Randy's Donuts. A Los Angeles area icon.
Randy's Donuts is, well, a bakery, specializing in donuts. It is also a landmark. It is considered a mandatory stop for many on their way in/out of LAX. It is the home of some truly fabulous donuts, that I finally was able to experience on my recent trip to the LA area.
Randy's is known for their huge donut sculpture on the top of the building (er, buildings, they have several locations now), and for having a 24 hour donut drive through, but it turns out, the donuts are impressive in their own right. Highly recommended.
I'd go back in a minute.
I did not visit Randy's Donuts myself in person, but several of my co-workers did, to pick up a large order, several hundred donuts, for a surprise treat at a work function. Of course I helped orchestrate this.
We pre-ordered online to make it easier, which was simple on the website. We could have had them delivered, as Randy's uses numerous food delivery services, but they wanted to drive to pick them up.
If you are curious, yes, you can literally just order one donut, and have it brought to you. And yes, I was quite tempted my final morning in town, after having experienced them the day before.
I put together the donut order for our group, expecting about 100 people to want donuts. I wanted us to get to experience basically everything, so we got two dozen each of each type of assortment that Randy's offers: Classic, Deluxe, Fancy, and Premium, plus several dozen of the Randy's Rounds.
The table was a sight to behold.
I wasn't able to get a photo before the first wave of people broke into it, but, here you can see some of the glory.
Knowing that plenty of people really do want a bite of something sweet, but don't want to commit to a whole donut, or aren't comfortable cutting them up, we got plenty of Randy's version of donut holes, which they call "Rounds", which, really is more accurate, as they are far bigger than the hole of a donut.
These ares old by the single or dozen, cheaper by the dozen. We got a couple dozen of each kind of assortment: glazed, iced, topped.
I really liked the size, as they were about the size of 3 Dunkin' Donuts Munchins, so, yes, much bigger than a donut hole, and were plenty big enough to feel like you could eat just two and be satisfied.
From here, I only tried one, the maple glazed. It was good. Above average. A fluffy, beautifully raised donut hole, very generously coated in maple glaze, that truly did have a maple flavor to it. It was however very sweet, as it was glazed in regular glaze, and THEN the generous maple glaze was applied. I think this would be great alongside black coffee if you really wanted a sugar bomb, but, as I didn't have it until I was many donuts in, it was just sweeter than I really wanted.
The first dozen was the most basics, dubbed the classics.
Randy's Donuts is, well, a bakery, specializing in donuts. It is also a landmark. It is considered a mandatory stop for many on their way in/out of LAX. It is the home of some truly fabulous donuts, that I finally was able to experience on my recent trip to the LA area.
Randy's is known for their huge donut sculpture on the top of the building (er, buildings, they have several locations now), and for having a 24 hour donut drive through, but it turns out, the donuts are impressive in their own right. Highly recommended.
I'd go back in a minute.
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| Table of Joy! |
We pre-ordered online to make it easier, which was simple on the website. We could have had them delivered, as Randy's uses numerous food delivery services, but they wanted to drive to pick them up.
If you are curious, yes, you can literally just order one donut, and have it brought to you. And yes, I was quite tempted my final morning in town, after having experienced them the day before.
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| #allTheDonuts. |
The table was a sight to behold.
I wasn't able to get a photo before the first wave of people broke into it, but, here you can see some of the glory.
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| Rounds: Topped - $6/dozen, Iced $5/dozen, Glazed $4/dozen. |
These ares old by the single or dozen, cheaper by the dozen. We got a couple dozen of each kind of assortment: glazed, iced, topped.
I really liked the size, as they were about the size of 3 Dunkin' Donuts Munchins, so, yes, much bigger than a donut hole, and were plenty big enough to feel like you could eat just two and be satisfied.
