Kate K.
Yelp
Let's start out with this caveat: I'm not a big donut person. Do I enjoy the occasional donut? Absolutely yes. If I had the choice from a variety of baked goods, would a donut be my first choice? Probably not. But I've been hearing great things about this place and found myself on 2nd street, a little hungry and with a few minutes to spare. Also, I LOVE cardamom, so I'd been hankering after trying the Hail Mary.
I wanted to try a few flavors so I ordered three donuts: a Hail Mary, a Hot Single, and a Dandelion Chocolate. This might have been my first mistake, because I cannot eat three donuts in one sitting and these really are meant to be eaten as served fresh & hot. Let's start with the dough part of these doughnuts. The taro lends a nice cakey texture and flavor and this was my favorite part. I'd be interested to try the donut plain - I think I would really like it served that way.
As for the toppings, I found the cardamom donut far too sweet, with the taste of sugar overpowering everything else. I couldn't finish much more than a bite of this donut. YMMV: If you have a sweet tooth and really love sugary glazed donuts you may love this one also. It just wasn't for me. The Hot Single was similarly too sweet, but also too salty. For some reason the two flavors just didn't blend well for me. I ended up saving most of this donut for the next day, which was a mistake. It did not hold up. By far my favorite was the chocolate donut, which was glazed with a semi-sweet chocolate that complemented the donut itself without overpowering. Of the three donuts, it was the only one I finished.
With all that said, here are my tips if you want to try Holey Grail:
- Order only what you can eat fresh, right away
- Consider how big a sweet tooth you have when selecting your flavors