Authors: Juliet Goswami & Madeline Mahoney

Photographer: Karina Mak

If you’re a donut lover, you probably already know there’s a new Stan’s Donuts location in Hyde Park! Stan’s Donuts was originally located in Los Angeles and made its way to Chicago in 2014. Since then, the company has opened fourteen locations across the Chicago area with its Hyde Park location opening in June of this year.

Located in Harper Court, the donut shop is a ten-minute walk from the North end of the University of Chicago campus. It has a fun, retro atmosphere, filled with vibrant colors ripped from a Wes Anderson film. Walking into a shop with so many flavors of donuts may be overwhelming, so we took it upon ourselves to try a dozen of their most highly recommended donuts.

Overall, the quality of donuts was quite good! The prices are a bit higher than they would be for your run-of-the-mill Dunkin or Krispy Kreme donut, but with a heftier price tag comes an almost always much higher quality pastry.

Donut Review

Fourth Tier

Cherry Old Fashioned

We all agreed that our least favorite donut was, by far, the Cherry Old Fashioned. Keep in mind, all donuts on our list were recommended by Yelp users, so this donut is definitely a hit for somebody, just not us. The cherry flavor was extremely artificial and felt like it would belong better in a hard candy than a baked good.

Blueberry Fritter

The Blueberry Fritter was another miss for us. The blueberry flavor was similarly artificial. You usually expect physical fruit to be baked into a fruit pastry, but while there was that blue-gray tinge that is usually a result of blueberries baked into a pastry, we found no evidence of actual fruit in the fritter.

Third Tier

Glazed

The Classic Glazed donut is a solid choice. The donut itself had a fluffy texture and was exactly what you would expect from a glazed donut. But if you’re paying $2 for a donut, don’t you want something a little more exciting?

Red Velvet

We had mixed opinions on the Red Velvet donut. It certainly offered a bit more texture than the other donuts with chocolate chips and dollops of cream cheese. The frosting did genuinely taste like cream cheese, which did not seem like not a big deal. But for donuts, this authentic taste of frosting is shockingly hard to come by — whether or not you’re into this flavor is another question.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Donut

If you have dietary restrictions, check out Stan’s great selection of gluten-free donuts! But if you are not gluten-free, why would you want to order a gluten-free donut? The flavor of the chocolate frosting was quite good, but the lack of gluten certainly created a notably softer texture than their other donuts. That was not to say that the texture was better — it was definitely better than we expected — but it didn’t quite hold up to the other donuts we were trying

Second Tier

Lemon Pistachio Old Fashioned

Overall, Stan’s Old Fashioned donuts are a tasty choice; however, this lemon pistachio flavor left a little to be desired with its subtlety. The lemon, like in the other donuts from Stans that shared the flavoring, was excellent. It did not taste sickly at all and genuinely had a punch. The physical nuts inside added a nice crunch. However, the pistachio was subtle and when it could be tasted, it verged on artificial. Nonetheless, it was certainly a good donut.

Nutella Pocket

Stan’s Donuts has a line of donuts called “Dough Boy’s Best” which includes their “pockets” square-shaped filled donuts alongside other specialty donuts. If you enjoy the taste of Nutella, you’ll probably also enjoy the Nutella pocket. It was certainly very decadent, but that was to be expected from a donut filled with Nutella.

Vegan Pumpkin

Vegans, you’re in luck! This pumpkin-flavored vegan donut was barely distinguishable from a non-vegan donut. In fact, if you hadn’t told us, we probably wouldn’t have noticed that it was made from vegan ingredients. The dough had a slightly chewy texture compared to the non-vegan donut, but that was made up for by the festive pumpkin flavor that left us reaching for more.

First Tier

Lemon Espresso

Similar to the Lemon Pistachio donut, this Lemon Espresso donut had fantastic lemon flavoring, but its espresso flavoring was somewhat elusive. We believe that there was only espresso flavoring in the sweeter frosting, so if you had it in a box like us, it could slough off the donut fairly easily. We might be showing our bias for the taste of lemon here, but its creamy, pucker-inducing filling almost made us forget about the lackluster espresso flavor. Our personal opinions varied quite a bit on this donut, but it is a solid choice for anyone looking to be a little more adventurous.

Toffee

If you like toffee, this is absolutely the donut for you. The donut itself was extremely soft and almost melted in the mouth, and it wasn’t chewy at all. The toffee and nuts added a nice crunch, while the caramel glaze and chocolate drizzle added sweetness. The result was fairly sweet and tasted like the Girl Scout cookie - for us, that made the tasting experience more fun!

Apple Pie Croissant Donut

The seasonal apple pie croissant donut was one of our favorites. The apple filling was not overpoweringly sweet and had some sourness to it. The croissant donut (or cronut) texture was a fun change of pace for us after almost a dozen tastings.

And the Winner Is . . .

Biscoff Pocket

The Biscoff Pocket was a hands-down winner! This unique donut variety was not overly sweet and had a delicious filling. The dough was soft, fluffy, and you could taste it since the donut wasn’t overfilled. How could you go wrong with cookie butter?

Stan's Donuts Review