(A Guest Blog by Bailey Kroll)
Voodoo Doughnuts, a magical donut shop founded in Portland,
Oregon, has recently opened a new location right here in Austin, Texas, and
this is one place you DONuT wanna miss out on this season.
About 2 years ago I heard of this mystical place called Voodoo in
a far away land called Portland. I followed their account on Instagram
(@voodoo_doughnut) and instantly fell in love. I was admiring their fluffy,
rich, creative donuts from the screen of my smartphone, while my stomach longed
for a soulmate.
Fast forward to about a week ago. I heard that Voodoo was in
Austin. And I freaked out. This is the moment I have been waiting for. 1) not
only are donuts one of my top 5 favorite foods ever and now the donut
population in Austin will increase greatly, but 2) these aren't just any
donuts, these are WORLD FAMOUS VOODOO DOUGHNUTS. I quickly researched them:
location, hours, part-time openings, you get the picture. Unable to find a
phone number, hours, or any info on their website (
http://voodoodoughnut.com/mobile/nav.php)
I filled out their online Q &A form. A kind woman named Sara helped me out:
ME: Hello. I am very pleased to have recently been informed of
your open location in Austin. However I am unable to find your hours of
operation for this location. What are your hours of operation? Thank you. Have
a wonderful day.
SARA: Hi Bailey, Thanks for reaching out! Right now, our Austin
location will have sporadic hours while they train their employees. We will post these hours
on our Austin Facebook page. They plan on having their grand opening celebration Halloween
weekend!
So naturally I immediately liked their Facebook page and checked
it on the daily to see their hours. Unfortunately, because life is busy n
stuff, I wasn’t able to make it over there until about a week later, but
luckily I had some field scouts help me out on this one.
UT Austin students Aparna Chandrashekar and Vincent Carson
accepted the field assignment on my behalf, and trekked out to 6th street to
meet with the doughnuts.
“We walked in and the place had such a good feel, the attention
to detail was insane” Chandrashekar reported. She noted the
excellent employees who were very helpful in the ordering process.
“We bought something like 15 doughnuts for the two of us,
wanting to taste them all
” said Carson. Voodoo is known for
having really unique donut flavor combinations. On their website is a list of
their full menu, with a complete description of all donuts:
http://voodoodoughnut.com/mobile/doughnuts.php.
They have everything from your plain cake doughnut to the Bacon Maple doughnut
(yes there is an actual piece of bacon on the top of this doughnut) to the
Grape Ape Doughnut (
“raised yeast doughnut with vanilla
frosting, grape dust and lavender sprinkles
”). If you
’re
feeling super adventurous, there
’s always the Tex Ass challenge: a
doughnut the size of 6 doughnuts and if you eat it in under 80 seconds you get
your money back!
Anyways, back to the field. Our reporters ordered a lovely pink
box full of a variety of dreamy doughnuts: Triple Chocolate Penetration
(chocolate cake with chocolate icing and cocoa puff cereal), Old Dirty Bastard
Doughnut (yeast doughnut filled with chocolate frosting and oreo’s
and peanut butter), The Loop Doughnut (vanilla cake with vanilla icing and
fruit loop cereal) ,Mango Tango (yeast doughnut filled with mango jelly and
vanilla icing and Tang on top), the Maple Blazer Blunt Doughnut (fluffy donut
with maple frosting and red sprinkles), Chocolate coconut (chocolate cake with
chocolate frosting and coconut flakes), and No Name (yeast doughnut with
chocolate frosting, rice krispies and peanut butter).
“With all the hype I was expecting these things to be mind
blowing” stated Carson. “The mango filling was by far my
favorite” said Chandrashekar, “the jelly was sweet but not
overpowering, and the icing on the top was slightly tart, making for a new but
superb flavor.” Another favorite of the team was the Old Dirty Bastard: “every
bite was from heaven.” They admired the daring and delicious
flavor combinations of all the doughnuts, and really appreciated the
individuality of this doughnut shop. Overall they really enjoyed their Voodoo
experience. They left 6th street happy and full and with some leftover donut
babies for later.
A few short days later, I was lucky enough to be able to make the
trek downtown to Voodoo myself. I couldn’t contain my
excitement. As I turned the corner of San Jac and 6th, I laid my eyes upon the
glorious little Voodoo sign. My heart raced as I walked towards the entrance
and opened up the gate to heaven. It. Was. Paradise. I was so happy I finally
made it, after all these years. Wiping away my tears of joy, I approached the
counter. Their display case is a 6 foot tall, rotating glass series of shelves,
upon which there is one doughnut of each variety carefully placed as a display.
(note: they had a whole shelf dedicated to vegan doughnuts as well)
The employee was extremely helpful and accommodating, and happily
answered all of my questions. She talked about their best sellers, described
the donuts to me, and told me her recommendations. I got a Portland Cream
(yeast doughnut filled with bavarian cream and topped with chocolate icing),
Captain my Captain (yeast doughnut with vanilla icing and Captain crunch),
Marshall Mathers (vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, and mini m&m candies
on top), Voodoo Doll (yeast doughnut in the shape of a voodoo doll, filled with
raspberry jelly, topped with chocolate icing, with a unique face drawn on in
icing, and then stabbed with a pretzel stick) and lastly the Longhorn (NEW just
for Austin location: yeast doughnut filled with bavarian cream, topped with
maple icing and two little longhorns drawn on). I also noticed a sign by the
cash register that read “$6 BOXES A DAY OLD” and
inquired further. The kind employee told me that when they make too many donuts
on a shift, they just put them in a huge bucket, and sell them at an
(extremely) reduced price. So, for only $6 I got an actual bucket full of
doughnuts (!!!) That’s right. A whole bucket of assorted
doughnuts for $6. I couldn’t contain my excitement.
Almost lightheaded from all the goodness happening at that
moment, I paid for my doughnuts and sat down at one of their tables to begin
the process of consumption. First Voodoo doughnut I ever tried: the Marshall
Mathers. And let me tell you, I sure did lose myself in this doughnut, but I
was definitely Not Afraid of it. The cake doughnut was just the right amount of
moist, and not too dry, as the vanilla icing (nice and thick, not like a glaze)
nicely complemented it. A few of the m&m’s on top were
sliding off as I ate it, but overall most members of the doughnut made it
inside my mouth safely and happily. Wow. Quite possibly the best doughnut I’ve
ever had.
Now it’s important to consider that these
doughnuts are not like the rest. Voodoo does it differently. These aren’t
as light and fluffy, but rather much more rich and have a greater density than
would your typical Ken’s or Krispy’s. The emphasis is
on the topping here, but there is most definitely a sturdy (and delicious) base
supporting this wonderful creation.
That one doughnut filled me up then and there, but oh don't worry
I took my leftovers and my BUCKET OF DOUGHNUTS home with me. And I made sure
that each and every doughnut found its home (happily inside someone’s
mouth).
So this Halloween if you find yourself with no plans or you do
have plans (cancel them right now) your should scoot your little booty over to
VOODOO DOUGHNUTS for a wonderful evening of doughnuts and music and costumes
and doughnuts and more! I hope each and every one of you get to have your own
Voodoo experience someday :)
———
Aight, so here’s the sick deets on this spot.
WHERE: 6th street (official address is 212 E 6th St Austin, TX
78701)
HOURS: soft opening (shhhh) with varying hours until October
31st, when they have their grand opening.
MY RECOMMENDATIONS:
-Captain my
Captain
-Marshall
Mathers
- all of them
—-> me and my bucket and box of voodoo
