Thursday, March 17, 2016

Sandy's Donuts - a guest review

What: maple bavarian cream, butterfinger raised, chocolate frosted cake and cocoa puffs raised
Where: 300 Broadway, Fargo ND
When: Monday, March 7th, 2016

Maureen has wanted me to write a guest review ever since she started flirting with me and crashed Man Time with Tyler at Lamar's Donut Shop.  But I have been a bad husband.  So after being married for a year and five months, I thought it was time I write a review.  For Maureen's birthday, we traveled to Fargo, ND because neither of us had ever been to North Dakota.  We have a tradition for our vacations.  I always look for local doughnut shops and breweries for us to check out.  On this trip, we checked out Sandy's doughnuts.  There is a neat story behind the origin of Sandy's.  It's founder, Sandy, was laid off from his job in his mid-fifties.  He looked for a job but no one wanted to hire anyone that old.  Sandy had baked doughnuts as a child with his mother and he continued making them throughout his life.  Often, he would share his homemade doughnuts with his neighbors.  One of these neighbor's suggested he open a doughnut shop after he went months without finding a job.  And that is just what he did.  Sandy's opened its doors in 1983 and now has two locations in the Fargo area.  That is enough history.  Now it is time to rate Sandy's doughnuts.  Of all the doughnut shops we have been to, Sandy's may have the largest selection.  I wanted to try half a dozen but Maureen limited us to four.  By the end of the day, we ended up with a doughnut from Tim Horton's and a local grocery store so it was good she held me back at Sandy's.  The four we chose was a Dark Chocolate cake doughnut, a Maple frosted Creme-filled raised doughnut, a Butter Finger's candy bar raised doughnut, and a Vanilla frosted raised doughnut with Cocoa Puffs.  I really wanted to try the Maple Walnut Long John but Maureen is not fond of nuts on doughnuts and pastries.  My favorite doughnut was the Maple frosted one.  The frosting was very good and the creme was not overpowering.  If you can't tell, I don't always like creme-filled doughnuts.  The Dark Chocolate doughnut was a good standard doughnut.  I liked the frosting but it wasn't as good as the frosting at Randy's donuts in Lincoln.  The dough was a little dry but not too bad.  Maureen and I both agreed the doughnut with Cocoa Puffs was the worst.  Annoyingly, the Cocoa Puffs kept falling off and they didn't have much flavor.  At least the dough was fresh, but that could not make up for the average frosting and unsatisfying Cocoa Puffs.  The dough on the Butter Finger's doughnut was just right and you can't go wrong with Butter Finger's candy.  Amazingly, the Butter Finger's stayed on the doughnut better than the Cocao Puffs.  Unlike Maureen's, my reviews will always include information about the coffee.  Sandy's coffee was some of the best I have ever had at a doughnut shop.  They brew their own coffee which is always a plus.  They only had a Medium to Light roast, but it had a rich and full taste.  Describing flavors and tastes is not my forte.  But all you need to know is the coffee was very good.  Overall, I would give Sandy's a 7 out of 10.  It was no Randy's donuts or even as good as Lamar's.  Maureen doesn't like Lamar's but their doughnut's have a soft spot in my heart.  I liked the great selection at Sandy's and the fun marketing.  There were signs in the shop that said,  "Take time to stop and smell the doughnuts."  On their doughnut boxes, they had a caricature of a cave man pushing a doughnut.  Their slogan, "We didn't invent the doughnut, but we perfected it," is a good one and it is on all their boxes next to the picture of the cave man and the doughnut wheel.  As Maureen pointed out to me, it was nice that they had a lot of specialty doughnuts but they also had all the standards.  If I am in Fargo again, I would definitely go to Sandy's again.  It would take at least ten trips to try all their doughnuts.  Sandy's also delivers doughnuts to businesses in the area and allows you to order online,  That is another thing that sets them apart from most doughnut shops.  You have reached the end of my first review.  Hopefully, Maureen will want me to write another one.  I will try and be a better husband and write another review after our next trip takes us to another doughnut shop.

No comments:

Post a Comment