From here, I only tried one, the maple glazed. It was good. Above average. A fluffy, beautifully raised donut hole, very generously coated in maple glaze, that truly did have a maple flavor to it. It was however very sweet, as it was glazed in regular glaze, and THEN the generous maple glaze was applied. I think this would be great alongside black coffee if you really wanted a sugar bomb, but, as I didn't have it until I was many donuts in, it was just sweeter than I really wanted.
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| Classics: $1.25 each or $13/dozen. |
Randy's picked the assortment, a nice variety, including a bunch of cake donuts (all iced - vanilla, orange, cherry, maple, chocolate, sprinkles and chocolate, Devil's Food), plus some raised (also iced or glazed). They do make plain cake, and a few other icing tops as well.
None of these were the most exciting to me, none are ones I'd generally order, but I did want to try something basic, so I tried the cherry iced cake donut, and it was fine. Nicely coated in icing, good fruity flavor (although, sweet!), decent enough cake donut base. A very good donut, but not a standout given what else was to come ahead, and not one I'd care if I had again or not.
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| Deluxe. $1.35 each or $14.20 / dozen. |
This box had less traditional shaped donuts, although still nothing entirely novel. We had an assortment of bars (buttermilk - plain, glazed, and chocolate iced), old fashioned (glazed, chocolate), crullers (vanilla, chocolate, maple), twists (glazed, chocolate), and long johns (chocolate, maple). I was a little sad that my top pick from this category, and what I'd order if I was ordering from this bunch, a blueberry cake (available plain or iced), was not included.
I tried a chunk of glazed buttermilk bar (good, moist, decent buttermilk flavor, sweet glaze), a bite of a glazed old fashioned (fine, but nothing notable), and a chunk of the vanilla cruller (lightly, fluffier, sweet, fine). I was glad to see they nailed all the basics, er, deluxes, but, still, not really want I wanted, and again, none that I would really care to have again (nor would I be opposed to having again).
Basically, a bunch of good donuts, nice execution, but I was ready for the next box.
Ok, *now* we were getting fancy, for $0.30 more per donut than the deluxe, the fancy assortment. This is where my interests mostly lay.
I tried a chunk of glazed buttermilk bar (good, moist, decent buttermilk flavor, sweet glaze), a bite of a glazed old fashioned (fine, but nothing notable), and a chunk of the vanilla cruller (lightly, fluffier, sweet, fine). I was glad to see they nailed all the basics, er, deluxes, but, still, not really want I wanted, and again, none that I would really care to have again (nor would I be opposed to having again).
Basically, a bunch of good donuts, nice execution, but I was ready for the next box.
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| Fancy. $1.65 each or $17.80 / dozen. |
This box had (left to right, top to bottom): Bear Claw, Raspberry Jelly Filled, Cinnamon Roll, Roasted Coconut Raised, Lemon Jelly Filled, { Unknown ... Cream Filled }, { Unknown ... }, Fruity Pebbles Raised, Sugar Crondy, Fruit Loops Raised, Chocolate Raised with Coconut.
The missing one was a apple cinnamon filled, which someone snagged before I took the photo.
Yes, things were getting more interesting, and the colorful fruit cereal topped donuts certainly gathered attention (and are likely popular with kids?). I didn't try those though. Nor did I try any of the coconut ones (not really my thing), or even the cinnamon roll (I do like these, but it didn't look particularly special), nor the second mystery one (filled with something and dusted with something).
But I did try the other mystery one, which you can see already had a chunk missing, as my co-worker loved it, and wanted another opinion on what it was. He said it had "boozy cream" inside. I ... didn't taste booze. But it was a very good, fluffy, raised donut, with some cream filling, AND some kind of coating that we definitely couldn't identify. Everyone who tried a chunk liked it, and no one could really say what it was. My 4th pick overall.
I had special ordered a raspberry jelly filled, so I left the other one alone in this box, but did try a bite of the lemon jelly filled, once someone else broke into it, just because I wanted to try the filling. I usually dislike lemon desserts, particularly lemon curd, but this was called "lemon jelly", which sounded more interesting. And it was. It was just sweet lemon flavored ... uh, jelly? I didn't dislike it, but lemon flavors still aren't for me.
