Donut Den - Joliet, IL

Donut Den, Joliet, IL 

The kids asked to post their reviews first, going forward so here is what they thought:

M, age 11: I thought that this place was OK. Everything tasted a little artificial, but I thought it was good. My favorite was probably the cinnamon toast crunch twist., or the lemon.

L, age 8:  I had all of them except the ones I couldn't have and the peanut butter one. I'm going to call the honey dipped one glazed because it tasted like. I did like the french toast twist but i would like it better if it had less cinnamon.

K, age 6: I liked the peanut butter and jelly donut. It could be lunch or breakfast. This place was good

The Donut Den in Joliet got a lot of attention from local newspapers and even ended up on a few "best of" dount lists for the Chicago area, so I was excited to give it a try. Listen y'all, I am sure you can imagine that by now, I am getting a wee bit tired of donuts, so I think my favorite part about this place was just that they had some different flavors than other places - Lemon, Key lime frosted, french toast twists, cheese cake filled, and their famous "Peanut Butter and Jelly" donut, which is a jelly filled donut with a sweet peanut butter frosting. These new and different flavors were definitely more than welcome for this weary donut traveler.

One last note: There is a definite reason that they are famous for that peanut butter and jelly donut. It was insanely delicious. I do not like jelly filled as a general rule. This is because of my previously mentioned hatred for artificial flavors, and the jelly inside donuts is always gross and way too artificial tasting for me. I can't lie, this jelly was no better really, but that amazing peanut butter frosting on top more than makes up for it! I am now on a mission to find that recipe for that frosting and marry it - it was AMAZING. 

The bottom Line: Four thumbs up! We all liked this place and its varying flavors. It smelled amazing in there as well, all three kids have asked me to add.

Just for kicks, I want to post this pic we took at a church down the street from the Donut Den. Joliet, to put it kindly, is not usually a place one goes for site seeing, but this totally cracked us up! So we stopped to get a photo of it (after we collected our poke-goods of course ;) )

Dimple Donuts - Batavia, IL

Dimple Donuts - Batavia, IL

 The kids think this looks better and gives more info than a map. So there you go.

A few weeks ago we tried out a place named Dimple Donuts in Naperville. You can refresh your memory of our time there by clicking here. I could not figure out from their websites if these two shops were connected or owned by the same people or not, even though its kind of obvious that they were, so I figured we would just check it out to be sure. This investigative thoroughness on my part had absolutely nothing to do with my wanting to get my hands back on one of their old fashioned buttermilk donuts or anything.

So long story short, they are owned by the same people and this made me ENORMOUSLY happy as I could be happy eating those buttermilk donuts every day for the rest of my life. My six year old suggested I marry them if I love them so much and you know, I just might and won't that just show him!? Also, just like at the Naperville location, they had coffee-mate hazelnut creamer in the fridge and that means they basically can do no wrong with me.

Here are the kid's reviews:

M, age 11: I had the triple chocolate donuts, and I felt like it was OK. But the most memorable part of this store was the fact that it to, had a creepy doll. Also, the banners on both of the Dimples Donuts storefronts are made with Microsoft word and clip-art which is kind-of funny.

L, age 8: I tried a bear claw for the first time. I didn't know that there was a filling in there. And I did not like it. I thought it was just like a donut with no filling in it. I probably won't get any bear claws again at any other places.

K, age 6: It tasted like the other one. The other one was my favorite place so far. So I liked it and it made me happy.

Bottom Line: All thumbs up! Which makes no sense at all by the way, because we gave it a mixed bag at the other location. We are a fickle crew I guess.

I guess its like, company policy or something, that they need to display a creepy Christmas themed doll in each shop. This one is obviously WAY better than that drunk elf on the shelf at the other location, but still creepy and out of place. Again I say, WHY!?

Fresh Donuts - Geneva, IL

Fresh Donuts - Geneva IL

 Three cuties in the window :) 

 Fresh Donuts is located at 1188 E State St. in Geneva, IL. I could not find a website (ummmm is it really 2016?) to link to.  

We have been eating our weight in donuts around here I promise. We just haven't been posting about them so I have a back log of places to get through over the next two weeks!

 To be fair here, the reviews I read online all said the bear claws and apple fritters are the specialty here and we did not try either of those.

