Blue Star Donuts – Portland – Some of the Best Doughnuts I’ve Ever Had

We were told by more than one local that they were glad we weren’t one of those tourists who brought a pink box of Voodoo Doughnuts on the plane home. I had tried Voodoo a couple times before, once from a tourist friend bringing it home with her and another in Portland when another tourist friend bought a box to share. It’s fine if you want a regular doughnut with some Fruity Pebbles on it. And in the shape of a Voodoo doll. But if you are an adult and you actually want a doughnut that tastes good (and you’re in Portland), you should go to Blue Star Donuts.

Semi Sweet Bakery – Eggslut Should Be Taking Notes

Eggslut is garnering a lot of press for making breakfast sandwiches a destination, although I think they ruin them with a gigantic brioche that is 50% more bread than I want. The best breakfast sandwich downtown right now is the McFong at Semi Sweet Bakery. Oh, and their baked goods are really good, too.

McDonald’s Coffee – Free Coffee with a Side of Awesome

McDonald’s is offering free coffee for breakfast this month to compete with Taco Bell’s newest monstrosity (yes, I plan to try it). I was in a McDonald’s recently and thought I’d share with you, loyal FD reader, their in-store promotion of the new emphasis on coffee. Yes, I believe those are empty foil wrappers for ground coffee.

This is how I imagine the conversation went:

Manager: Underling, corporate is telling us we need to push our coffee. Let’s jazz this place up, really make people think coffee. Start with this big fake bag of coffee corporate sent us.
Employee1: Well, how much of a budget do we have?
M: Just take it out if your paycheck.
E: Um, OK.

** By the way, I actually like the coffee OK. It’s not amazing, but is lighter than Starbucks and has some nice sweet notes.