I somehow failed to try the crondy, as I didn't realize what it was at the time. Doh. Next time.
I did however try the MASSIVE bear claw, and, zomg, my world has been changed. Absolute favorite of the day. More on that soon.
This category also contains what I consider to generally be "The King of Donuts", the apple fritter, but alas, we were not provided any. If I were ordering for myself, that would have been my third pick to order (after the aforementioned raspberry jelly and another one still to come). Also in the Fancy category, that we didn't get, are cream filled long johns (chocolate or maple), more varieties of "crondys" - their version of a cronut, and some other coconut based ones.
My co-worker who put in the donut order knew I cared more than most about the donuts, and asked me which one I wanted most of all, so he could special order it (he did this for a few others too, not just me!), to ensure we got our top picks. Of course I had an extremely hard time picking just one, but, in the end, I gave him a list of three: raspberry jelly filled (classic, can be amazing), maple raised with churros (fascinating!), and, apple fritter (king of donuts). I let him pick.
The missing one was a apple cinnamon filled, which someone snagged before I took the photo.
Yes, things were getting more interesting, and the colorful fruit cereal topped donuts certainly gathered attention (and are likely popular with kids?). I didn't try those though. Nor did I try any of the coconut ones (not really my thing), or even the cinnamon roll (I do like these, but it didn't look particularly special), nor the second mystery one (filled with something and dusted with something).
But I did try the other mystery one, which you can see already had a chunk missing, as my co-worker loved it, and wanted another opinion on what it was. He said it had "boozy cream" inside. I ... didn't taste booze. But it was a very good, fluffy, raised donut, with some cream filling, AND some kind of coating that we definitely couldn't identify. Everyone who tried a chunk liked it, and no one could really say what it was. My 4th pick overall.
I had special ordered a raspberry jelly filled, so I left the other one alone in this box, but did try a bite of the lemon jelly filled, once someone else broke into it, just because I wanted to try the filling. I usually dislike lemon desserts, particularly lemon curd, but this was called "lemon jelly", which sounded more interesting. And it was. It was just sweet lemon flavored ... uh, jelly? I didn't dislike it, but lemon flavors still aren't for me.
I somehow failed to try the crondy, as I didn't realize what it was at the time. Doh. Next time.
I did however try the MASSIVE bear claw, and, zomg, my world has been changed. Absolute favorite of the day. More on that soon.
This category also contains what I consider to generally be "The King of Donuts", the apple fritter, but alas, we were not provided any. If I were ordering for myself, that would have been my third pick to order (after the aforementioned raspberry jelly and another one still to come). Also in the Fancy category, that we didn't get, are cream filled long johns (chocolate or maple), more varieties of "crondys" - their version of a cronut, and some other coconut based ones.
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| Premium. $2.80 each or $31.60 / dozen. |
Yes, they got fancier. Er, more "premium". The highest end box, the premium assortment. If you are keeping track, these are a full $1.65 more than the classics ... you could get a classic AND a fancy for the price of one of these. They really were more elaborate, although were some of my least favorites.
Here we had: M&M's raised, Bacon Maple Long John, Red Velvet Cake with Ganache, Matcha Tea Raised, Chocolate Iced Oreos Raised, S'mores Raised, Nutella Raised, Vanilla Iced Oreos Raised, Caramel Raised with Coconut & Chocolate, and Mint Raised.
The missing one from this box was the White Ganache Raised with Chocolate.
This box scared people. Seriously. Everyone *stared* at them, but no one was willing to cut into them. I didn't go for most of these, Oreos, Nutella, S'mores ... they looked great, sure, but I know they aren't really what I like.