On this day, we tried out Fresh Donuts, in Geneva, IL. I LOVE Geneva and was very excited to have a reason to drive out there and walk around and enjoy its quaint little downtown shopping area. Super cute. This place had great Yelp reviews, but I will be honest, it was just okay for me. It had good coffee (I should really do a separate blog rating coffee at every donut place we try, ha!) and enough space for us to actually sit and eat our donuts which was nice, but the donuts were just okay. I had the old fashioned, and then maniacally picked at each kid's donuts while they complained at me about it like usual, so I could get a good idea of what they had to offer. Pretty standard stuff really - nothing that stood out. But worth the pretty drive down rt. 25 I suppose!

Here is what the kids thought:  

M, age 11: When I walked in, the donut case was beautiful. The donuts were decorated very nicely and I felt as though, in the end, I was let down. Their looks deceived me as beautiful but really they tasted artificial. I had the vanilla coconut and the cinnamon twist and they both tasted kind of like puff pastry.

L, age 8:  I had two donuts. I had glazed and maple. they were good. (editor's note: it took me 20 minutes to get this much out of her and a tantrum. I give up today. She won this round.)

K, age 6: Pink frosting is my favorite. So I ate it here. It was pretty good but not the best pink frosting I have ever had. Mommy let us get two!

Bottom Line:  I feel kind of bad, but we all agree to give this place thumbs down. Its not awful, but just nothing special in a world of so many great places to try and enjoy, including one we tried later that day in the same town!

West End Bakery - Mishawaka, IN

West End Bakery - Mishawaka, IN

 Cute little West End Bakery

Technically, this one is just a hair outside of our Chicagoland border for this blog, which is why I am not including a map, but the kids and I recently spent a week with friends in a rental house in the town of Mishawaka, Indiana. Mishawaka is about 20 minutes away from Notre Dame University, and offers absolutely zero lakes to swim in within a one hour radius, which was a little disappointing for our annual lake house trip, but I digress.  It also has a quaint little downtown that time seems to have forgotten, and that is where we happened upon West End Bakery, which is appropriately the bakery that time seems to have forgotten.

West End Bakery was tiny, and a bit run down, which made me question it at first. I brought only L with me and she was in her pajamas, and I was sporting a look that we shall call "on vacation" and we definitely were getting the side eye as we parked and walked past the up an at em' smartly dressed geriatric population of this small town. Apparently, according to a friendly local who chatted me up in line, West End Bakery has been there for about 80 years. So I guess when you have been in business that long, you have had ample time to get those recipes right, and trust me THEY HAVE.

There wasn't a bad one in the lot, but I think my favorite part of these donuts was how darn crispy they were on the bottom, even though the insides were soft and chewy and really perfect. I like to attribute this crispiness to the possibility that since they rock the time warp vibe in that town (and only accept cash, and they have no website for me to link to here), they are probably deep frying their donuts in deliciously banned forms of trans fat, like whale blubber or panda fat or something. And I APPRECIATED that because they were freaking phenomenal.

Here is what the kids thought: 


M, age 11: I thought that the donuts at this place were pretty good, and it was even better to eat them with my friends! I liked the one with the mousse or whatever on top, and I liked the twists. But the apple sauce donuts with caramel frosting were the BEST! Mmmm!!

L, age 8: They had the same amount of flavor as other places. But that's a good thing. It was a yummy place. I liked it. A person lives in a house right next to this bakery. They are lucky because they probably get donuts way more than we do.

K, age 6: I had the glazed. It was good. It was kind of soft on the inside and outside and I don't like soft donuts.

Bottom Line: Another Mixed Bag I guess, on account of K not appreciating their softness (wha!?) but this pains me as this place was really really good! 

DeEtta's Bakery - Naperville

DeEtta's Bakery - Naperville

 

 

DeEtta's is located at 428 West Fifth Avenue in Naperville, IL. 

DeEtta's Bakery ( <---- oooooooo check out our new linking feature! We fancy!) is a full service bakery and on Fridays and Saturday mornings only, they make and sell from-scratch donuts. We did not know this when we first went there on a Wednesday, so we were a bit disappointed but drowned our sorrows in petite fours and cinnamon rolls and somehow persevered. We went back on a Friday and we sure were glad we did! I was pleasantly surprised by the large variety of the donuts available and they definitely tasted scratch-made. On a personal note, I know the owner from somewhere and its DRIVING ME CRAZY trying to remember how!? I mean like I have, at one point in my life, had one or more long conversations with him. WHEN!? HOW!?? I can almost recall it, but its fuzzy and ARGH I might go mad trying to remember. Anyways, the donuts were great. Bakery donuts are usually hit or miss for me, but these were a step above normal. Good stuff. 

