A Donut Dynasty

The 3rd floor of The Petersen Museum
 is kid friendly & Lindsey approved

Proof we went to Disney

Well, it seems it's been quite a while since our last donut shop visit, but it actually hasn't. We've just been VERY busy *cough, cough, lazy, cough*. We took advantage of LA's Discover The Arts program (a discounted ticket program to select museums from January - April) and went to The Petersen Automotive Museum, which was pretty awesome even for someone whose only interest in cars is that hers be able to get her to and from wherever she wants to go safely. We also utilized Disneyland's promotional two days for $99 tickets and went to Disneyland, which was very different for us as adults than it was when we were kids. I think we probably enjoyed it at least ten times more this time around than we did when we were younger (for me that was at the age of eleven, and Nate was probably four the last time he went to visit Mickey). We ventured back to Connecticut for a week, we had a friend visit from back home, and we competed in The Second Annual LA Beard and Mustache Competition. That's right I said WE because this year they added a women's category. Did I grow in my upper lip fuzz and rock it like a proud thirteen year old boy? Nope. I knitted a Medusa inspired beard.

Matching beards. Sort of. 

Did we win? Heck no, but we did have a pretty amazing time nonetheless, and we did walk away with some pretty sweet photos, which will hopefully jog our memories when we're old and wrinkly and suffering from dementia, but only time will tell on that one. So when did we get donuts during these whirlwind adventures? Before, actually. Months ago. And I was charged with writing a blog about it and kept procrastinating. Good thing I take notes on our foodie escapades or else we might have never been able to share with the world the tale of Royal Donuts.

Royal Donuts is located at 22814 Victory Blvd. in Woodland Hills and is right on the way to Homegoods (our all time favorite store for obvious reasons to anyone who has stepped inside). On this particular trip to The Goods (as I will now call Homegoods) I was starving (as I usually am about an hour after any meal - seriously I may have a tapeworm or some other horrible ailment like internalized obesity. I swear it's a real thing) so we decided to swing into Royal Donuts. The shop was manned by a friendly fellow whose accent I had difficulty understanding so it's a good thing the language of food is universal. We selected a chocolate frosted donut, and a lemon filled donut and the fellow gave us two donut holes as a gift (see what I mean by friendly). Nate also got a coffee, which was not the worst, but not the best that he's had (so somewhere between oh-my-god-I-think-I-may-vomit and orgasmic).

The donuts were soft and tasty. However, I've decided I'm not too hot on that weird lemon goo they claim is made with fresh fruit, but Royal Donuts is hardly to blame. I was craving a lemon meringue pie and settled for a lemon donut, which is not at all the same thing. The donut holes were awesome (this may have been because they were free, or because I was, as mentioned before, starving).

Until next time, happy eating!
- Lindsey

Hail to the king baby

SHAZAM   again I would like to apologize for our inconsistency and pure laziness, but you should all be used to it by now.  So let me start as I always do by filling you in on life, I'll try not to take too long cause I know you just can't wait to get to the donut part.
   
      We can skip right to the part were my brother and his girlfriend, Trav and H.P., came down for the weekend.  Having recently acquired a perfectly legal S&W 9mm they brought it down so we could have some fun, Chester style.  We began with a hiking adventure reminiscent of Georgia O'Keefe, I won't bother to explain the comparison.  Nothing says fun like scrabbling around in a big ol' cave.  We had to wear gloves because the cave was home to a sizable pigeon population and cleanliness was NOT a high priority pigeon goal.

     After a quick trip home to the shower our next stop was the Glendale Gun show.  Damn, DAMN.  To think that there are enough accessories for the cold M4 rifle to fit on three tables might sound ludicrous, but it's real my friends, it's real.  There were forests of mace and stun guns ripe for the picking.  A lake of ammunition that stretched as far as the eye can see, and a table of battle rifles in the fourth isle on the right.  Talk about building a Christmas list, ho ho ho.
   

     After the gun show it was off to the shooting range to put the Smith and Wesson reputation to the ultimate test....THE PINK STUFFED BUNNY OF DOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!  We also rented a 40 cal Glock22.  It probably took us the better part of 100 rounds to separate the beasts head from its loathsome body.  In the end humanity was saved once again by America.  ...wait.  In the end humanity was saved once again by the fearsome foursome, and a full metal jacket.

