The magic is in the hole! Or so they say over at Voodoo Doughnut, the place itself being a teeny-tiny little hole in the wall the size of a large walk-in closet. Voodoo Doughnut is a well established and somewhat legendary donut shop in downtown Portland. They’re open all night and are an obvious choice for grabbing yummy sweet treats after shows or when the bars let out. I’ve been told the scene there late at night is quite fun and exciting, a real taste of Portland. Truth be told however, I wasn’t there to check out the scene, I was there for the vegan donuts I’ve heard so much about.
We stopped by there in the afternoon and there was a line out the door snaking around the side of the building. There was a brewfest going on just a few steps away by the river, so that may have had something to do with the crowds. The line moved quickly though, especially considering there was only one woman both serving the donuts and running the cash register, and soon enough I found myself with a front row view of the display case. The vegan donuts are nicely segregated on a plate in the spinning display case so you can easily see which ones are available.
Maple bars have always been one of my favorites in the non-vegan donut world, so of course that was my first choice to try here (that’s the one on the back right of the plate, the one that’s not chocolate, or a bar for that matter). It was pretty good, the fact that it was vegan made it better. I do like my donuts to be of the lighter and fluffier variety, while this donut was more of a cake donut, very thick and dense. The flavor was great, the maple frosting delicious, but the actual donut itself was too much for me to get through much of, and I was thankful to have a bottle of water with me to wash it down with otherwise it would have stuck in my throat.
I also tried the donut that you see there at the front left of the plate. I don’t know what they call this one, but it had a very sweet white frosting which was coated in toasted coconut. I loved both those flavor toppings, the white stuff was sticky and gooey in a very good way and well, it’s pretty hard to go wrong with toasted coconut. The donut itself was the same as the maple bar, so again it was thicker than I would have preferred and hard to get down without a beverage. I guess it’s true that for some girls, size does matter. And lube always helps.
They were both very tasty donuts, even though I was only able to get through half of each before feeling totally stuffed and over the craving to have donuts again anytime soon. If they had been a lighter type of donut I could have easily made my way through three or four. Maybe I’m just spoiled by the mindblowingly light and airy donuts I had at Madeline Bistro back in May (which I still haven’t gotten around to blogging for you yet but you can get a peek over at VegYogini’s blog), because those donuts were so incredible that there’s no way you’d know they were vegan, nor would it matter. In my mind those are the vegan donuts that all others will be measured against. I can’t say that the Voodoo Donuts came close in comparison, but I can say that they were quite enjoyable for what they were, and any place that will provide me with fresh made vegan donuts be it 12 noon or 12 midnight is alright by me.
www.voodoodoughnut.com
Here’s a cute 10 minute documentary about Voodoo Doughnuts called Gimmie Doughnut (some of which is NSFW)
Stayed tuned for ‘Foodeater Does Vegan Portland’, Pt. 7!
Such enticing, rich doughnut flavors!!
VEGAN DONUTSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! those are my favorite thing on earth. i need a minute to collect myself after this post. my favorite vegan donuts were from mighty-o’s in seattle, although i haven’t tried madeleine’s yet. mark my word though, on your recommendation, i will be there this weekend. thanks for the sweet sweet donuty report. i am gonna go soak all this info up for now.
quarrygirl: I haven’t tried Mighty-O’s yet but would sure love to. I’m looking forward to hearing of your adventures at Voodoo Doughnuts… enjoy!
The maple frosting looks like the best part! Thanks for the fun review. :) The only vegan donuts I have access to are the prepackaged Nutrilicious ones at Whole Foods (which I haven’t tried because I’m afraid I’ll eat the whole package). So I’m definitely jealous of your little trip, even if Madeleine Bistro’s donuts were better! Vegan donuts are just 10000x more appealing than any other donut, which all make me sick just thinking about them.
Your blog is the second blog I found that did a review on Portland. Aside from NYC I would say Portland is the capitol of vegan and vegetarian in America. Did you go to any of the vegan bars? Bye and Bye or Tube? Vegan white russian!!! I also highly recommend JAM, hear this out… vegan. spelt bluberry chai tea pancake. yummilicious. My favourite brunch spot in the world. Also, don’t leave out Nicolas Lebanese Restaurant. That place always has a long wait during the dinner hours… but trust me, tasty vegan goodness from the middle east. And don’t leave out the food carts!
btw, best vegan donuts I’ve ever had that can be found in Portland and Seattle is the MIGHTY O’s from seattle. My favourite flavor is pina colata. yeah… coconut sprinkled on top of pineapple creme… all vegan too. no saturated fat, only baked in organic vegetable oil. Not gonna hit your love handles hard.
veganazi: There sure is a lot of vegan goodness in Portland, that’s for sure. As for it being the capitol, that part might be debatable. I haven’t been to NY yet (next, maybe!), but “pound for pound” I’d say that Los Angeles has got Portland beat as for the sheer quantity of vegan food options. Perhaps the actual vegan community itself in Portland is much more established… that I don’t know… but in Los Angeles at this point you can’t throw a rock without hitting tasty vegan food.
And nope, didn’t make it to any bars. I’m not much of a drinker and the friends I was with were not fans of Bye and Bye… maybe next time though, I would like to try some of the specialty foods at those joints.
ruby red vegan: Yep, the maple frosting RULES! So sorry there are nothing but packaged vegan donuts near you… hopefully that will change soon, or, I guess you’ll just have to hit the road and travel some more :)
Did your donut taste like banana? It seems to change daily. Once mine did, once they didn’t!
Melisser: No, it didn’t taste like banana. I’d read about this being an occasional issue but apparently they’ve got it all worked out.
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Just to let you know–Voodoo has also been making “risen” or “yeasted” doughnuts for the last few months–so basically they now make almost every single variety (cake, risen, filled including the creme) in a vegan version. I’m told by non-vegans that the risen are indistinguishable from the non-veg. If you make it back through town–don’t miss the vegan Apple Fritter (HUGE and amazing), the raspberry-jelly filled Voodoo Doll, and the “Portland Creme,” which is like rich vanilla pudding in a chocolate-iced donut–you won’t need anything sweet for weeks.