M, age 11: I had the strawberry glazed doughnut,  and that was delicious. Also the sour cream doughnut was amazing. I didn't get the chance to eat the coconut long john though, because my dad ate the whole thing before it could reach our house. I bet it was delicious. But, overall, I would give this place a 7/10, because everything was good, but it tasted a little artificial.

L, age 8: I had the glazed doughnut.  It was good. I am liking old fashioned donuts more lately.

K, age 6: I really really really liked the jelly donut.   But I didn't enjoy the strawberry filling because I like jelly more than strawberry filling.    And then, the one with the sprinkles was tasty.     But the glazed donut felt a little bit yucky and made my tummy growl.....

My first strawberry cake donut! It had chunks of real strawberries in it which pleased me, but was obviously artificially flavored. Those of you who know me know how I am about the artificial fruit flavors. They repulse me. And its totally normal to be this detail oriented/obsessed with my food, but not be able to remember what time I am supposed to take my kids to school. My brain can only manage so many details at once, people. 

Bottom Line: Mixed Bag. 

Steve's Bakery - Yorkville, IL

Steve's Bakery

Steve's bakery is located at 646 W. Veteran's Parkway in Yorkville, IL.

Steve's Bakery came recommended to us by a few people who live in or around Yorkville. While the donuts were nothing too special in my opinion, I did absolutely love the place. The woman who runs it is just SO NICE and helpful and so easy to chat with. We did go late morning, so she told us they were already out of a lot of donuts, but I still felt like we got a pretty good sampling of what they had to offer and they had MANY different types for being such a small bakery. Its worth noting that they are one of the only place we have been to that uses lemon in their donuts and that just really made me wonder why more places don't!? It is definitely a great flavor that matches well with the airiness of a donut! 

Here are the kid's thoughts on this one:

M, age 11: I had the lemon long john, and son of a walnut, was that just the best doughnut I've ever had. It was filled with this delicious lemon curd stuff, and it had a drizzle of vanilla on top. I devoured it. I want to live off this doughnut. 10 out of 10.

L, age 8: I liked my donut.   I had the glazed  twist.  It smelled cheesy in there.

K, age 6: This place only took cents. I had a cinnamon roll. I also tried mommy's donut. This place was just okay for me. (editor's note: Steve's bakery only takes cash - and cents as noted here - in other words, no charge cards, which meant I had to clean out the ashtray in my car to score us some donuts). 

Bottom Line:  Another mixed bag for us.

A big plus about Steve's Bakery? Its just a short drive from the Yorkville Rocket Ship park which is a really fun place! We don't live very close to Yorkville, so we make one trek a summer out to this park. Combining that annual trip with donuts pretty much made it a little outing from Heaven ;)

Glazed and Infused - Chicago

Glazed and Infused - Chicago (Hubbard Location)

While there is a small place you can go inside to buy your donuts, its just so much fun to go to the walk up window! I mean really - a hole in the wall that someone hands you donuts through!? YES PLEASE!

Glazed & Infused has three locations in Chicago, we visited the one at 30 E. Hubbard street.

Oh my gosh y'all. OH. MY. GOSH. We have hit the big time now - with our first of many donut shops we will be scouting out in the city of Chicago. Its just a whole different level of donut really. From all the research I have been doing, I think the biggest difference between suburb donuts and city donuts is that city donuts are FANCY.  And BIG. And probably deep fried in gold, cocaine, and bacon grease if Glazed & Infused is any indication of how good these fancy city donuts are all going to taste. I think the first thing to note about Glazed & Infused is that the donuts were literally bigger than my children's heads. If you are gonna charge $2.50 per donut, you might as well  give the people their money's worth, right?

