasant enough for the quick transaction. Another 80¢ and I was off the the final one.
Eating Through Roseville 
your pictures are like donut porn
🙂
I suppose the three bags were arranged in the same order that the emerging donuts were arranged? One of them is all about freshness, the other about environmental conscience (though I thought you weren’t supposed to recycle greasy things) and then the other takes a zen approach. I loved the elitist milk and the leftover donut holes. Huh, the spell check doesn’t like the singular form of donut.
Yeah, I took great care even in my car to make sure I didn’t get them out of order. I was fighting the spell check too, it wants you to spell it doughnut, but both seem to be accepted spellings (I checked).
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