[Model D] Coffee and (___) pops up for round two in Jefferson Chalmers

You might remember Coffee and (___) from its fall pop-up in West Village. Pastry Chef Angela Foster is back again with another pop-up, this time at June on Jefferson in the Jefferson-Chalmers commercial district through July 9.

Debuting last weekend during Jazzin' on Jefferson, Coffee and (___) was an immediate hit with the curious crowds. The impressive interior, featuring tables made of reclaimed wood and other salvaged and repurposed materials, was designed by volunteer architects from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Urban Priorities Committee in partnership with the Jefferson East Business Association (JEBA). (This place will give some permanent storefronts pop-up envy.)

Read more.

Read More

[Model D] Beignets brings a taste of the Bayou to the New Orleans of the North

From the Paris of the Midwest to the New Orleans of the North: Detroit is getting a taste of the Bayou with Beignets.

After many years of travelling to the Big Easy and enjoying late-night beignets with chicory coffee at the famous Café du Monde, Michele Pearson and her partner Mark Hausner launched Beignets to bring the dense French doughnut to Detroit. "We just loved the fact that when people were together eating beignets all hours of the night, listening to zydeco, they were happy," says Pearson. "We figured with the French influence in Detroit, why doesn't Detroit have something like this?"

Read more.

Read More

[HOT LIST] Paczki

At Elias Donuts. Covert cell phone photography by Nicole Rupersburg.

Fat Tuesday is coming February 21, and that means one thing to metro Detroiters: PACZKI. Paczki are dense doughnuts filled with any number of fruit fillings (including the less-common but more traditional rose hip and hibiscus) then glazed or covered with powdered sugar, but for me, I don't even acknowledge paczki unless we're talking custard. (If I wanted a mouthful of jam I would buy a jar of jam and eat it, the end.)

Plenty of places serve their own version of this traditional Polish pastry - an extra-rich doughnut originally made in order to use up all the remaining eggs, lard and sugar in the house before Lenten fasting began - but we all know Hamtramck is the place to go for the absolute BEST. Which is why Paczki Day in Poletown is a high holy day; check out the all-day parties at Small's (home of the Paczki Bomb!), Whiskey in the Jar (easy on the Jeyzy), a limo shuttle bar crawl leaving from Polonia (can you beat 45 bars in one day?), and whatever else. Na zdrowie!

New Palace Bakery.

#1 New Palace Bakery (Hamtramck)
I usually eschew making any end-all/be-all claims here, but when it comes to paczki New Palace IS. THE. BEST. Their paczki are big and doughy and a little lumpy and heavy and dense. Plus when you order a half dozen or dozen, they put them in a standard bakery box and use twine from a dispenser mounted in the ceiling to tie it ... which I just find Old-Worldy and cool. They have an amazing selection of breads in addition to their pastries and cookies, as well as a full deli counter and homemade pierogi. And here's the tip-top secret: they have paczki all year round, every day of the week. So you could wait in line on Paczki Day just for the thrill of it, or you could just get your paczki fix, like, tomorrow.

Flavors include standards (see New Martha Washington below) as well as raisin and rose hip, and also some custom creations: the Millennium Swirl is a chocolate + custard combo created in the year 2000 to commemorate the new millennium, the United Paczki is a strawberry/custard/blueberry combination introduced in 2002, the strawberry/custard combo was first made in 1997 to commemorate Hamtramck's 75th anniversary, and the Hamtramck Boat is kind of the banana split of paczki with strawberry and pineapple filling and banana custard covered in chocolate. Looks like New Palace got my custard memo!

#2 New Martha Washington Bakery (Hamtramck)
Smaller than New Palace (and they don't serve paczki year-round), Martha Washington has its own devoted following. Their paczki are rounder and more evenly-shaped, like fat little hockey pucks covered in powdered sugar. They started carrying paczki officially today, and on Paczki Day they'll have 14 flavors available - raspberry, strawberry, blueberry cherry, apple, apricot, lemon, prune, custard, Boston cream, chocolate Bavarian, butter cream, plain sugar and pineapple.