Anyways, we got ourselves an assorted dozen and went to eat them on the newly completed Chicago Riverwalk. I can't see how we will top this experience, and I fear we have peaked on this summer-long journey in our first month, but we will somehow continue eating donuts withOUT kayakers to wave at for the rest of the summer. I guess. Our assortment included: Maple bacon long john, chocolate dipped, obscenely humongous glazed, chili-mango raised, old fashioned, lemon poppyseed old fashioned, triple coconut, something really chocolatey with chocolate curls on top, rainbow sprinkled cake donut, buttermilk dunking stick (that was way too large to actually dunk in any cup I own), and red velvet. While the chili-mango won the contest for me, I really have to give props to the cream cheese frosting on the red velvet. That frosting was so delicious I wanted to bathe in it.

We tried a bit of everything! The chili mango glazed one is second from the right on top and it was a real surprise! 

But who cares what I think anyways, here is what the kids and a special guest star blogger thought of this experience: 

M, age 11: I had the lemon poppy seed doughnut, part of the chocolate curls one, and a bite of the red velvet. I was impressed. All of the doughnuts were super big, and were really good! The lemon poppy seed one was good, but sweet. And the red velvet was very rich. But the chocolate curls one was flawless.

L, age 8: The donuts were big. I had the glazed donut AND I liked the maple donut after my mommy took off the bacon. I don't like maple donuts so it surprised me that I liked it. It was the first one I tried and I really really liked it. It was my favorite. Glazed was my second favorite.I did wanna say that the glazed donut did taste kind of good too though.

K, age 6: I liked the glazed donut but a little of the glaze was hard. I also had the sprinkles donut and the red velvet. The red velvet was good but had too much red stuff on it. The sprinkles donut was super super good. They were big but I did not really care that they were so big. This might have been my second favorite place. My favorite place was the one with the creepy doll.

SPECIAL GUEST BLOGGER: DAD!! (who does not even like donuts so who invited him?): Eh. I had the triple coconut. It did not have a heavy coconut taste. There was some filling inside but it did not taste like coconut. It had the consistency of a muffin and did not impress me.  The Chili-mango was not overly aggressive but wasn't very sweet so I wouldn't get it again. The one with the chocolate curls looked amazing but I did not try it because I am on a diet. I don't even like donuts.

Lest you think I was exaggerating, the donut really WAS as big as her head, and we really DID eat them with a picturesque view of the river.

Mother of pearl!! I have a freaking degree! I passed calculus! But  I'll be damned if I can figure out how to turn a $@*^#@*# picture in this blog interface! Anyways, here is the logo from the box.

Bottom Line: We LOVED this place. We took the left overs home and ate them for three days. You might have expected a mixed bag again because of Dad's review. We took a vote and Dad's opinion doesn't count here because: 1. He works and eats in the city every day and is hard to impress with fancy city baked goods of any kind, 2.He is on a diet so he is grumpy, and 3. He doesn't even like donuts. We really can not express our horror about #3 anymore than we already have. Who is this creature we live with!?

Angie's Sugar Buzz Bakery - Sandwich

Angies Sugar Buzz Bakery

 

 

Photo from the internet. I forgot to take one.    

Angie's Sugar Buzz Bakery: 1004 E Church Street, Sandwich, IL 60548

 I will be honest. We wanted to dislike these donuts. While this place was actually super adorable inside and really fun with penny candy, lots of neat things to look at, and fun decor, the staff was just super rude. They were rude on the phone when I called that morning with a few questions, AND rude in person when we came in to get our donuts. They seemed super irritated that we wanted to actually eat there - you know - at the tables they provide for their customers to eat at. I felt like we were bothering them. Worst of all they gossiped loudly and spitefully about each customer that came in, the moment they each walked out the door (I can only imagine what they said about us). So I REALLY wanted to hate these donuts and write a terrible review here and put it up on the interwebs for all 20 people who read this blog to see because WOULDN'T THAT HAVE JUST SHOWN THEM! HA!, but darn it all if these were not the best freaking donuts we have had to date. Grrr it makes me so mad how good they were!! But if you can stand the overall unfriendly vibe of the place, definitely get the cinnamon sugar cake donut, or the sour cream old fashioned, or really any of them. To me, the best of the lot was the vanilla frosted jelly-filled which was a taste of heaven - served with a heaping side of curt one word answers if you dared to ask for a napkin.

