Pete's Donuts

While I was home for Thanksgiving, Uncle Dick stopped by one morning. He came partly because he just wanted to stop by, but also because he had read my account of Doughnut Quest 2010 and wanted to bring some from Pete's Donuts, a New Haven favorite. (You'll notice that the box says "Whitney Donut Shop," but to those in the know -- which certainly includes Dick, a long-time customer -- it will always be known by the owner's name.)

As you can see, Dick brought us a very impressive spread of doughnuts. I tried the glazed, French cruller, blueberry jelly, and blueberry cake varieties. While I did not do a full DQ2010 scoring sheet workup, I kept our rating criteria in mind as I ate.

Overall, I'd put Pete's at the top end of the traditional doughnut shops we tried. The dough of the glazed was the right density and level of sweetness for my taste, and the fried-ness was just right. The French cruller had fewer spice notes in the flavor than others we had tried, but it was notably lighter and eggier, and I liked it a lot. Like the other traditional doughnut shops we rated, it can't compete with gourmet places like Doughnut Plant (where I, ahem, also stopped on my way back to DC), but Pete's puts in a very good showing.

Speaking of calories, some of my other Thanksgiving photos can also be seen on Flickr.