#3 American Polish Cultural Center (Troy)
Upholding Polish culture, customs and traditions over in suburban Troy (where there is a sizable population of people of Polish descent, the effect of Polish-American migration out of Hamtramck), the American Polish Cultural Center will sell thousands of dozens of paczki next Monday and Tuesday. They are taking pre-orders now; paczki are $9.50 per dozen if paid by Sunday and $10 per dozen after. They'll have prune, custard, apricot ,cherry, stawberry, raspberry, blueberry and hibiscus, all made from scratch in their own kitchen (which also does all their banquet catering and serves the on-site Wawel Restaurant, which serves hearty homemade Polish-American cuisine made properly by a group of little old Polish ladies and don't think I'm kidding). The building used to be an architecture and antique museum displaying woodwork from the homes of prominent families including the Rockefeller Estate. When the APCC acquired the building, many of the antiques and elaborate woodwork remained (including a stunning archway from the Rockefeller mansion) - the story goes that the rich guy who owned the building sold what he could and just left the rest, so the Center is not just a place that celebrates Polish culture but also a home of American history, a lived-in museum.

#4 Bartz Bakery (Dearborn)
Bartz is known specifically for their bread, but as a bakery with a Central European background, Bartz also makes their own paczki every year around Lent. As of last week they are now available every day, and they have a variety of different flavors ... including custard.

#5 Elias Donuts (Detroit)
Located in Detroit's Rosedale neighborhood, Elias Donuts has been around for 30 years. It has that old-school doughnut shop charm - a long formica counter and tiled floors with 1950's-style soda shop stools all the color of Good and Plenty's. In addition to doughnuts, they serve a variety of grilled sandwiches, fried fish dinners (catfish, perch and cod), burgers, breakfast sandwiches on their housemade bagel "thins" and flatbread, and ice cream from Hershey's Ice Cream, and it's all 24 hours. They also serve paczki all year round, but on Fat Tuesday they up the ante with additional flavors - blueberry, strawberry, regular and chocolate custard, and pineapple. FYI, they stick to the glazed varietals.

Bubbling under Supreme Baking Co. (Detroit), G M Paris Bakery (Livonia), Bozek's Meat and Groceries (Hamtramck), Srodek Deli and Bakery (Hamtramck)

Read More

[EID Feature] Dexter Cider Mill: Reaping the Fruits of Their Labor

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

The Dexter Cider Mill in Dexter (just west of Ann Arbor) is the oldest continuously operating cider mill in the state of Michigan. They've been written up in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Good Housekeeping. They've been named the best cider mill in Washtenaw County and even one of the top 10 cider mills in the country. But Richard Koziski and his wife Katherine bought the old cider mill 25 years ago simply as a way to keep busy and stay active after retirement.

"This was a long desire," he says. "Once I retired I knew I would need to keep busy. I was raised back east where we had a lot of cider mills and I always thought this would be a lot of fun. And it has been!"

The Koziski family has been running the Dexter Cider Mill for the past 25 years, and it is very much a family operation. Daughter Nancy Steinhauer works alongside mom and dad - who themselves at 75 years old put in 11 hour days on the weekends - and Nancy's husband and sons also help out, along with some family friends.

The inside of the cider mill itself is small, but has a very obvious warm family feel as Nancy, Richard and Katherine shout back and forth from the cider press to the bakery to the front store operations with what they need and what they're working on. The barn in which the store itself is located was actually built only 15 years ago, but the floor was made with reclaimed wood which gives it that old, historic feeling. Attached to this barn is the original barn built in 1886, which is used for storage (it's all open to the main storefront so be sure to poke your head in there and check it out).

The cider press is the same one that was used back in 1886. The only thing that has changed is the power source (from steam power to electricity), but otherwise the equipment is the same. The only other place in Michigan that has similar equipment is the Henry Ford Museum, where it sits on display. (They do offer tours of the cider-making process where you can see the century-old equipment up close.) The cider they make is unpasteurized (which many agree makes for a richer, more flavorful cider) and is made with a blend of 3-5 apple varieties to achieve a unique balance of sweetness, tartness and aroma. "We know the properties of each of the apples that we use and are able to pick from the apples that are available to produce a unique, clean cider with a nice aroma, spice and a balance of tartness and sweetness," explains Richard.

The Koziski family does own a small off-site orchard where they get some of their apples, and the rest they get from a variety of small farmers who each focus on different apple varieties so that they get a good mix of apples with different flavor characteristics. They also get some apples from "the Ridge," a rich agricultural region on the western side of the state known for having the best possible fruit growing conditions in Michigan. Michigan is the third largest producer of apples in the country, and most of them actually come from the west side of the state.

