Food & Drink
The Best Doughnuts in Seattle
In a city with so much great food, we wanted to know: What really takes the prize? Our critics tasted dozens of the very best doughnuts to find out
By Chelsea Lin August 21, 2018
This article originally appeared in the September 2018 issue of Seattle magazine.
This article appears in print as the cover story of the September 2018 issue. Read more from the Best of the Best Restaurants feature story here. Click here to subscribe.
Best of the Best: The Flour Box
Generally, it’s hard to beat an old-school doughnut, particularly if you can score one fresh from the fryer. There are few simpler pleasures, particularly because doughnuts are generally less than $2.
But our editorial pick for the city’s best doughnuts convinced us otherwise: This is not your grandma’s doughnut, and in this case, that’s a very good thing. Pamela Vuong is a self-taught baking whiz who launched her filled brioche doughnut company (hot on the heels of General Porpoise) in late 2017, and the lines have been building at her periodic pop-up shops ever since. Making the dough is a two-day process—resulting in a quality of lightness in each bite—and each doughnut is cut, shaped, coated and filled with creams, jams or custards by hand ($70 for two dozen, the minimum custom order, or $3.50–$4 each at her pop-ups).
Though the sweets are excellent, the runaway sleeper hit is a delightfully light, savory doughnut inspired by “everything” bagels and stuffed with cream cheese.
Pop-up shop and custom orders; theflourboxseattle.com
OTHER FAVORITES
Side Hustle (inside Lowercase Brewing)
Georgetown, 6235 Airport Way S; 206.258.4987; sidehustledoughnuts.com
King Donuts
Rainier Valley, 9232 Rainier Ave. S; 206.721.3103; Facebook, “King Donuts”
TIP: Although the shop opens at 7 a.m., fritters aren’t usually done until 9:30 a.m. or so—get ’em while they’re hot.
General Porpoise
Capitol Hill, 1020 E Union St.; 206.900.8770; gpdoughnuts.com
In addition to our expert picks, we put the Best of the Best to the test on social media, March Madness bracket style, to discover our readers’ favorite pizza, doughnuts and burgers. Behold the doughnut bracket results:
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