Dollars for donuts

[Blondie]

I'll have to try these things. But $2 and up for a donut is pretty outrageous, I don't really care what's in it. It's a *donut* for chrissakes!

As has been previously noted, these doughnuts are very large - maybe twice the size of your garden-variety doughnut. They also use ingredients such as Valrhona chocolate and fresh white peaches. Being a New Yorker and having actually tasted them, I think they're worth every penny.

[Carolyn Tillie]

The donuts at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in Yountville are $2.50. They are not twice the size of any other donut. They are just damned fine and worth every penny.

It isn't just in New York!

[Bond Girl]

Along the same line as SethG's rant, I bought a pint of Gelato at Garden of Eden the other day, and it was $10. I nearly fainted when I checked the bill after I got home. And, the gelato wasn't even good.

[slkinsey]

A lot of sticker shock has to do with location. If you compare NYC to, say, Raleigh-Durham... employers in Raleigh-Durham make around 17% less than they do in NYC, and the cost of living is around 42% lower in Raleigh-Durham. This means that NYers are used to paying higher prices and are used to spending more money in general.

I think another part of it was touched on by Seth when he said, "A perfect croissant, for example, is a thing of beauty, and I'll pay whatever it costs. . . . I just questioned whether the lowly donut was really worth such devotion or cost." I've noticed that a lot of people have a similar attitude about pizza. At some point, one has to experience a paradigm shift with respect to foods that are generally regarded as "cheap."

NB. Salary and cost of living information from the salary.com cost of living wizard.

[silentbob]

I had a wonderful vanilla-glazed with raspberry jelly recently.

The Valrhona hot chocolate at Doughnut Plant also rocks -- it could be diluted by 50 percent and still taste good.

[cakewalk]

The Valrhona hot chocolate at Doughnut Plant also rocks -- it could be diluted by 50 percent and still taste good.

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Then you'd have two for the price of one -- and it would be worth it!

[chefreit]

I had to visit the 7th Precinct the other day (it's at Broome and Pitt Streets, hard by the Williamsburg bridge), so I thought I'd stop at Kossar's Bialys on Grand Street and pick up a dozen.  On my way there, I happened into a gourmet institution known as the Doughnut Plant.

This little storefront had signs ouside touting its organic products with real shaved fresh coconut etc... and I thought, what the heck, may as well try a good donut while I'm here.  And you know what?  It was a pretty good donut.  A little heavier than I prefer, but my beef is not with the quality of the product sold.

My problem is with the price.  This donut cost me two dollars.

I later learned from a Lower East Side local that this shop is a sensation.  They have donuts selling at gourmet markets around town, and in the Grand Street store, they regularly run out of donuts in the late morning and close up shop. 

What is wrong with New Yorkers?  Are we insane?  We will beat down the doors of an establishment selling admittedly better-than-average but hardly ambrosial donuts for two dollars each?

I can understand that one must pay more for "artisinal" products, and I regularly do so for many such products.  But I gotta tell ya, when it comes to donuts there's only so much artisinal improvement can do for you.  It seems to me from my donut taste test that the diminishing returns come pretty quickly.  Kossar's, two doors away, delivers pure bialy satisfaction for only 50 cents.  Any improvement one could make in the bialy that would make it cost a lot more would be, to my mind, unjustified.

Somebody please, flame me about my bad attitude.  Call me a donut (or I should say "doughnut") philistine.  But explain this ludicrous store to me in terms I can understand.

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This is just another example of "Foodies & Trendies" making more out of something then it really is. Look, I love all things food, history, blah blah ect. However some of the madness that blogs-on today is insane. My Italian grandmother never owned a digital scale, Viking stove, and cooked in old aluminum pots,(well she does have Alzheimer’s today, but it runs in her family) Yet she produced perfect, delicious meals daily. The thing that I still remember is the cooking by sound, I still can't do this.

Well that's my take on it!