     And so we come to today where Lindsey and I find ourselves at King Donut, 9878 De Soto Ave.  Be careful though, remember that King Donut is on the right side of the intersection where Fosters is across the street.  We were greeted bye a very nice Asian man who complimented my beard so I loved him right off.  And came away with two donuts, a coffee and an inflated ego.  Lindsey deemed it necessary to eat her chocolate covered stick donut right away cause she was hungry.  We both gave it a thumbs up.  It was nice cause it wasn't to sweet while sti- wait.  It occurred to me that you guys read almost the same longwinded descriptions of flavor and consistency from me all the time.  SO IT'S TIME FOR YOUR VOICES TO BE HEARD!!  Just post a comment on whether you want to hear long winded descriptions or if you would just like to hear if it was good or bad.   That's your homework, due whenever.  Anyway, I had a crumb donut.  I had a small coffee.  They were both delicious.  The End

TUNE IN NEXT TIME FO ANOTHER GRAVITY DEFYING EPISODE OF 

ADVENTURES IN DONUTS AND COFFEE

L.A. Edition

brought to you by Nate Chester, this week at least

OK Donuts

This week's donut adventure is brought to you by the letter K for K's Donut Emporium located at 14354 Ventura Blvd in Sherman Oaks. The letter K is also for the fact that these donuts were only okay. The Boston creme was chock full of custard, but lacking on chocolatey goodness. And it was a bit hard/stale. To be fair we did go there at 5pm so that may account for some of the dissatisfaction on my part.

The glazed donut was not too squishy, not too sugary, not too sweet and as Nate would say, "a very positive experience", but he may just be striving to counter my negative one in some sort of yin and yang way. The small coffee was definitely small, and although gone in six gulps was "good donut shop coffee" according to the coffee consumer among us. But for $3.10 for the lot I was expecting magic in my mouth and was fairly disappointed. However, as they say in the real estate biz it's all about location, and as far as locations go this one is in a pretty sweet one (all puns intended). Just a short walk from Iguana Vintage Clothing it's a good spot to stop for a quick refuel after getting your shop on, and with the massive selection at Iguana you will need a refuel after dropping your dough on some fresh new to you duds.

Until the Next Donut Craving Strikes,

Lindsey 

Getin' dirty with the queen, THE DONUT QUEEN!

For starters, merry Christmas and happy new year. As I think Lindsey already told

you, we ate like kings and drank like white trash on Christmas, buffalo fillet Mignon with crab stuffed lobster tails, ultra spicy and baconee Mac n' chee and for dessert...40's of old country club malt liqueur (2.25 a bottle). The way we see it, it's the only appropriate way to celebrate the birth of our lord and savior, THE RISEN. I trust every one else , of all our faithful and obedient followers, also chose to enjoy their holiday with the same reckless abandon as we. Good, now we can be done with the holiday talk, so we can get to the meat, or coffee and donuts.

(here's a picture of us at the ball drop, HAHAHAHAHAHA, so amusing)

So, I've been going to the donut queen on and off for a few weeks now...IT'S JUST FOR THE COFFEE, don't you people judge me. Suffice to say, when I broke the news to Lindsey on Friday she was not amused, not in the least. The only thing I could do was to assure her that I had not looked at the donuts with a lusty eye or anything like that. I also promised that we would go over the weekend to get donuts and I would blog about it. So Saturday afternoon we hoped in the truck and rolled on down to Queen Donut on Ventura Blvd., just a couple blocks west of Encino. After a quick exchange of pleasantries we got one red velvet cake, one red velvet cake with chocolate frosting, and one plain with some kind of orange frosting. First two, ... , I don't even know what to say. maybe just wow. WOW. unfortunately, the orange thing, not so hot, not so hot at all. damned if I even know why I chose it, I bet the Asian lady hypnotized me with her mind. but all around tasty experience, and all for just $3.75.

Now lets talk coffee. As I may or may not have explained to you before, I lovea good cup of coffee. Starbucks?? Too strong. Fancy coffee place?? Too expensive. But oooh how I love that gas station/donut shop coffee. Now don't get me wrong, some places just have sh*tty coffee. Like, I won't get coffee from the 7-11 in the same plaza cause it is just the poopiest coffee of all time. This coffee however is, mmmmm, just delightful. Just the right balance of mid priced bulk coffee and L.A. city water, heaven. If you listen to anything, ANYTHING, we say. discount the adventures, the rambling nonsensical stories. Find this place and drink their coffee. I'm not even joking, this is one of my favorite cups of coffee in the area. Anyway, diner is ready now, so it's back to eating and watching law and order.

Enjoy what's left of your holiday and as always
TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR ANOTHER EXCITING EPISODE OF ADVENTURES IN COFFEE AND DONUTS L.A. EDITION
Love
Nate

Donuts in the Blink of an Eye

For the past few weeks, that's right: weeks, we've been trying to get to Blinkie's Donut Emporium at 4884-86 Topanga Cyn Blvd in Woodland Hills. However, Blinkie's is only open from 5 am until noon on the weekends, and getting up, showered, and out the door before noon is not as easy as it should be for two adults who don't go out anymore and generally fall asleep on the couch during an intense "Law & Order: SVU" marathon. But this past weekend we actually managed to get up early (at 11 a.m.) and make it to Blinkie's before the closed (at 11:45 a.m. - we skipped showering just to ensure we wouldn't miss out on more delightful donuts).
As we entered we were yelled at by the woman behind the counter with so many words I haven't heard in such a long time that I was nearly too overwhelmed to respond. I know what you're thinking: who does that? And why? The answers are: really friendly people and because they're excited to see new faces. We were showered with "Baby Boy", "Honey", "Love" and a few more cutsie terms I dare not type for fear of nauseating myself with too much sweetness.
But, I'm getting off track: on to the donuts!

