Memorable | One of the Best
Voodoo Doughnut
Review by: Michael Stern
Being a serious coffee city, it makes sense that Portland is also home to many excellent breakfast pastries. You’ll find some of the best, and most unusual at Voodoo Doughnut. We originally were tipped off to this place by Roadfood.com user Mr. Chips, who described it as a “great place to view Portland’s strong Goth culture as well as sample tasty donuts.” Yes, there is a strong counter-culture ambience to this bakery that looks a little like an after-hours club; whether or not it’s Goth, we cannot say. But we can tell you that the donuts are dandy.
There are beautiful old-fashioned cake donuts with crunchy crust and creamy insides, puffy raised donuts, and donuts topped with powdered sugar, multicolored jimmies, and all sorts of flavored glazes. The menu lists such intriguing mysteries as a no-name donut, a dirt donut, a cock & balls donut, a dirty snowball, and a diablos rex. When we first visited, there was an item listed on the menu as a non existing fritter,” its cost null.
The pastry I recommend the most is one to which Mr. Chips alerted us: a bacon-maple bar. It is a substantial buttermilk long john frosted with maple glaze and festooned with strips of bacon that somehow, magically, retains a welcome crunch. What a great all-in-one breakfast!
Note: Formerly one-of-a-kind, Voodoo Donuts now has stores at Universal City Walk in Hollywood, Universal Orlando Resort, Denver, Austin, and Eugene, Oregon.
Directions & Hours
Information
| Price | $ |
| Seasons | All |
| Meals Served | Breakfast, Dessert, Late Night |
| Credit Cards Accepted | Yes |
| Alcohol Served | No |
| Outdoor Seating | Yes |
What To Eat
Voodoo Doughnut Recipes
Discuss
What do you think of Voodoo Doughnut?
3 Responses to “Voodoo Doughnut”
Mark Reitman
March 5th, 2014
The original Voodoo Doughnut is all about the experience: standing outside in a line with more tattoos and piercings than I ever seen, entering a teeny weeny storefront, unusual shapes and combinations of flavors, at a hour that most people would have already been fast asleep. The maple/bacon bar is delicious, the peach fritter is the size of hub cap, and the Captain Crunch donut is great for an early breakfast. Parking is tough, the crowd has it’s share of characters, and I love every moment of it. Too bad that they don’t serve coffee, however there’s a Stumptown coffee shop right down the street.
Deborah Pastor
July 27th, 2010
The best advice I can give to donut lovers is: GO EARLY. At 8:30 on a weekday morning, the line was ten minutes. An hour later the line was outside the store and every other time I passed by, the line was around the block. I liked Voodoo donuts but not enough to wait an hour for them. The best of the lot were the cruellers. They were light, airy and intensely flavorful – meaning that I could eat twice as many as regular donuts. The apple fritter is huge and yummy. It could have used a bit more apple, but that didn’t stop us for eating it on the way out the store. The buttermilk bar was too donutty for me, a bit too dense. The classic donut was just right. As you can tell, I don’t like speciality donuts with numerous toppings. But whether you like simple donuts or the speciality kinds, you’ll find what you want at Voodoo donuts. Final advice – visit the website before visiting the store. There are so many kinds of donuts that you will want to peruse the menu carefully. The menu in the store is short on explanation and with the long lines you will not be able to ask a lot of questions at the counter. If only I had known about the lemon chiffon crueller….
Dave Picray
June 25th, 2009
Don’t waste your time! Very disappointed; very overrated. Huge hassle to find nearby parking and then, after waiting in line in a tiny, cramped lobby, they were out of their namesake menu item (the Voodoo), and out of so many others that I finally had to ignore the menu and ask: “What do you have?”
They did have the maple bar with bacon, but it was no big deal. It was smaller than the ones at the supermarket, and nothing you couldn’t make at home by topping a standard maple bar with your own crisp bacon.
The prices are almost twice those listed here and on their online menu which I had checked just a few days before visiting. I paid $7.95 for one apple fritter and three donuts!
I will not go back, and am sorry I went at all. My experience with this place causes me to question the credibility of those who have touted it here and on cable TV. Without the hype, they might not still be in business.