M, age 11: I had the coconut donut, and I must say that it was the moistest donut I've ever had! The taste was OK, but I was blown away by the texture. Also, I had a bite of the powdered sugar donut, and it was pretty good, but messy. They also have a bunch of cool candy on the walls, like pop rocks, Charleston Chews, and candy cigarettes. But, the employees were mean, so. That was a minus. but overall I would give Angie's Sugar Buzz Bakery 6/10

L, age 8: I  liked my donut.  I   had the      cinnamon donut.    I  liked  this  shop because they had fun chairs to sit in.

K, age 6: I liked my jelly filled donut and Mommy's old donut. This maybe would have been my best place. Molly's donut I maybe didn't like that much. (editor's note: Mommy had the old FASHIONED donut lol).

Bottom Line: So, unanimously, we really liked the taste of these donuts. But I refuse to give this place 4 thumbs up and a positive review, so I am gonna just call this one a mixed bag due to the staff and the negative vibe they gave off. And I feel like that's pretty generous. Oh well. On to the next place!

Dimples Donuts: South Naperville

Dimples Donuts - Naperville

Dimples Donuts is located at 3027 English Rows Ave in Naperville, IL. 

Dimples Donuts in South Naperville, may or may not have a sister location in Batavia (after some internet searching failed to turn up an answer about this I gave up and decided we will just visit them both to find out for sure). It is located in a cute little strip mall and has a lot of space inside for dining in and the lady that works there was very friendly. We tried a shmorgasboard of their various donuts and I was thinking at first that it was just okay, pretty standard donuts really (in fact the strawberry frosted did not even taste like strawberry which annoyed me), but then I tried their buttermilk old fashioned donut. HOLY COW IT WAS GOOD. I mean like I will go back here on my birthday to get a half dozen of just them to eat all in one sitting since calories don't count on your birthday and stuff.

Thats the old fashioned buttermilk on the bottom there. SO DELICIOUS.

Oh and here are the rest of them in case you are interested, but seriously, get the old fashioned buttermilk.

And I really feel the need to mention something about this place: A big positive, for me (and anyone who lives life RIGHT anyways), was that they had Coffee-Mate creamers in the fridge to use in your cup of coffee. Now this might seem insignificant to some poor uneducated souls, but if you are a full fledged coffee mate hazelnut addict as I am, regardless of the fact that its so processed and chemical laden that you will probably grow a third eye from consuming it every day, this is a really big deal and a HUGE check mark in the win column. And no. Those little off brand room temperature containers of half and half that some places put out near their coffee are NOT the same and do NOT get the job done. A big thank you to Dimples Donuts for adding this little touch. I can only imagine that the lady who owns the place must be a fellow addict. I knew I liked her.

Here is what the kids thought of Dimples Donuts: 

M, age 11: My only complaint about this place is that it smelled sort of weird. As for the donuts, they were pretty good. I got a chocolate one, and a strawberry one, and they were both good.A cool thing about this place is that once you have your donuts, they have a big cooler full of drinks that you can buy to wash them down. 

L, age 8: I liked  this  place. I liked their donuts.  I  got   a    glazed   Donut.  There was a creepy doll there.      .         

K, age 6: I had the jelly filled donut. It had sugar on it. I liked that it had jelly inside. This place was fun but the donuts were just okay.

Bottom Line: Another mixed bag for us. L and I really liked the donuts, but K and M said it was just okay for them.  But one thing we ALL AGREED ON was that this creepy little doll/fairy/soul eater/whatever the heck this is, was super unnecessary and really creepy just sitting on a shelf near the tables, watching us with its sour puss as we stuffed our faces with fried dough. Seriously it was like some washed up elf on the shelf that went bad or something and I felt like it was judging me. *shudder*:

 why?

Joh And Doh! - Naperville

Joh and Doh! Donuts - Naperville

Joh & Doh: 1292 Rickert Drive #104, Naperville, IL 60540

HAPPY NATIONAL DONUT DAY!!! 

