Dynamo Donuts

Donuts are an extreme no-no typically, not even in my lexicon since my high school days when my sister and I would stop off at the local Winchell's on our way to school to grab a handful of maple bars for breakfast. Or prior to that when my grandfather and I would take long morning walks around a Orange County lake followed by a stop for a dozen sugar donut holes at Dunkin Donuts. Or even prior to that when Sunday mornings with my father meant stopping for a bursting Jelly Donut somewhere while taking long rides on the back of his motorcycle.

So now many years later I blame my sinful escapade back into donut-land on Andrea Rappaport and being in San Francisco; a city with food creativity so high caliber that you simply must try every new and exciting thing that crosses your path. So during an all day cookbook shoot for my client Chef Aaron Kiefer, (at which we were already eating a constant stream of his meals by the minute), Andrea decides to bring over this decadent box of fried carb deluxe from the Mission District's latest rave Dynamo Donuts.

The store is a simple walk up counter where the daily flavors are listed along with traditional coffee and the donuts range from $2-$3.50 a piece. Our box contained meyer lemon and hucklberry and monte cristo jelly which included chunks of ham and gruyere and plum jam. But the winner was the maple glazed apple bacon, which Chef Aaron made me buy more of to bring home on the plane. Flavors change at the whim of the bakers but when I made my second trip there some of the more pleasurable sounding ones were Caramel de Sel (salt and caramel seems to be a flavor San Francisco is currently obsessed by in ice cream, baked treats and everything else), Lemon Pistachio, and Apricot Cardamom. I am thankful that the store doesn't ship donuts to Palm Springs or I would be cardinal sinning too regularly for my comfort.