Glazed & Amused
Donut Trails
Longer reads about where these shops came from — and, where it makes sense, a route you can actually drive!
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Plan my own donut run
Tell Doughie where you're starting, how long you can drive and what you crave.
Thread
The Pink Box
How Cambodian refugee families turned a plain cardboard box into the emblem of the Los Angeles donut shop.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
Drivable route
The Giant Donuts of Los Angeles
A drivable trail through the surviving rooftop donuts of Russell C. Wendell's Big Do-Nut Drive-In chain, plus two worth a detour.
Tight enough to drive. Stops are in order, with a map.
Drivable route
Pennsylvania Dutch Country
The tightest cluster of traditional donut baking in the country — Long Johns, fastnachts and fruit-and-cream, all within a day's drive.
Tight enough to drive. Stops are in order, with a map.
Thread
Donuts After Dark
Shops that open at night, never close, or do their real business long after the breakfast crowd has gone home.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
Thread
The Potato Belt
Maine, Mississippi and Idaho arrived at the same idea separately: put potato in the donut. The distance between them is the story.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
Thread
Seasonal Only
Some of the best donuts in America are not available most of the year. Turn up in the wrong month and you miss the thing entirely.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
Drivable route
The Vermont Cider Donut Run
Vermont fries its apple cider into donuts at orchards, farm stands and one old cider mill. Drive it over a fall weekend.
Tight enough to drive. Stops are in order, with a map.
Thread
Malasada Day
In much of Hawaii, Fat Tuesday is Malasada Day. Here's where to eat them, on the islands and off.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
Thread
Pączki Day
The shops where Fat Tuesday means pączki, and pączki means a line.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
Thread
The Century Club
The shops in the directory that opened before 1930 and never stopped. Four generations, a few new owners, and a lot of the same recipes.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
Drivable route
The Beignet Route
Eight stops along I-10: Baton Rouge, the French Market, Mobile and the Gulf, all under a coat of powdered sugar.
Tight enough to drive. Stops are in order, with a map.
Thread
Kolaches in the Donut Case
Czech immigrants brought the kolache to Texas. Donut shops, many run by Cambodian families, put one in nearly every case in the state.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
Drivable route
The Michigan-to-Ohio Cider Mill Run
Water wheels, a 90-ton press and hot cider donuts, from metro Detroit across the Ohio line. Two days, best in fall.
Tight enough to drive. Stops are in order, with a map.
Thread
Sold Out By Ten
Small shops that fry one batch, sell every last donut and lock the door. One opens at 1 a.m.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
Thread
Sufganiyot
Why Hanukkah means a fried, jam-filled doughnut, and the bakeries from DC to Miami to Los Angeles that make them.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
Thread
The Amish Donut Trail
Scratch yeast donuts from Holmes County and northern Indiana, with bake-day shops in Big Valley, Iowa and Virginia.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
Thread
Frybread
Frybread began with government rations during the Navajo Long Walk. Today it's powwow food, family food, and a debate worth hearing out.
Scattered across the country. A reading list, not a drive.
More trails are on the way. Know a route we should drive? Tell us about it.