Portland: Voodoo Doughnut

Standing in line for a cereal or bacon-topped doughnut from Voodoo Doughnut in Portland as a tourist is, I'd imagine, like non-Philly natives lining up at Pat's or Geno's for a cheesesteak — a required check box for any culinary traveler to tick off, and also snickered about by the locals.



When I saw the line out the door and around the corner of Portland's newest (moved down the street into a larger space) Voodoo Doughnut location at 22 SW 3rd. Ave. (there is another location in Portland, as well as a mobile events truck, and a location in Eugene, OR), I walked right on past and didn't even consider waiting. About an hour later, when we passed the corner store again, the line was contained inside the building, so I decided to give it a go. Apparently, I and a bunch of other tourists are the only people who eat at Voodoo in the middle of the afternoon, because everyone in line had a camera out snapping photos of doughnuts, and the doughnut and death themed tchotchkes covering the bright pink and brick walls. The pack of enthusiastic shutterbugs was pretty comical. (This is where the locals snicker.) The line moved dreadfully slow. Perhaps it was the poorly designed setup of doughnuts displayed in a glass revolving carousel case with no identifiers, combined with a bunch of indecisive Voodoo-newbie tourists.

The small print chalkboard menu over the cashiers' heads was also hard to read until you got to the front on the line.



Before you get to the front of the line you bes' know that Voodoo Doughnut is a cash only business, that also does not take pennies! Oh, listening to the staff (who you know just hates the hoards of tourists) say this to everyone was just hilarious. Take pennies, and save yourselves the breath!Famous for possessing little patience, I decided to speed things up by requesting a reasonably priced $10.50 Voodoo Dozen, a mixed box of a dozen doughnuts chosen by the staff. I received a mix of cake and yeasted doughnuts with various toppings and glazes. I was really hoping for at least one or two filled doughnuts.



Note that a good selection of cake, yeasted, and devils food vegan doughnuts are also available.

Voodoo is known for putting quirky toppings on doughnuts like cereal and candy, and probably most famous for their maple glazed bar doughnut topped with bacon.



As fun as cereal on doughnuts sounds, by the time the doughnut actually gets to you, those once crispy cereal nugs have been exposed to air and moisture for quite some time, so are stale and lifeless.



Grape glazed and Tang dusted glazed doughnuts are just too sugary sweet.



We found Voodoo excelled in the plain doughnut flavors like chocolate glazed and cinnamon sugar. The crazy flavors and toppings are best left for children (we unloaded most of our dozen on our friend's six year old, to her great delight), and late night snacking (a box of stale doughnuts is best enjoyed at 1 am).



My tip to tourist who want to visit one of Voodoo's locations is to study their online menu, pick out two you want to try, then stick to your guns when ordering. You just can't go wrong with a couple of doughnuts!



Voodoo Doughnut

various locations in Portland and Eugene, OR