March 10--Chicago's doughnut obsession shows no sign of abating, if Doodle's Doughnuts -- which opened Monday -- is any indication.
Located in Old Town, the shop derives its name from owner Dana Lanier's childhood nickname. Lanier develops the recipes herself and offers both classic (think old-fashioned and glazed) and whimsical doughnuts (such as the Samoa or pink lemonade). One playful item, the white icing-glazed Doodle, is filled with either chocolate or vanilla cream and is accompanied by a piping bag of colorful frosting to encourage, well, doodling.
For fans of savory who think the maple bacon doughnut isn't enough, Doodle's also sells three kinds of bacon from Slagel Family farm: smoked, candied and honey sriracha-glazed.
But the question remains: How are the doughnuts?
Our team tasted a dozen of the current offerings (everything the shop had in stock Wednesday morning), assessing each doughnut's merits on its own, and then relative to one another. The major factors that contributed to our rankings were sweetness, flavor and texture. We assessed everything from the glaze-to-crumb ratio to the sweetness level to the overall enjoyment delivered by each doughnut.
Check out the full rankings in the photo gallery above, arranged from least to most favorite.
jbhernandez@tribpub.com
Twitter @joeybear85
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