Worth the Drive: Sweet and Savory Doughnuts from West Hollywood’s Glazed Donut Bistro

I was invited to a preview of West Hollywood’s Glazed Donut Bistro before they opened their doors a few weeks ago. I generally avoid crosstown travel…even for food, but I happened to have an appointment close by that day and figured it was kismet. It was! The donuts at Glazed are definitely freeway worthy. The concept is “donuts for grownups” is justified—their sweet and savory (yes, savory, I’ll get to that) creations are designed please mature palates, plus they serve booze!

Doughnuts and booze, guys. What else do you want?

Since opening, they’ve been running out of doughnuts regularly, which either means they’re still working out the kinks, or their fried dough is so popular that they can’t keep it in stock. Could be a combination of both, but if I were you, I’d call ahead before making the trek. In the meantime, here are some photos to make you crazy (please note that I didn’t have my SLR handy, so I had to use the old iPhone):

The flavors aren’t run of the mill and the presentation is very pretty. You’ll notice that little number topped with chocolate-covered pretzels—that’s the Sympathy for the Devil’s Food Cake, dipped in Belgian chocolate and sprinkled with house-made, salty-sweet streusel. Just below is the Cremesicle, which was one of my favorites of the tasting, mostly because I love citrus and cream combos. This one is very subtle, with a wonderfully pillowy donut filled with orange cream and dipped in blood orange glaze. The kicker is the candied orange. I didn’t try the one just above, but I was told it’s Blackberry Mojito filled with lime curd.

Two other notables were the Mambo Italiano Cream and the Tres Tres Leches. The Mambo is a take on a classic cannoli, complete with none-too-sweet, very-on-point cannoli cream. The glaze is vanilla spice spiked with chocolate shavings and chopped pistachios. I was limiting myself to a bit of each doughnut, but this one tempted me into two (okay, three), and the same can be said for the berry-topped, milk-soaked Tres Tres. A spice medley of cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom provides luscious complexity and the swirl of chantilly cream on top is magic. It was paired with a vanilla bean creme anglaise sauce, which was unnecessary yet welcomed. It should be noted that Glaze serves a giant list of pairing sauces from Mexican Chocolate and Peach-Ginger Compote to Whiskey Caramel and Hard Cider Brown Sugar.

The most interesting dishes of the day were the savories. I didn’t really know what to expect when I was offered doughnut sliders and shrimp rolls, but I ended up enjoying both. The Missed Piggy sliders are filled with pulled pork drowned in super-sweet barbecue sauce. The fact that the doughnut, itself, is not sweet at all made it work as a vehicle-because they make everything from scratch (no mixes), the dough is really flavorful and can be shown off without glaze. The shrimp roll, seasoned with fresh dill and taragon, was also a hit. I liked the addition of capers and bits of crunchy celery. It should have been weird, but it wasn’t. The Monty Cristo was a little intense for me, what with all that cheese and black currant dipping sauce. The few bites I had were admittedly lusty, but more than that would have been too much.

I didn’t drink on my visit, since it was a Wednesday at, like, 3, however, you can scan the list here.

-Valentina