I did try a bite of the M&Ms when there was still one left later in the morning, and I was impressed with the quality of the chocolate coating, very rich chocolate, and the crunch from the mini M&Ms really was nice. A good donut, probably my 5th favorite overall. I also tried a chunk of the bright green matcha glazed donut and was quite let down. It didn't taste like anything! The raised donut was still good, and the coating was well applied, thick, sweet, but ... matcha it really didn't seem to be. It was just ... green.
I had to try a chunk of the bacon maple long john, because everyone was talking about it, and, yup, it was a good version - again, nice raised lofty base, well applied sweet maple glaze, plentiful bacon, not too greasy. I'm kinda over the novelty of bacon maple donuts, but, this was done well.
The biggest letdown in this category, or really, of all the donuts I tried, was the red velvet cake donut. It was ... bo-ring. I didn't taste anything special in the base at all, it just was like a regular cake donut. Dense, yet moist, and fine, but ... nothing red velvet about it. The icing also didn't have any real noticeable flavor.
But Randy's made up for that with the mint raised, again, a great glazed raised, fluffy base, with TONS of icing, really quite minty, and then absolutely loaded with bits of chocolate and green (mint?) chocolate. The icing, like all the icings, was quite sweet, but I just adored how intensely mint it was, and the crunch and extra flavors from the mint and chocolate bits on top were fantastic. A wonderful donut, my second favorite of the day, and I went back for seconds and thirds of it.
Other options in this category include a giant Texas Glazed, a Tiger Tail, and, the other donut I was most excited for, and actually wanted to special order, the maple raised with churros. Yes, a raised, glazed donut, with maple icing, AND churro bits on top. I was pretty sad they didn't include one, but, it isn't like I didn't have other options ...
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| Fancy: Raspberry Jelly Filled. $1.65. |
Set aside for me (along with the ones for the other special people), was the raspberry jelly filled.
I didn't try it right away, as I went for trying chunks of all the communal donuts first, since I wanted to try as many as possible. But once I had tried 13 (please don't judge!), I was ready to settle in to my donut.
This was basically as good as a jelly donut is going to get. I feel broken record by now, but, the raised donut was just perfectly done, fluffy, raised, not too greasy, and, yup, coated in tons of sweet glaze, a very thick layer, well coated. The glaze was fresh, and didn't flake off. I also liked that it had the signature slightly crispy side with a crosshatch on it, that some jelly donuts often do. The extra texture was nice.
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| Raspberry Jelly Filled: Inside. |
Here you can see the cross section, and it should come as no surprise that it was very generously filled. Randy's doesn't mess up on the execution. Seriously, every bite had plentiful jelly. If anything, actually, I'd say it almost was over stuffed, as there were bites that had more jelly thandonut.
What I loved about this is that the raspberry jelly was very, very classic jelly donut jelly. It wasn't trying, at all. No artisinal filling, no seeds, no fancy compote ... it was raspberry jelly. Classic donut shop, raspberry jelly. Goopy, sweet, and just perfect for what it was.
I do have to confess that I was a bit overwhelmed by sweet things by the time I got to this donut though, and I know I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have. "It is so sweet!", is all I could think, as I bit into sweet glaze and very sweet jelly squirted out with every bite. By mid-day, I gave it another go, and again just found it sweet (but delicious), and wished it was morning, and that I had a black coffee to go with it.
I think this donut really was perfect, but, my ridiculous donut binge prevented me from enjoying it at its fullest originally. My third favorite overall, and I'd really love to get it again sometime, first thing in the morning, and NOT with 200 other donuts.
So what about the other chunk? Yeah, I saved it.
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| Leftover Jelly Donut / Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. |
It actually held up remarkably well, still soft and fluffy in the morning. But I still found it actually just a bit too sweet for me, and kept thinking, "I really want some cream or ice cream to compliment this." So I saved it for after lunch, heated it up in the toaster oven, and stuffed it with vanilla ice cream.
AMAZING.
The warm glazed donut was glorious of course, and the ice cream did exactly what I was hoping - it tempered and complimented the sweet raspberry filling.
