Mmmmmm Doughnuts

Read about this place from many "Boston must-visit" lists; on foot, I literally found the shop by following the sweet doughy scent of magic down the street from Union Square. And thus twas the spot that bore the name Union Square Donuts:

The shop's owner makes an interesting comparison of perspective when discussing the notion of "doughnut" versus the notion of "pastry", and yea, the growing prominence of artisan fried rings draws in eclectic ingredients, textures, and ideas that elevate the layman's donut into a more sophisticated .


In short, I understand why each donut averages $3....although somewhere in my head I do start to complain about "but I can get a donut for $0.83 @ Dunkin blahblahblahwhinewhineb**chb**ch". But we're here to talk about Union Square Donuts and how awesome it is!

I think this Bow St. place is a new relocation of the business??? At any rate it's a charming environment; the brightly-lit seating area has some nice futons, coffee tables, and seats, and it's literally like walking into someone's house. This is probably the nicest interiors of a donut shop that I've ever seen, rivaling that of the Exchange St. branch of the Holy Donut in Maine, and Royal Jelly back home in VJO (kay Royal Jelly is not the nicest place ever but it gets plus points for nostalgia). 

Every time I visit a donut shop, I'm always conflicted about what to order; "what can I not get anywhere else???" I'm a sucker for house-specials, seasonals, and limited-time-onlys, while also trying to order a somewhat diverse balance of flavors and colors. With my recent trend of visits, I end up buying 3 donuts as a good representative sampling of a shop.

On the way here, I had already planned to get the much-acclaimed maple bacon: 

And hohoho I can see why people love this thing. I wasn't expecting like SIZZLING bacon fresh off the pan (although I would be impressed if I saw that in a donut shop), and I've had some bacon maple bars that were decorated with strips of unpleasantly lardy bacon >.<  However, Union Square had some broken bacon on top of the maple glaze; you got a few nice bits here and there but you had some mighty chunks in a lot of other places, giving a more distributed bacon flavor for every bite. I probably would have preferred a stronger "maple" flavor but that's just my taste. The yeast donuts here are nice and chewy; when combined with the sweet sugary-ness of the glaze and the savory smokiness of the meaty topping, the maple bacon marries some of the best food profiles into one neat package.

Like I said, I'm a sucker for special/limited time sh!t, so I ended up getting the "birthday cake" donut:

Gotta be honest...this was kind of a meh donut. It was pretty standard tasting and didn't offer anything that a similar donut at a cheaper location couldn't give. Plenty of sprinkles adorning the chocolate icing, but I was expecting a stronger cake batter/vanilla-ish flavor, and maybe some decorative candy spots in the batter. Aka, I wished they took a confetti cake mix, transformed it into donut dough, and fried the cake out of it. Now THAT sounds delicious (hint hint if any actual human being is reading this, you should get some confetti cake mix and turn that into donuts). All in all, this was definitely subpar for a $2 price tag.

I like to save the best for last, that being the STRAWBERRY DONUT! 

Sounds run-of-the-mill, but it's the simplicity that makes it complex. I don't really have a good explanation to justify that comment. But was the donut delicious? OH JESUUS YES! As with the maple bacon, Union Square's amazing yeast/raised dough serves as the foundation, which is already fantastic on it's own. But the real jewel is the glaze: real strawberries reduced with some sugar and some other ingredients to give it the consistency, and it might have as well included crack because I freaking loved it. 

Now, I enjoy standard strawberry glazes as much as the next person, but those glazes are kind of one dimensional: you have this artificial Nesquik flavor and some icing sweetness; ok maybe that was 2 dimensions. Union Square on the other hand (and real strawberry glazes worldwide) showcases the fruit's natural flavor, bringing the strawberry's tart and sour notes into play. And then they apply a generous coating all over the place, creating one of my new favorite donuts ever. Morning complete.

Forgot to take a family photo. oops.