In addition to making cider, they also have their own on-site bakery where all the doughnuts and pies are made from scratch every single day. Katherine worked previously as a food technician and worked very hard at developing the perfect doughnut recipe so that they would be light and fluffy. "We're very proud of our doughnuts," Richard says. "We get a lot of compliments on them." The doughnuts have that cakey density with the crispy fried edges, the perfect doughnut to be washed down with some strong apple cider. They also hand-peel their own apples for their apple pies and made all the dough from scratch. Katherine actually wrote a cookbook (which was featured on The Food Network along with the Mill in 2009) called The Dexter Cider Mill Apple Cookbook, which is going for up to $115 on Amazon but is available at the Mill for only $18.

They also carry a variety of Michigan-made products in the store, everything from Michigan honeycomb and maple syrup to more unique items like boiled cider. The store itself has that country general store feel, which is really the ultimate appeal of the Dexter Cider Mill - seated next to the rushing Huron River in an old barn just outside of the charming small country town of Dexter, the Dexter Cider Mill offers the kind of old world countryside, quaint small-town Americana experience that really is very much a regional thing, and for many of Richard's customers it's an experience they've never had before in their lives.

With the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor being so close, Richard will see curious students coming in from China, Finland, Russia and Africa, who have never in their lives had this kind of old-fashioned Midwestern Americana experience. He loves being able to give them this experience, and show them the process of making cider and connect different cultures to local farming traditions. "It’s a way for me to connect with people and experience other cultures and have other cultures see this way of life," he says. "I think that’s really cool."

Because of their proximity to U-M, Dexter Cider Mill has an opportunity to connect with other cultures and educate people from all over the world that other cider mills just don't have. And while they aren't sitting on sprawling orchards, their riverside location also provides a unique, serene setting. (For the full experience, drive along Huron River Rd. back to Ann Arbor to catch the freeways - it's a beautiful drive down a curving road that winds through the country alongside the Huron River. The trees, only just now starting to lose their leaves, provide a canopy of color. You'll also pass two Metroparks along the way, which provide great opportunities for hiking, kayaking, and scenic picture-taking.)

The Dexter Cider Mill will be open through Thanksgiving weekend. Their season is 12 weeks long, and right now they are starting the "late season," which means the sweeter cider most people like best (the later in the season, the sweeter the apples).

Because the cider mill experience is something that's only available once a year for a very short time, people around here tend to have a tremendous emotional attachment to its nostalgic value. For Richard, it was a matter of taking that nostalgia and transforming it into the realization of a life-long dream, and a way to truly enjoy "retirement." "It's a lot of fun," he says. "There's never a dull moment!"

Want to see more? View the Flickr set here.

Read More

[HOT LIST] Cider mills

Blake Orchards and Cider Mill. All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

For Michiganders, "fall" means apple orchards and cider mills. We all have fond childhood memories of heading out for a day in the country to one of the old-fashioned cider mills where we would drive through the apple orchards and pick our own apples, get our faces covered in sticky caramel as we devour a huge caramel apple, drink cider straight from the gallon and eat warm fried doughnuts while sitting on a picnic table outside watching the brilliant leaves twirl through the air, then afterwards trolling through the pumpkin patches to find that perfect pumpkin to desecrate for Halloween. The urban cider mills are nice because they're convenient, but a cider mill experience is supposed to be a JOURNEY (sorry Franklin Cider Mill, but you just never quite cut it), a full day spent an hour's drive out into the country with the full-blown agricultural experience. If you can't smell horse poop and burning leaves, you're in the wrong spot. THIS is what autumn in Michigan is all about.

#1 Blake Orchards Cider Mill Armada
There are three Blake Farms locations, but this is the ONE. This is a full-blown farm operation with U-pick fruit all summer and fall (as well as cut-your-own Christmas trees in the winter), pumpkin patches, a huge cider mill serving hot and cold cider where you can even watch the cider being made, fresh fried doughnuts in three different flavors, an assortment of different caramel apples and blocks of homemade fudge in a rainbow of colors and flavors, a whole market full of produce and jams and other goodies, a Cafe, a petting zoo, one of those inflatable jumper-things for the kids and the grown-ups who act like kids, nighttime hay rides and bonfires, and more we're probably missing. Having been raised on the original Blake's, a huge property full of childhood adventure and things to explore, every other cider mill since has been a disappointment. This is the real deal.

#2 Spicer Orchards Fenton
We may have a sentimental attachment to Blake's, but Spicer comes in a close second. They also have U-pick fruit all summer and fall, fresh doughnuts and cider you can watch being made as well as other treats and sundries, a particularly beautiful property full of play areas and activities for the tots (like sand art and face painting), inflatables and train rides (in a REALLY cool train) on weekends, a farm animal barn, hot kettlecorn, pig roasts, pumpkin picking, bonfire parties, a corn maze, and if ALL that wasn't enough, they also have a winery. And YOU were gonna go to Franklin. HA! Pfff.

