Edward C.
Yelp
I love donuts, so much so that I left my house at 5:05am Saturday morning to make a 1 hour drive to Tom's River to visit OB-CO's Donuts.
Pulling into the parking lot, I immediately smelled the intoxicating aroma of freshly fried donuts.
OB-CO is setup for takeout orders only, so you order at the front while the staff packages your selections.
For a newbie (like me), it's daunting to see so many fresh offerings on display, but luckily I did my research and planned which donuts to buy beforehand.
Non-donuts:
Apple Fritter 5.0/5.0: One of my favorite bakery items; I've tried so many versions. Dunkin Donuts makes a decent one, Wawa (believe it or not) offers an excellent (and quite large) rendition at a bargain price ($1.49, if I recall), and my previous benchmark was at a bakery named Rise Biscuits & Donuts in North Carolina.........
But they all bow down to the new king of fritters as OB-CO's Donuts Apple Fritter just stampeded those contenders to take the top spot.
Be warned, the fritter is HUGE (I measured it at 6" in diameter and just over 2-1/4" thick), and can easily be portioned for four. Upon my first bite I experienced a crisply fried outer layer followed by a warm, moist, buttery, and assertive cinnamon & apple infused interior.
Cinnamon Swirl 5.0/5.0: Another OB-CO behemoth! Absolutely delicious as the spiraled ribbons of soft dough were buttery and heavily laced with cinnamon providing so much intense flavor. The best part was the translucent icing crowned on top which added the perfect level of sweetness.
German Crumb Cake 3.5/5.0: Very interesting pastry with a slightly crumbly cornbread-like texture, and a buttery taste like a poundcake. However, there was no streusel topping typical of a crumb cake.
Donuts:
Chocolate Cake 3.5/5.0: This donut was very moist and soft. The chocolate flavor ebbed towards the dark side with just enough contrasting sweetness.
Cinnamon Jelly filled 4.0/5.0: This donut had a awesome crispy outside (almost like a shell), and the cinnamon sugar was nicely balanced. However, the jelly was a bit gloppy and artificially sweet, especially when you consider the donut is also dusted in cinnamon sugar.
Cream filled 3.0/5.0: I think the cream was bland leaving my palate with an unpleasant feeling. Otherwise the donut itself was just okay.
Jelly 3.5/5.0: A solid jelly donut with my lone gripe being the same gloppy and artificially sweet jelly I mentioned above.
Raised Sugar 4.5/5.0: Storied as OB-CO's trademark donut, I enjoyed it a lot. Surprisingly, the large amount of finely grained sugar sprinkled on top was not that sweet; allowing me to taste the other components of the donut such as the crisped outer shell and airy buttery dough inside.
Powdered 4.5/5.0: A near perfect rendition of a classic, the powdered sugar was not too sweet and had that pleasant (well pleasant to me) dry-mouth feel.
OB-CO definitely lived up to being one of NJ's best donut spots!