Monday, April 23, 2012

Pizza, Soda, & Donuts, Oh My.

Unless I am traveling home to Tennessee to visit with my parents & friends, then I am traveling with the intention of eating wild food. Vegan food tourism is something that I whole heartedly buy into, which is maybe why I am so jealous of Kristin at Will Travel for Vegan Food!
We had a whirlwind weekend in Philadelphia and NYC for my partner's birthday. We drove from DC to Philly Friday afternoon, which ended up taking almost four hours! Traffic was so terrible, but we had a batch of fresh baked vegan M&M cookies (post coming soon!) to keep us content. As soon as we arrived, we ate at Blackbird pizzeria (for the first of 3 times). Their cubano sandwich is phenomenal if you like smoked tofu. Their pizza crust is also amazing. I generally stick to the plain or veggie slices, but if you want a lot of toppings you should definitely get the Haymaker! Blackbird also carries a few sodas, but I am always intrigued by the DRY flavors. This time I got a vanilla bean DRY soda, and it was by far my favorite that they offer.
We got breakfast Saturday morning at Grindcore House, another steady favorite. I always get a whole wheat everything bagels with scallion cream cheese, iced coffee, and a Vegan Treats cannoli. Greg always gets a Vegan Treats peanut butter brownie. We are definitely consistent.
After lots of walking around Philly, another trip to Fante's kitchen supply store, and lunch at Blackbird again, we took a Megabus to NYC.
Our bus ended up being pretty late. While we missed out on ice cream at Lula's, we still made it to a friend's birthday BBQ and our main plan for the weekend. If you haven't heard of Sleep No More, you should immediately look it up. It's an interactive theatre performance set in a 6 story hotel. The performance is a 3 hour production of Macbeth set in the 1920's. It is three hour long loops with a finale at the end. Once in the hotel there is no speaking, you must wear your mask at all times, and you are responsible for your own experience. You basically are allowed to wonder around this giant hotel, touch anything, and follow any character. It is mindblowing! We are already determined to go back again.

leaves and flours vegan dun well doughnuts
Strawberry sprinkle doughnut from Dun-Well

Sunday morning, I was insistent on getting Dun-Well Doughnuts before our bus left. I have had their donuts before, but never been to their shop. My housemate brought some home on April Fool's Day and hid them from us. When I found them, I bit into what I thought was a chocolate glazed donut. Much to my disappointment, it turned out to be a Mexican hot chocolate donut. I am not a spice person at all, so I got pranked twice. Needless to say, I was excited to judge them on their other not spicy flavors. Between the two of us we got a dozen and a half donuts. I ate six donuts in two days. I got a chocolate glaze, raspberry jelly filled, blueberry glaze, strawberry glaze with sprinkles, and two cinnamon sugars. I wasn't a huge fan of either the strawberry or blueberry glaze. But the rest of the donuts were really solid. My partner's favorite is easily the PB&J. He got I think 4 or 5 of them. Even though I am not a big PB&J fan, I took a bite of one and it was really great. I know their flavors vary every day, depending on what they make, so I am excited to try more in the future!
I also had an odd realization after eating so many donuts. While Dun-Well's were all delicious, it dawned on me that I really prefer baked donuts. I feel like all the subtle flavors in the glaze and in the donuts themselves get lost in the overwhelming taste of oil.

leaves and flours vegan mighty o donuts
Assorted dozen from Mighty O

Do you love donuts? I really LOVE the donuts from Mighty O. When Greg visited Seatle for work, he mailed me a dozen donuts! He really gets me. Maybe someday I will also make it to Las Vegas so I can get a few from Ronald’s, or Portland so I can get VooDoo! Then I think I will have all my vegan donut bases covered.

6 comments:

  1. I prefer baked donuts too! The only problem is stopping at just one...

    These photos are making me crave something sugary and sinful! I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yum! As far as I know there are no vegan doughnut shops near Boston, very sad. Those look amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ooo i love mighty-o.. i am not much of a doughnut fan coz of the excess sugar in most toppings.. but i do get hit by a crazing once in a while!

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh god there is no vegan bakery in my city...looks like you were in donut paradise! they look delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I Love homemade baked donuts...a vegan donut bakery would be very dangerous for me!

    ReplyDelete