#3 Hy's Cider Mill Romeo
It's a small operation but you can still pick your own apples, and those metro Detroiters most in the know agree that Hy's has the BEST cider, and that's reason enough to visit. The store is also particularly cute and quaint in that country kind of way.

Pumpkin patch at Blake's.

#4 Diehl's Orchard and Cider Mill Holly
Diehl's is yet another adventure destination orchard and cider mill. Take a private tour of the facility during the week, enjoy dinner and an evening hayride followed by a campfire, or take a daytime hayride through the orchard and pumpkin patch (great for groups). There are tons of weekend activities for the kids (hay piles and pony rides; you can even see their turkeys in the birdhouse), and don't miss their annual Ciderfest every year to kick off cider season with a Fun Run and craft show.

#5 Yates Cider Mill Rochester Hills
Yates isn't quite out in the far-flung country, but it's also not a quick stop en route from West Bloomfield to Somerset Mall, either (poor Franklin keeps getting picked on). They have a cider mill, a fudge shop and an ice cream store; there are no orchards to wander or fruit to pick, but there is a cute little river walk with a swinging bridge and there are also pony rides and a petting zoo for the kids. If you have the cider mill itch but can't quite spare a full day to spend out in the country, Yates will scratch 'ya just fine.

Bubbling under Franklin Cider Mill (Franklin), Westview Orchards and Adventure Farm (Washington), Plymouth Orchards and Cider Mill (Plymouth), Parmenter's Northville Cider Mill (Northville), Dexter Cider Mill (Dexter)

Want to see more? Check out the Flickr set here.

Read More

[EID Feature] Cops and Doughnuts: Here's One for the Good Guys

All photos by Nicole Rupersburg.

People love to joke about cops and doughnuts. Thankfully, so do the cops at Cops and Doughnuts.

When the historic Clare City Bakery, a small family bakery smack dab in the middle of Michigan in the small-town-cute city of Clare, announced it would be closing in July 2009, the officers of the Clare Police Department - all nine of them - rallied together to save the bakery.

"I said to Bubba [one of the nine], 'You know the bakery is going to close?,'" explains Greg Rynearson, another one of the full-time officers behind Cops and Doughnuts (all nine are also still full-time employees of the CPD). "All nine of us came together and said, 'Do you think we can save this?' The original plan was done on a pizza box we were eating for lunch!"

They met two Sundays in a row, got the books from the previous owner, hired one full-time and a handful of part-time employees, and when the bakery closed down on June 30 they re-opened as Cops and Doughnuts on July 1.

While the name is deliciously cheeky (and really shows what a great sense of humor these guys have), the story begins with the bakery itself. Built in 1896 by the Foss family, it was a little from-scratch bakery and that was all it was ever meant to be. Over the last 115 years the bakery has never closed. For several generations families have gathered here and enjoyed the made-from-scratch breads, doughnuts, and pastries - it was even a hangout of the Purple Gang, who would stay at the historic Doherty Hotel and drink rum-and-cokes at the soda fountain-cum-makeshift speakeasy in the pharmacy next to the bakery (that space is also now part of the bakery). Cops and Doughnuts pays homage to this little bit of history with Purple Gang paraphernalia throughout, which includes the bathroom made to look like a cell block.

The Clare City Bakery was a local institution; not just a place to buy bread but a place where the community would come together, a place that each generation of children and adults had fond memories of throughout their lives. It wasn't just a bakery; it meant something more. It was a part of the local culture and history, a testament to small town entrepreneurship and community. The officers of the Clare Police Department knew this, they knew how important this place was to and for the people, so when the opportunity came and the numbers worked out well enough the police force joined forces to save the bakery, becoming the first all-cop-owned bakery (which they did completely with their own money using no grants, no incentives, and no tax breaks).

It didn't take long for the human interest story here to get noticed. One day to be exact. "The Associated Press caught on to it and a guy from Washington called," Rynearson says. "He said, 'You guys better hang on; you’ve never had publicity like this.'" CNN filmed a segment here, followed by Fox News, followed by countless other media outlets. "Four weeks into it people were lined up out the door; we ran out of room!" Which is when they acquired the space next door to expand their operations.

