How Sublime Can Doughnuts Be?

The answer? Very sublime, especially on a miserable, rainy day.

Adrian posted on the E3 Foodies blog about Sublime Doughnuts--a little doughnut shop right on the North side of campus (10th and Hemphill) specializing in gourmet doughnuts. I'd been meaning to check it out, and as luck would have it, an old friend of mine from college, now getting an MD-PhD at Emory, was free that afternoon and equally drooling over the prospect of said doughnuts. Since coming to Atlanta, I've sampled the wares of Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts, but had yet to sample these gourmet delights which had gotten such rave reviews from Adrian and the denizens of Yelp!

First of all, a little bit of background. I *heart* doughnuts. Possibly more than I *heart* pop-tarts. During the six years of my childhood I spent in Indonesia (the other eight were spent in Singapore), Dunkin' Donuts came to town, and were wildly popular. My father would take my brother and me to the Dunkin' Donuts in the mall as a special treat. Dunkin' Donuts in Indonesia is far more upscale than the ones in America, and even though the doughnuts are "cheap" if one is thinking in terms of American salary and dollars, the doughnuts are far too expensive for the average working Joe in Indonesia to eat everyday. Doughnuts are gourmet there, and the customers of Dunkin' Donuts are treated accordingly. You select your doughnut, an obsequious and smiling staff-member gently uses tongs to transfer your selection onto a ceramic plate, and then hands it to you on a tray complete with a metal fork, knife, and napkin.

My family then moved to Singapore, where doughnuts remained conspicuously absent from the food-scene...until four or five years ago. Summer break meant I could take a break from working on my dissertation for my Ph.D. in California by working on my dissertation back home in Singapore. And I discovered that doughnuts had become THE "in" thing. Asian doughnut companies such as J.Co Donuts, Donut Factory, and Donut Empire had flooded the market with tasty, fluffy wares far, far, FAR cuter than their American counterparts, which seemed positively sloppy by comparison. The Donut Factory near my house became my hangout: free wireless, pretty good coffee, clean art-deco decor, jazzy music, friendly waitstaff, and a glass-case displaying a dazzlingly colorful array of gourmet doughnuts.

Back to the present, to Atlanta, and to Sublime Doughnuts:

Despite the ultra-hipster feel of their website, the actual bakery itself has a surprisingly un-hipster feel to it: functional, somewhat comfortable (if you can snag a spot on one of the big black couches). And perhaps it's because the doughnuts seem a little out of place that their taste and appearance come as such a pleasant surprise. My friend and I split a s'more doughnut and a chocolate-berry fritter. The dough was moist despite the fact that it was so late in the day, and they were subtly sweet and suitably fluffy. There were a few I'd like to go back to try at some point in the future: a strawberries-and-cream doughnut made with fresh strawberries; a creme-filled chocolate glazed doughnut in the shape of an "A"; an orange-glazed creme-filled doughnut shaped like a star.

I highly recommend! Sublime Doughnuts is within walking distance of campus and gives student discounts!