National Donut Day

As some of you might know, the 1st Friday in June (tomorrow) is National Donut Day! Having been remiss in finding my way before now to the French Press Eatery, in Westbrook, to try what I had heard are  tasty and somewhat unusual varieties of the fried dough delights, I drove the 3 miles from my house to the very bright and welcoming neighborhood spot.  When I mentioned to the boys that tomorrow was the big day, they were surprised that they didn't know of the (should be) national holiday, but quick on their feet in deciding to make a special donut for the day. Thus is born the "Team USA Donut".  Resplendent in red, white and blue.  A little prep time and five minutes in the frier, ( they make all their donuts to order.) The dough is put up the night before, but dropped into the hot, 350 degree oil, only when a customer orders! That's a big part of why they taste so good, plus the fresh ingredients. In this case,   the red strawberries, the fresh white whipped cream, done while the dough was in the Non-trans fat oil (see donuts really are good for you) and the blue-berries. There's no whole in these donuts and to accommodate the filling, they are sliced in half.  Their daily menu has a dozen or so varieties which can vary with seasonal offerings. I may show up for the Maple Bacon tomorrow, myself.

I strongly suggest you head on over to The French Press Eatery tomorrow, Friday the 4th of June for your own fix on National Donut Day, 2010!

The French Press Eatery

855 Main Street

Westbrook, ME

887-1040

Fresh Food, Made Right

You can check their website for the rest of the menu.

National Donut Day

In honor of National Donut Day, thought I'd mention how I first became a "Donut Fan".  The first and still the best donuts I ever found came from LaBree's in Old Town, Maine, where I was born and lived for the first 8 years of my life.  Labree's started in the basement of their house on French Island, so called because you know.... actually Treat & Webster Island on the map.  My mother was born on the Island and when I would visit my grandmother, a group of cousins and Island kids would sometimes walk over to the Labree's house and go round back to the cellar entrance where the donuts were made.  One of the women would take a long stick and  fish a donut hot out of the oil, let it cool off for a minute before giving it to us.  Even in a box on a store shelf Labree's kept just a hint of that fresh made taste.  When I move to Presque Isle on my 8th birthday, I soon found Spudnuts, donuts made from potato flower, not bad certainly in my ton 5 list.  But here in Portland we Have Tony's Donuts, # 2 on the list... I'm particularly fond of the Molassas variety.  So today we have a few pictures from Tony's