Cops and Doughnuts now gets customers from around the world, and nearly all the non-local visitors come because they either read about it in a magazine or saw it on TV (a quick perusal of their "guest book" just over the last few days prior to my visit showed guests hailing from all over Michigan as well as Florida, Texas, California, Arizona, North Carolina, and about half a dozen more). They now serve between 7,000 and 9,000 people every week with 11 full-time and 10 part-time employees. "Our staff is bigger than the whole police department!" Rynearson laughs.

They've been so successful in the venture that they won the "Small Cities' Most Innovative Business in Michigan" award in 2010, then in 2011 were named one of the "50 Companies to Watch in Michigan." Their operation has expanded from the bakery to an exclusive private label "Cops and Doughnuts" coffee roasted and distributed by Paramount Coffee in Lansing. Roasts include "Day Shift," a regular roast; "Night Shift," a dark roast; and "Off Duty," a decaffeinated coffee.

Their self-referential sense of humor has served them as well as they have served the community. They now have a full line of men's and women's apparel - T-shirts, hoodies, tank tops, shorts - as well as coffee mugs, shot glasses and other clever gift items with witty phrases like "Cuffed and Stuffed," "DWI: Doughnuts Were Involved," and "Don't Glaze Me Bro." The clothing is a hit, and now customers will send in pictures of themselves wearing the Cops and Doughnuts label at famous sites all over the world - the Great Wall of China, the ruins of Rome, there's even one of a guy kissing the Blarney Stone (in honor of Clare's annual Irish Festival). They've got an online store and will ship anywhere in the world, so you can still wear Cops and Doughnuts even if you can't eat it. Their coffee is also available in 45 stores across four states, including Busch's and Hollywood Markets. 

The idea of cops embracing and in turn being embraced by the community has resonated with all those sworn to serve and protect all over the world, from other small town police stations to the Armed Forces serving overseas. Police departments from all over the country now send their badges to Cops and Doughnuts, which they then display. There is even a Cops and Doughnuts apron in a glass case, which was signed by the members of the 984th Military Police Company in Afghanistan - a particularly poignant piece as the company commander was later assassinated.

Rynearson is their in-house marketing genius, the man behind the spirited phrases that play up the "Cops and Doughnuts" name. Cops and Doughnuts isn't just a bakery; it's a brand. Even the doughnuts have tongue-in-cheek names: the Felony Fritter, the Night Stick (a cinnamon twist), the Squealer (a long john with bacon strips on top). To top it all off, they are still a 100% from-scratch bakery, and even use some of the same original recipes that the Foss family used over 100 years ago, even some of the same equipment. They use no preservatives in any of their products, and they charge only a fraction of what other trendy bakeries charge for their giant-sized cookies, doughnuts and pastries.

And even despite their success, they haven't forgotten their community roots. During the month of May, 50 cents from every bag of coffee purchased is donated to the Thin Blue Line of Michigan, which provides support to families of fallen officers. They provide a tremendous amount of food donations to local fundraising events for schools and churches, simply because they feel it's good business and good for the community. They try to buy as much of their non-food products (like wax paper and packaging) from Michigan companies to support the local economy, and they make sure all of their advertising specifically says "in downtown Clare" instead of an address, because "we want people to look for us and see what else is here; we want to support the community."

Rynearson (right) with employee Andy.

Police officers tend to get a bad reputation. "To serve and protect" also unfortunately means "to uphold and punish," which puts them in the position of being the "bad guys" even though all they're trying to do is be the good guys, strict parents in a world full of perpetual children who don't like to be told "no." Most people dread seeing those flashing lights and get stiff when they see a uniformed officer walk into an establishment, but at the end of the day these guys are just doing their jobs ... and people are a whole lot happier to have them once they see what it's like not to (feel free to visit the outer banks of Detroit for affirmation). Cops and Doughnuts really is more than just a bakery: yes, it builds the local community and yes, it is a funny brand and yes, the baked goods are from-scratch and fantastic ... but for all its playfulness what Cops and Doughnuts ultimately does is humanize these men and shows them in a light that makes them less "them" and more "us."

Want to see more? Check out the Flickr set here.

Read More

[HOT LIST] Donut shops

This man needs coffee and crullers, STAT!