I truly adored this leftover creation, warm perfect donut, warm gooey sweet jelly, and cooling ice cream. Delicious. Maybe this donut is better suited for a dessert donut after all, and Randy's *is* open 24 hours ...
I don't know how to introduce this. Besides, #glorious.
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| Fancy: Bear Claw. $1.65. |
Seriously. This was, no question, the best bear claw I've ever had. But not only that, it was, again, no contest, one of the ... top two donuts of my life. And I can't point at what was #1, but I feel there *must* have been another one that was more amazing. But I don't know what it was.
So, without further ado, the most glorious bear claw there ever was.
And to start, it was MASSIVE. I've seen a lot of comically large donuts before, but this was a league of its own. Insane. The size of 4 normal donuts. And, although it was the best thing ever, there is no way, no way at all, that a single human could take this down in on sitting, even me. But that was no problem, as it held up amazingly well - I even had a second chunk (of the other one that no one claimed) the next morning, and it was good as new. No heating, no any special treatment required.
But back to the beginning. I took a large chunk. Bigger than a round even. I was captivated at first bite. Yes, all the raised donuts have the same perfect, fluffy, fluffy, amazing lofty base donut, but this one was even better than the rest. No oily nature, just, perfect. And yes, it was coated in just as much glaze as all the others, again, not novel, but perfectly done, and the sweetness it added worked great with not only the donut, but also the filling.
The filling. Wow-zer.
Think of the best apple pie of your life. Transplant that filling inside a perfectly raised glazed donut. And that is what we had here. And, like all the Randy's donuts, the amount of filling was extremely generous.
The raspberry jelly filled donut went low-brow, just sweet goo style, but this was not remotely the same. The filling was loaded with chunks of apple, perfectly sized to really have something to bite into, and perfectly cooked, not mushy, not too firm. The spicing was dead on too, not too much obnoxious apple pie spicing, just enough to make it interesting. It was sweet, and did have goo too it, but not too sweet, and the sweetness from the donut glaze instead is what brought it all together.
I really can't explain how amazing this was. I had an initial chunk, and I had so many other donuts to try, but I couldn't help but go back and get a full second chunk, which I promptly devoured. And when there was a final bear claw still remaining, I devoured another full half after lunch, and then had the other for breakfast the next morning, and I honestly think they were all equally glorious. I didn't grow sick of them, and they certainly didn't degrade.
Life changing. Maybe even worth going to Los Angeles for? Uh, maybe ...
But back to the beginning. I took a large chunk. Bigger than a round even. I was captivated at first bite. Yes, all the raised donuts have the same perfect, fluffy, fluffy, amazing lofty base donut, but this one was even better than the rest. No oily nature, just, perfect. And yes, it was coated in just as much glaze as all the others, again, not novel, but perfectly done, and the sweetness it added worked great with not only the donut, but also the filling.
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| Bear Claw: Inside. |
Think of the best apple pie of your life. Transplant that filling inside a perfectly raised glazed donut. And that is what we had here. And, like all the Randy's donuts, the amount of filling was extremely generous.
The raspberry jelly filled donut went low-brow, just sweet goo style, but this was not remotely the same. The filling was loaded with chunks of apple, perfectly sized to really have something to bite into, and perfectly cooked, not mushy, not too firm. The spicing was dead on too, not too much obnoxious apple pie spicing, just enough to make it interesting. It was sweet, and did have goo too it, but not too sweet, and the sweetness from the donut glaze instead is what brought it all together.
I really can't explain how amazing this was. I had an initial chunk, and I had so many other donuts to try, but I couldn't help but go back and get a full second chunk, which I promptly devoured. And when there was a final bear claw still remaining, I devoured another full half after lunch, and then had the other for breakfast the next morning, and I honestly think they were all equally glorious. I didn't grow sick of them, and they certainly didn't degrade.
Life changing. Maybe even worth going to Los Angeles for? Uh, maybe ...
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