Colossal Donuts @ Shoppers - 71/100

This is something different for my first Virginia donut experience since the move back, but I gotta explore every option available.  I'm unsure I'll find such a great and easy donut supply outside San Diego, so I'm going to search everywhere for my donut fix.  I went to Shoppers on a tip and it was especially inviting because I could stick it to Dunkin Donuts who reside in the same shopping center.  There's Dunkin all over the place and it's not that I have it out for them, it's that I really don't need to spend my time there.  Donuts are one of those treats that deserve the independent bakery.  There's no need for cookie cutting the same donut recipe for hundreds or thousands of stores.

Not that Shoppers is the pinnacle of indie donut creationism.  It's a discount supermarket with a few locations around but with a much more impressive bakery than your usual grocery store.  They do have another thing going for them - all the donuts are Colossal!  And this is not a situation where they make small, medium, and really large donuts.  They are all Colossal sized.  From the Glazed to an M&M topped to a Boston Creme, they are all gigantic.

It's an all self serve operation where you pick and pack into bags or boxes.  Cheap!  You can get a Colossal donut for 66 cents and the special pastries like the Apple Fritters are only a little bit more.  Donuts by the dozen average out even less than 50 cents each.  It is an amazing deal for how much you can end up spending on donuts these days.  The quality and freshness are decent.  The dense nature of the dough is a little more than I prefer.  But it does have a nice buttery quality to it.  The Apple Fritter had good glaze and apple flavor but it did have little pieces of apple in it that were borderline charred.  I actually thought it was a Chocolate Apple Fritter with chocolate chips in it only to realize those were bits of apple.  The glaze may have been a little more uneven than you see at many donut shops, but once you put it all in context, it fits.  An interesting donut experience!

Shoppers

7005 Manchester Ave

Fraconia, VA

Quick Score - 8 - Okay donut quality but impressive portion size.
Donut Quality - 7 - So-So
Donut Selection - 8 - Impressive selection for a supermarket and interesting candy topped donuts.
Donut Freshness - 6 - Some day olds probably mixed into the self serve case, hit or miss.
Service - 6 - Not really applicable here but early in the morning it's only self check out and you can't do that with a box of donuts so you gotta get an attendant to help.  
Extras - 6 - The bakery extras like cookies and muffins look promising.  They've got a walk-in beer fridge area that's pretty good.
Appeal - 6 - The Colossal donuts hold much of the appeal.  The store itself is not an appealing experience, other than the beer.
Emotion - 7 - I was pleasantly surprised with the donuts.
Other's Rating - 7 - Mixed reviews online, but I did have a personal recommendation that got me there!
Price - 7 - Extra points for such great prices!
Donut Dunkability - 3 - No donut holes available that I saw.  But doughyness of the pastries lends itself well to dunking.
Total - 71

My Favorite Donut Shop In America @ Peace, Love, & Little Donuts In Nashville - 99/100

My donut journey has multiple purposes but a major one is to name a new supreme leader in my personal list of donut shops.  Now I got it!  It happened only 2 days before the journey was complete but it was well worth the wait.  In downtown Nashville there is The Arcade,  a little mini market/alley in between one city block with a few different shops along the way.  Here lies Peace, Love, & Little Donuts, the greatest donut shop I've ever had the privilege to enjoy.

The is a franchise location of the original which is in Pittsburgh, PA.  There's just a few locations: Pittsburgh, Nashville, Cleveland, Naples and I hope they continue to be a small franchise and don't expand too quickly but put a lot of thought into each city they open.  Nashville is a great spot because it isn't just a Country Music mecca, Rock & Roll and Blues are huge contributors to the music culture there also.  

I'm not even a fan of "hippie" culture.  I've always found the whole image and lifestyle not very interesting and passed over plenty of it.  There's some music from that era I enjoy listening to and that's about the extent of it.  So I was a little worried that I would find this place tacky and uninteresting.  I was way wrong!  They do such a good job of it here mixing donuts with the fun aspects of life. 

The Little Donuts part of the name comes into play with the actual size of the donuts created.  These are not large donuts, they are the perfect size if you want a quick indulgence and both the size and varieties are very similar to Dixie Donuts in Richmond.

The theme continues with the donuts.  There are 3 categories and price levels for donuts: "Groovy" - the cheapest buy with more traditional sugar toppings.  "Far Out" - one of the more frosted donuts with icing are a little more expensive.  And "Funkadelic" - the top level with all sorts of great combination toppings like a Bacon Maple Donut which I only didn't try because of the others I've had on the trip.  Still, it had pieces of bacon around the circle which looked like it would be great like Gibson's was the day before.

The selection my Mom and I sampled were from the picture above top left going clockwise, Apple Pie, Boston Creme, Double Chocolate, Strawberry Cheesecake, Samoa, and another Boston Creme.  The Apple Pie was amazing b/c the white frosting made it taste like Apple Pie a la mode.  The Boston Cremes had a little cream in the center AND more cream underneath the chocolate frosting on top.  The Samoa tasted just like the cookie only 3 times better than any cookie I've had.  All donuts were top notch.  The couple donuts saved for later that day lost just a little bit of freshness in the dough.  I wonder if there is just one little component that could make these taste just like they did in the shop.  Or maybe everything tastes better there because it's such a fun experience.

