Donutland Express

If you are traveling along I-10 in Florida midway between Pensacola and Tallahassee and get a hankering for a quick donut or a dozen, Donutland is where you want to go. Yes, every traveler knows that donuts are everywhere. But it also is a fact that good ones are hard to find. Good donuts served in a place with unique personality are even more rare. That’s why this happy little shop just off Exit 112 is worth a visit.

They’re not artisan donuts, nor will you pay $3 apiece. But they are fresh and yummy, the variety ranging from old-fashioned sour cream sinkers (glazed or not) to a really wonderful modern-age maple-bacon donut that is positively smothered in bacon.

Open from 5am seven days a week (and closing every day at noon), it’s all take-out. In my experience, the staff are nothing but friendly, enthusiastically reassuring me that although there’s no longer enough room in the little kitchen here to make the donuts, that they are all made right nearby and arrive still warm every morning before dawn.