Edited January 23, 2005 by chefreit (log)

[SethG]

This is just another example of "Foodies & Trendies" making more out of something then it really is.  Look, I love all things food, history, blah blah ect.  However some of the madness that blogs-on today is insane. My Italian grandmother never owned a digital scale, Viking stove, and cooked in old aluminum pots,(well she does have Alzheimer’s today, but it runs in her family) Yet she produced perfect, delicious meals daily. The thing that I still remember is the cooking by sound, I still can't do this.

Well that's my take on it!

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Sorry, I'm not sure I get your take. Are the "foodies & trendies" the people who like DP, or are they the people here complaining about the price?

If you're saying that fancy methods and high prices are not required to make good, honest food, then I think I follow you. But try one of DP's jelly donuts before you dismiss the place. My mind was changed.

[Dryden]

Have you ever tried a doughnut plant donut? They are really, really good - their pistachio is easily the best flavor I've ever had. Mark Isreal puts together flavors that just don't come from other places, with great, fresh ingredients - why isn't that worth $2? You don't have to pay that for them to be good, but if people are willing to pay that, what's your problem?

Don't eat them, more for the rest of us.

Edited January 24, 2005 by Dryden (log)

[eatrustic]

I'm reminded of the early responses to artisan breads when they first became popular at then unheard of prices for "simple" breads. (North America of course).

People either "got it" by understanding that here was an individual who could be making more money in another career (and have a life) but who chose to be really passionate about making the absolute best quality of product they could. This came at a cost and some people would completely lose it with ...."$3.00 for freakin' flour, water and salt!!?" It's all a matter of personal values.

I'm sure we all have at least one area of extravagance that makes no sense to others (let's see.. cigars, caviar, $500 designer shoes...) and as previously stated $2.00 for a product that is made in relatively small quantities with the best ingredients and that is almost twice the size a regular donut doesn't sound particularly over the top to me.

I like to think of these kinds of indulgences as permission to fall off the wagon with food categories that we have either outgrown, forbidden ourselves or have severely cut back on due to mediocre quality .

Hey! This is eGullet and anyone who uses Vahlarona chocolate, gold dust, rose petals or can just plain reinvent the jelly donut by making it square with a hole in the middle gets my vote for originality and commitment.

The problem comes, as with true artisan breads, when the purveyors of mediocrity (fill in your choice) decide that this is an opportunity to slap a couple of pseudo ingredients in the mix and jack up the price.

...by the way congrats to SethG for having the courage to admit a change of heart.

[Dryden]

For what it's worth, I don't think the jelly ones are meant to be square - they tend to get kind of squished and squared off. They all start out more or less round.

[Holly Moore]

Square Donuts

[Dryden]

Sorry, I meant all of the Doughnut Plant doughnuts start out more or less round. Next we'll be back on the squagel discussion... ;-)

[chefreit]

http://www.sciflicks.com/soylent_green/

"Doughnut Plant is People!

It's People I tell YOU!

PEOPLE!"

Thought this would break-up the tension.

[eatrustic]

On...square Donut Plant Donuts....NYT Dec. 8, 2004. See photo of said square donuts. (Just the jelly ones.)

[wannabechef]

I finally got around to trying this place today. Sampled a bunch including The Elvis Special (bannana cream piped inside, with a peanut butter glaze), black rasberry glaze and valrohna chocolate. I have to say I was dissapointed. Its not that they weren't tasty. I think I just really don't like this style of donut. They are extremely big and thick. All of the donuts are basically the same - except with different glazes. But there is so much "dough" in each one, that I feel the glaze (which is the best part) gets lost in the taste. They ended up all tasting pretty much the same to me. Out of the 3, the bannana was the best I thought - maybe because it had a filling. On another note - I tried these right as they were closing, so I may not have gotten the freshest batch. I wonder if there is a big differenece here.

My take on the "artisinal" ingredients: ehhh. I don't see any advantage to using organic butter for instance. The only thing it does is jack up the price. Or even organic peanut butter. There was barely any peanut flavor in the glaze. What am I gaining by having organic peanut butter? Even the Valrohna chocolate flavor seemed to get lost. I think this is more of a marketing gimmick than anything else - but hey more power to him. They seem to be doing great business there. I will only try it again if I happen to be nearby when its early in the morning and I can try a fresh batch.

~WBC