They even make the donuts right out in the open!  I didn't get a good picture of it but the fryer is right out front with some baskets for the donuts and some cooling racks.  Then if you need a donut that is not readily available, they can dress it up for you right on the spot!  So they have another great aspect to the process going on there too.

Another perk is the great coffee!  They have this french press coffee machine that takes a few seconds longer but is way worth it.  It's the perfect donut shop coffee solution.  They don't brew lame regular coffee.  They don't mess around with multiple jugs of pre-made coffee of exotic flavors or varieties sitting around for you to choose from.  They just make one kind of coffee and they do it very well.  I'd go in there just for the coffee.

Adding to the vibe are the albums on the wall, which is not all "psychedelic" music but plenty of historical music pieces and even some KISS figurines displayed.  There was 60s and 70s music playing over the shop and they can even pump the smell of donuts out into The Arcade outside.  

I might just have to open my own Peace, Love, & Little Donuts!!!

Peace, Love, & Little Donuts

12 The Arcade Bld

(In the block between 4th, 5th, Union, and Church Streets)

Nashville, TN

Quick Score - 10 - This place has the total package between amazing donuts, amazing coffee, and a great environment to eat your breakfast or midday treat.  I can't imagine how great a mood I'd be in if I lived in this city and got here all the time.

Donut Quality - 10 - Unbelievably delicious donuts.  
Donut Selection - 10 - Great combinations that will appeal to any donut lover.
Donut Freshness - 9 - These are super fresh daily made but somehow a little of the allure is lost hours later.  Perhaps something could make this component even greater.
Service - 10 - Even the service was great.
Extras - 10 - There's few donut shops that play music in them or create such a fun atmosphere.  The coffee is amazing.
Appeal - 10 - Highly appealing
Emotion - 10 - I was blown away with surprise and satisfaction after my visit.
Other's Rating - 10 - 5/5 stars average rating on Yelp
Price - 5 - 3 tiered pricing system does well to match up with the types of donuts offered.
Donut Dunkability - 5 - These are very dunkable b/c they're not too big.  No donut holes were around that I saw but the Pittsburgh location advertises cake donut holes of mixed varieties so I will go with the explanation that I missed them or the Nashville location just hasn't implemented them yet.
Total - 99

Trip Completion

In front of the Capitol in Nashville

Chupy ready to hit the road again!

Some snow in West Virginia

War Memorial at Virginia Tech at night

Chupy hits college at the Duck Pond at Tech

After lots of running in Chesterfield

4,831 miles!

Memphis Has The Goods @ Gibson's - 98/100

Gibson's Donuts has been serving Memphis since 1967 and it has all the feel of a donut institution.  It was hopping on a Tuesday mid-morning between folks coming in to grab and go and people just hanging out conversing over donuts and coffee in the large seating area. I was super impressed with one particular plaque on the wall presented to Gibson's by the Memphis Fire Department in Dec 2011, "In Appreciation of the Support and Encouragement Gibson's Donuts has Shown Through the Years to the Members of the Memphis Fire Department."  Talk about a great sign to see in a donut shop!

The donut counter is long and full of a diverse donut collection and there are several people working here between the counter and the kitchen and they are all helping each other and the customers out.  The big prize here was the Bacon Maple Glazed Donut.  It was the best bacon donut I've ever had and I feel the main reason it was better than Rebel Donut is the sprinkled bacon pieces instead of one large piece of bacon that becomes tough and a little flavorless.  Gibson's aren't like bacon bits, it's like whole bacon just cut up into pieces and I felt that maintained the great salty, meaty flavor and was the perfect quantity to accompany the sweetness of the donut.

Donut holes were satisfactory, maybe a little too over sweet for me but Mom had a chocolate donut that was delicious.  Coffee was decent and there's such a great mix of fancy flavors like Red Velvet and Oreo cookie interspersed with the traditional donut varieties.  They even have Gibson's swag!  Coffee Mugs, T-shirts, and other odds and ends.  Not too many donut shops can pull that off.  But you get the impression Gibson's is the place to go and foster your donut love in Memphis.

Gibson's Donuts

760 Mt. Moriah Road

Memphis, TN

Quick Score - 10 - It's obviously an institution.  You get that feel the moment you walk through the door, if not before, as you witness the people traffic inside and out.  The city of Memphis comes through with a great donut shop!

Donut Quality - 9 - My own personal taste and appreciation for West Coast donuts make these too sweet for me but when I mixed the savory bacon component in here I'm good.  The chocolate was top notch.
Donut Selection - 10 - Huge selection of donuts.
Donut Freshness - 10 - Extraordinary fresh tasting.
Service - 10 - Numerous employees, helpful, quick at their craft.
Extras - 10 - An extra doesn't have to be non-donut menu items.  Extras can be the plaque awarded by the fire department, the merchandise component, the great seating area, and the great people.  This place has all that.
Appeal - 10 - High appeal factor b/c of all those factors contribute to a place you want to go back to.
Emotion - 9 - It was a near-perfect donut experience.  
Other's Rating - 10 - It's a near perfect overall average rating on other food review sites but the fire department pushes it up to a 10.
Price - 5 - The town has low prices and the donuts reflect this cost of living as they are low priced.
Donut Dunkability - 5 - Donut holes available
Total - 98