Its national donut day! This is a pretty momentous occasion in our home of course so we were excited to celebrate! And celebrate we did - by going to THREE different donut shops and basically eating nothing by donuts for each meal today.  One of these days, that trophy for my excellent parenting will arrive when I least expect it. I'm sure it's just lost in the mail ;)

   Hey hey! Check out our "fan"-requested map feature! We fancy! ^

Anyways, we did the obligatory free donut at Dunkin' Donuts, which I am pretty sure you do not need us to review on this blog, and then we hit two other local small business donut shops. One of them we will write about later, but today we are going to review Joh and Doh! in South Naperville. It proved a little hard to find due to it being on the end and around the back of a strip mall that we drove back and forth in front of a few million times while swearing at Google Maps and wondering if it had closed, and the business hours online were wrong which led to it being closed the first time we went, but we sure are glad we decided to give it another try!! The donuts were DELICIOUS. 

 Today's haul!

Here are our reviews:

M, age 11: I felt like this place was pretty good. All of the donuts tasted really fresh, and you could just tell that those donuts weren't made of artificial  ingredients. Also, the glaze part of the donut was very neat. That is pretty important for me. :) Just look at that caramel one, or the light brown one. Perfection!!!

L: age 8: the  double chocolate tasted like  a chocolate cake.   I did  not Like the  apple fritter.

i liked  joh and dohs better than other places we have  tried.

K: age 6: this was great but i did not like apple fritter or the maple bacon long john. i did like the

vanilla  long john. this was the best place except for the apple and bacon. 

Mom, Age 29 ( just don't question it): This place was cute. The girl who works there remembered we were the ones who showed up after it closed the day before and gave me a discount for my trouble. She was super friendly as were the other two women working there. I love a female owned business so they got pretty quickly right into my heart and the donuts were good enough to cement them on in there forever. I would say the chocolate frosted cake donuts were just okay for me. But the strawberry glazed yeast donut was really yummy and I was surprised by how much I liked the maple bacon long john as I usually detest maple anything. I think the trick here was that the maple flavoring was light and the salty bacon perfectly offset it. The winner of the lot for me though, was the caramel frosted cake donut. I'm not sure I have really had anything like it before, and you could definitely taste that the caramel was authentic and home made. I would go back just for that one over and over (its the tan one in the middle-ish in the pic above). 

In case you are wondering how we are trying so many donuts without our pants getting TOO much tighter. 

Bottom Line: Four thumbs up! (five if you count Dad, who is insisting he is not participating in all this because he is sticking to his diet this summer, but who definitely snuck a piece of maple bacon long john!). Our first unanimous like!

Archer Farms Donut Rings from Target (no, really).

Archer Farms Glazed Donut Rings 

Today, while experiencing the luxury that is grocery shopping at Target with three children now that summer is here, my 8 year old BEGGED ME to buy these donuts for her for this blog. I, personally, do not think that they should count for our little project here because they are pre-packaged, but she insisted. So I struck a deal with her that she could get them as long as she wrote the entire blog post about them and used complete sentences. At some point she is going to figure out that this whole thing really is just a tricky way to get her to keep practicing her writing and she will rebel against me with the rage of a bull on fire, but for now she thinks this is fun and agreed to it.

 If I'm being honest, they were better than I expected. Please ignore the God awful mess in the background because its totally not like that all the time or anything.

I wrote a bunch of questions down as suggestions about things she could write about (some of them are questions from the many wonderful comments we have been getting already! thank you!!), and then I went to put a load of laundry in.  Like any typical mom, "putting a load of laundry in" turned into cleaning the cat box, cutting gum out of one child's hair, and killing a nest of ants I found under the chest freezer (drat - I forgot to put that load of laundry in), and when I finally came back to check on her she had typed all the questions out and was answering them withOUT complete sentences as our deal had required. She very firmly insists that the QUESTIONS she typed out are complete sentences and so they count as her having used complete sentences. I argued that all she did was copy MY complete sentence questions, not generate her OWN complete sentences which was sort of the point. She glared at me and added the last sentence you will see below and told me to calm down. 

And THAT in a nutshell, is my life with this child.

 
Review of Archer Farms Glazed Donut Rings by L, age 8: 

how did they look ?  pretty nice.

were they warm or cold?  both. (editor's note: They were room temperature)

how did they taste? DELICIOUS.

Why did you want to try them? they  looked  good.

Do you like hot glazed donuts or cold (room temperature) glazed donuts better? I like them  both the same

How do they compare to other donuts you have tried? they tasted  like  heaven, just like the rest.

i am very glad we tried  them.--- that is complete sentence.



Bottom Line: Thumbs Up from the donut fanatic (the rest of us just thought they were pretty much okay)