APRIL 2015 | BOROMAG.COM | 7 The story of the Doughnut Plant traces back over a century, when in 1910 Mark Isreal’s grandfather, Herman Isreal, began working at the age of sixteen in a bakery in St. Paul, Minnesota. Fast forward through World War I and baking for the army, all the way to 1994 when Mark Isreal launched the Doughnut Plant from the basement of a Lower East Side tenement building— delivering his tasty morsels each day by bicycle. And well, now as they say, the rest is history. I sat down with Bryan Clopton, the shop manager of the LIC location, to discuss what makes it unique—and to taste some doughnuts, of course. “Queens is huge, and Long Island City is poppin’,” laughs Clopton. “We have a lot of people coming through who have never heard of Doughnut Plant.” I predict all of that is about to change. “We also have a Modbar,” explains Clopton as he points to the shiny metallic arm extending from the countertop. “It’s a new style of espresso machine actually built into the counter.” “Our most famous doughnut, I would have to say,” he continues, “is the Crème Brulee—it’s what turns Doughnut Plant into a target destination.” One glimpse at the signature doughseed (Doughnut Plant’s palm-sized, yeast, filled pastries) evokes serious cravings. It is a miniature yeast doughnut filled with decadent golden custard, then coated in a sugary crust that is flame-kissed by a brulee torch— resulting in that crème brulee crackle at each and every bite. “It’s a true crème brulee,” says Clopton, “but just in doughnut form.” Besides that oh-so-beautiful gateway doughnut, Clopton says patrons go nuts over the Tres Leches doughnut. “It’s three milks,” he explains, “based on a Mexican wedding cake, and it’s filled with a condensed milk, and then you get just a trace of saltiness with the dough—plus it goes so good with coffee.” When asked about what makes all the doughnuts so special, Clopton answers without hesitation. “What separates our doughnuts from almost any other doughnut in the world is that we don’t use eggs. We also use jam, not jelly.” They even sell their jams and peanut butter a la carte, which you may purchase at the counter. One glance at the showcase reveals square doughnuts made with vanilla beans and filled to each corner with blackberry jam, doughseeds stuffed with guava cream, carrot cake doughnuts and blueberry cake doughnuts with real berries mixed into the glaze. They even offer a rotating selection of daily flavors, like the matcha green tea doughnut. For washing down all those scrumptious doughnuts, Doughnut Plant sells a variety of house made milks and juices, as well as their coffee. “We make our own cashew milk, chocolate cashew milk, and pistachio milk,” says Clopton. “But my favorite is the mocha cold brew—which is our chocolate cashew milk and our cold brew sweetened with dates, and if you drink one of those, well, you’re just on Cloud Nine.” Their cold brew iced coffee is a fair trade single origin coffee from Ethiopia. “It never touches hot water,” says Clopton, “and is basically one of the cleanest coffees you can ever have.” Great coffee? Yup. Phenomenal doughnuts? Absolutely. Knowledgeable and friendly staff? You bet. This is proving to be the kind of doughnut counter where I just might have to plant myself all summer long. y
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