Mary S.
Yelp
So if Voodoo Donuts is the kindergarten of Donut Shops. Ya know, we are silly, and crazy, maybe drunk, and want to eat sweets all day. All that giggling, laughing at naughty shapes, phallic donuts, and doll donuts with lots of extra too sweet toppings piled onto kiddie cakes, then Blue Star is it's older, classier, more sophisticated higher educated, university equivalent sibling.
So I had planned to compare the two as part of the trip since that is all anyone seemed to talk about when they heard I was going to Portland for the first time. I even scoped out the website for weeks ahead of time to choose a few fan favs. I was all set for my taste test. Well, so be the destroyer of plans and Karma, Lo and Behold my flight got very delayed. I dragged my sorry body into the airport pretty late, best laid plans and all. Not much choice of donuts by the time I got there.
I saw they had the Chocolate Basil Blueberry one I had pre-chosen from my internet viewing days but the Creme Brulee was sold out. So I ordered that Basil Blueberry and than told the gal to surprise me on the other one. She picked the Passion Fruit one for me, which I guess is a fan fav. ( well at least that is what she told me) She did mention they were good but today they seemed extra spicy.
Silly me, being the AZ gal I am, I thought spicy meant hot. I got excited and jumped at the chance to have a spicy fruity donut. However, sad for me that was not to be the case though. I think by spicy she meant tangy, tart, overly sweet, and very harsh and heavy tasting on the fake flavoring. I was not a fan of this fan pick. It was a bit too much for me. The Basil one rated higher but it did not seem to look like the ones in the photos either. Mine had more chocolate on it than the blue icing displayed on their webpage. It was good. It was very different. I liked it but it probably is not for everyone. The cake was a bit hard or stale by then.
I stopped here again on my way back since my donut adventure was a bit of a bust. I had an earlier flight so was still hopeful. This time they had the Creme Brulee one. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!! But oh to the joy, the Heavens and beyond the yum. It was a Coconut Cream Creme Brulee donut. Instead of the usual Vanilla filled cream it had Coconut Creme inside. What a surprise and even better. I am a Coconut addict. "Yes, please!!!!!!" I might have, or not, strut a "Happy Dance" right in the middle of PDX in front of some cops. No I did not do that, okay, yeah I did, just saying.
So this donut comes with a tiny plastic rod like holder on top. It is filled with a caramel type of liquid ooooozzie yumminess! They do need to explain this though. They did not to me. I guess the idea it to shove it in the donut and squeeze it. Out shoots all the liquid so it mingles with the cream filling and resembles the consistency and taste of an actual Creme Brulee. Ya know, so you get a yummy Creme Brulee type of experience. Sweet!!!!!
So I try it and Then bam I get a face and hand full of gel squirting all over me. Most fun I had all week. Teehee! I obviously did not press the plastic tube down far enough into the cake and the liquid pooped out all over me and the top of the donut. This kind of defeats the purpose of the crunchy top. It made it a tad soggy. I also made a mess of myself. So funny!
I quickly corrected the problem and jammed the pod of shame back all the way into the donut and tried again. All that liquid gold mixing it up into the middle of the donut to mingle with the amazing Coconut Cream filling. Oh my! This pick of a donut was a good one, delish! That is all I can say. Two bites and I destroyed that donut and wish I had ordered 50 more.
In general though the Portland donuts themselves are really nothing to write home about as far as the cake quality goes. I think they run off the unique flavors and fill ins. Nothing wrong with that really. However, if you want just really good pasty try one of the many great bakeries in the city.
So I did give Blue Star 4 stars instead of three for that donut I loved and the free messy entertainment it provided for no extra charge. I could eat that Creme Brulee donut every day, I suppose. Also the employees are super sweet.
Finally, I have to admit I have kind of a crush on PDX a tad too. I so love this airport, which is another review for another day. Also, something I found so interesting here is that PDX does not allow local vendors who do business at the airport to charge more for their product than their other locations. They must charge the same or less at the airport than their other local locations. Wow, much, "RESPECT" Portland for that law!!!