I got a chocolate frosted one with toasted coconut and Nate scooped up a maple frosted donut and a medium coffee all for $3.45. Both donuts were moist and tasty, as donuts should be. The chocolate frosted one was not as chocolatey as I would have liked, but the crunchy coconutty topping more than compensated for that. The maple one was maplescious and not overly sweet. The coffee was also above average (and for those of you who, like me, prefer lattes, or "fancy" coffee there is a Starbucks right across the street from Blinkie's).
And for all our Jewish friends for whom Hanukkah is starting tomorrow Blinkie's makes Hanukkah Jelly donuts. We didn't try them and we're not sure what makes them good for Hanukkah (other than the powdered star of David), but if they're anything like the other donuts they're pretty damn good.

Happy Holidays!
- Lindsey

GRAB YOUR PASPORT BITCH!!!!!.....'cause we're goin to France

I'd personally like to apologize to everyone of you nice people who take the time to follow all of our zany delicious adventures in super amazing fatitude. We are lazy. you're probably thinking, "how can you two be so lazy that you can't even take the time to eat donuts, drink coffee and then write about it?" Well you know what, as human beings we have to make priorities in life. Sometimes it's more important to watch the original Law and Order from start to finish than it is to eat donuts and be fat. So that is our pathetic excuse. Granted we haven't really finished Law and Order yet, we might be half way through, but none of that matters anymore because you've already forgiven us. And now on to paragraph two.

I'm sure you're wondering about the title so I'll just come out and tell you. We flew across the Atlantic to get delicious yums at France Donuts.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, you people are so gullible sometimes, but that's why we love you. And I would also like to add that we love Lindsey for knowing how to mess around with pictures and stuff. France donuts is actually right down Sherman Way, just a couple blocks east of Canooga Blvd. It's not really very France at all either. I mean, there's no berets, no cigarette holders, no funny accents, the only thing they have goin for them is croissants, and those usually come with bacon egg and cheese. But the donuts and coffee...they deserve their own paragraph.

This time around we scooped up a couple of mini-donuts, one strawberry frosted sprinkley thing, Lindsey's, and a brownish maple frosty circle cake, donut. The pink frosty sprinkle thing was pretty good, or would have been if it was a plain frosted donut. You see, the real problem was that the sprinkley strawberry frosting just didn't have enough strawberry flavor to be picked up on after the donut and plain sugar flavors smash you in the mouth with a hammer. I mean, don't get me

wrong, it was a really good donut, just not a good strawberry donut. The Maple one, on the other hand, made a really good maple donut. The great thing about it was that when you when you sink your teeth into its doughy goodness and break through to its vacuous empty center, your mouth is assaulted by the euphoric flavor of maple, delicious maple, mmmmmmmmmmmm. The coffee, nothing really surprising, a good cup of cheap coffee, but with a lid that doesn't make me want to destroy the very universe.

Sorry folks, no drawn out goodbyes this time, we still have about eight seasons of Law and Order to get through and dinner to eat. So, thanks for watching and...TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR ANOTHER EXCITING, NAIL BITING, EDGE OF YOUR SEAT, TIP OF YOUR TONGUE, FAST PACED, ACTION PACKED, HARD DRIVING, TOUGH DEALING, SHOOT EM' UP EPISODE OF DONUTS WITH NATE AND LINDSEY
Love and nomins
Nate "rocket pants" Chester

Nothing More American Than Donuts

It seems we've been slacking on our donut consumption lately so this week we ate an excessive amount of donuts, made ourselves ill from sugar overload and then had to take a break from eating donuts. But after that little binge we ventured out to USA Donuts at 7041 Topanga Canyon Blvd.

USA Donuts is conveniently nestled in the same plaza as Red Hot Video and Brake Masters so you can grab donuts, coffee, porn, and get your car fixed all in one place. Pretty magical.
The store itself was pretty standard, however, it did have an espresso machine, and offered real cappuccinos, unlike most donut shops that boast cappuccinos and just have that sludge that comes out of a sack. Plus it offered an option of coffee lids: those of Beelzebub and normal American lids. Nate chose the latter for his small coffee, which was fairly standard in taste and temperature, the likes of which might be found at any gas station in the USA.

As for donuts Nate opted to get a crumb topped one, which he seems to consistently order just to have the opportunity to call the donuts of whatever donut shop we happen to be in crumby. I, on the other hand, decided to mix it up a little and get a crunchy oddly shaped chocolate frosted one (I'm sure this is not what the shop owners would call it, but it works for me). The crumby donut was a bit sweet for Nate, it had been glazed and then crumbed, but my chocolate frosted weirdo was delicious. Just the right amount of chocolate paired with a firm exterior that housed a soft and moist interior (now this is starting to get pornographic. My apologies). The coffee and donuts cost $2.60 all together and with a name like USA Donuts it'd be unpatriotic for us not to patronize them again.
Until next blog: Happy Donuting!
- Lindsey