The classic American doughnut shop is a time-honored tradition, the second most crucial of the Great American Gathering Places (right behind diners). Before coffee shops got fancy and then fancier, the doughnut shop was the centralized early morning meeting place of business people and old-timers alike. There are many truly classic doughnut shops in metro Detroit; some have been around 50 years or more (and look it, gahblessem). These places all serve beautifully misshapen homemade doughnuts and are open EARLY to LATE (many are 24 hours, in theory if not in actual practice). Like stepping back in time, each of these independent doughnut shops that have ridden out the proliferation of Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme offer a little bit of that homey, down-to-earth small-town feel. The coffee isn't fancy; it's all good old-fashioned 1950's commodified American brew. "Good" means it's not burnt, and that's good enough, because the nuanced flavor of a freshly-roasted Nicaraguan French press would just be lost in the mouthfuls of glazed deep-fried dough anyway.

#1 Knudsen's Danish Bakery (Detroit)
Located in Northwest Detroit's Rosedale Park neighborhood, one of those inexplicably adorable areas of Detroit surrounded on all sides by post-apocalyptic bombed-out third-world Detroit, Knudsen's Danish Bakery is a cute little bakery that specializes in cakes, breads (like thick, dense egg bread), donuts, and - naturally - danishes. Try a rich raspberry or cheese danish and savor the dense, soft, vanilla-perfumed danish dough. Unlike nearly every other bakery on this list, they actually accept credit cards here, but you probably won't need it - prices are incredibly cheap, even by doughnut shop standards.

#2 Dutch Girl Donuts (Detroit)
Dutch Girl Donuts has been on its little corner of 7 Mile and Woodward since 1947, serving up glazed donuts like crack rocks. (Um. That's not meant as commentary on the area; just to indicate how addictive they are.) The donuts are always fresh and they churn out all the favorites: gooey cinnamon rolls, melt-in-your-mouth traditional raisin and maple doughnuts, crumbly cake doughnuts. Don't plan on hanging out long because the entryway is barely big enough to accommodate four people, but for a quick grab-and-go to/from work/home, this place can't be beat.

#3 Yum Yum Tasty Doughnuts (Melvindale)
You have to love a place with a name that gets right to the point. The doughnuts at Yum Yum Tasty Doughnuts are indeed yum yum tasty! (And in unique flavors like honey-glazed chocolate and Oreo.) So are the soft fresh-baked bagels (in a variety of flavors like cheese, salt and garlic), the monster-sized turnovers and cinnamon rolls, and the French crullers dripping with liquidy glaze. They also serve bagel sandwiches and homemade soups and chili, with plenty of room to sit down at a vinyl-and-formica booth and enjoy them. With all the sleek and shiny new doughnut shops in popping hues of pink and orange with sparkling white counters under bright fluorescent lights, there's something comforting in the old 1970's design palette of orange and brown with a faded old sign out front. This place is definitely an old-fashioned throwback in the grand tradition of donut-shop-as-social-center, and the staff is incredibly welcoming and friendly. This is the full-throttle doughnut shop experience as it was meant to be (even the coffee is better than most).

#4 Apple Fritter (Ferndale)
At the Apple Fritter in Ferndale, the early bird gets the doughnut. The late sleepy-in bird gets only disappointment. But if you get here early enough (i.e., before the crack of noon) to catch these guys still serving fresh, hot apple fritters right out of the oven, you're in for a spiritual experience in fritterdom ... think of it as warm cinnamony apple pie, but in a doughnut. They have a vast variety of other delicious, fresh fried dough-balls too, but when a place actually names itself after a particular item you should probably take their word for it and go with that.

#5 The Donut Cutter (Berkley)
Cinnamon- and sugar-drenched delicate French crullers. Heavy eclairs filled with homemade custard. Melt-in-your-mouth traditional glazed doughnuts. Moist, dense cake donuts fried up crusty on the outside but soft and crumbly on the inside. The Donut Cutter serves all the favorites; they open at 3 a.m. so after your post-bar Taco Bell bender you can have a post-post-bar-bender here with fresh, piping hot, gooey doughnuts ... or, if you're a Responsible-pants, stop in a few hours later during the decent hours of the A.M. and sidle up next to one of the senior citizen sentinels who keep dutiful watch over the place.

Bubbling under Avon Donuts (Pontiac), Knapp's Donut Shop (Rochester, Troy), Detroit Donuts (St. Clair Shores), New Palace Bakery (Hamtramck), Peoples Brothers Bakery (Southwest Detroit), Donutown Dghnt (Redford), Donutville USA (Dearborn), Variety Donuts (St. Clair Shores), Main Doughnuts (Royal Oak), New Martha Washington Bakery (Hamtramck)

Read More