Donut Connection is a chain that has a few locations in the southern part of the state: Charleston, Huntington and Beckley.

I had never tried one until I came to Charleston. Charleston has two: one on MacCorkle Avenue and one on Spring Street. On a free morning, I decided to try the MacCorkle location.

There are nearly 3 dozen different kinds to choose from, with everything from filled donuts and ring donuts to white cake and chocolate cake.

For my half dozen, I ordered:

• Charleston delight, which is filled with a vanilla cream and topped with chocolate
• Cherry cake
• Honey dew, which tastes like a sour cream donut
• Peanut butter ice
• Toasted coconut
• Cronut

While driving through Buckhannon, I stumbled upon Byrd's House of Donuts - which I think would make a perfect band name!



The donut shop has a case full of filled, glazed and other fun donuts.



Even the seats are covered in cushions!



And, they have ramparoni rolls! This one came with swiss cheese.

And the donuts - this is a lemon filled one!











All of the powdered sugar!



Next time, I need to try the Maple Nut!



It's a pretty decent-sized space for a bakery, so there were folks gathering at the front of the shop over coffee and donuts.



Have you ever been here?

Number 42 - Scratch-made buttermilk donut, made with real, whole ingredients, using local when available. Lightly flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. What's the story with the name? "Well, the 42nd recipe's a charm - we were determined to bring you a donut with ingredients you can pronounce."



The Great Pumpkin - The scratch-made Number 42 buttermilk donut rolled in cinnamon sugar and topped with pumpkin pie, brown sugar vanilla bean cream, and drizzled with homemade JQ Dickinson salted caramel.



The Apple Orchard - The scratch-made Number 42 buttermilk donut covered i na tangy apple cider glaze and topped with West Virginia-grown fried apples, brown sugar vanilla bean cream, and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.

While Seattle is fantastic, I was determined to take a train just down to Portland to get a taste of that city, too. Unfortunately, the train was canceled due to a mudslide, and we were bused to Portland.

First stop: Voodoo Doughnut.

Voodoo is a quirky, suggestive donut shop that's open 24 hours a day, with lines twisting and turning outside the sparkly brick building through pink gates.

“A culinary example of just how weird Portland can be”, these colorful 24/7 Old Town-Chinatown dessert dens are “worth a stop” even “just to gawk” at the “huge” corner-curling lines for “extremely imaginative”, often “hilarious”, pastries like the “to-die-for” bacon-maple bar and “as-good-as-advertised” signature Voodoo Doll; all in all, the "novelty" makes it a “must-visit”, especially for “visitors.” (Zagat)

We took our place in line outside of the shop. The bright pink gates, the sparkly brick siding, the neon lighting and fencing all made me think we might be at a strip club. But, we weren't.

After waiting for quite a while, we were finally inside and able to order. Cash only.

The donuts are all sort of gimmicky, with one called "Cock-N-Balls" and filled with Bavarian cream. There's "The Homer," with strawberry icing and round sprinkles. There's a "Marshall Mathers" dcake donut with mini m&ms.

But, I went for some classic ones -

The Voodoo doll is filled with raspberry jelly and topped with chocolate frosting and a pretzel stake.

The Bacon Maple Bar has maple frosting and bacon.

The Maple Blazer Blunt is dusted with cinnamon sugar, the top is dipped in maple frosting and red sprinkle embers.


So, I think these were actually good. I know they're tourist-central, but a good jelly-filled donut is a good jelly-filled donut. I think the blunt and the maple bacon were a little lackluster. But the namesake voodoo is tasty.

Voodoo Doughnut in Portland Oregon, Eugene Oregon, Denver Colorado, Austin Texas, and now L.A. California, was the brain child of Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson and Tres Shannon who had been friends for a while. They always wanted to start a business together. Something that would fit into an extraordinary Portland Oregon business climate. Something fun, different, and one for the ages. 

Cat Daddy with his stunningly brilliant business sense, and Tres with his seemingly endless supply of connections, set forth to conquer Old Town, Portland Oregon, and the world with the Doughnut!! After a meeting with some Armenians and drumming masters, they were ready to set up shop in the “crotch” of Portland — Old Town. 

There was only one problem, neither Cat Daddy nor Tres had ever made a doughnut before! They set out for the sunny Los Angeles suburb of Pico Rivera, California, where they met up with some doughnut masters, and learned about doughnuts from the ground up. These old, grizzled doughnut veterans knew what they were doing and were barely willing to give up their trade secrets at first. 

But the charm and good looks of our Portland heroes eventually won over the doughnut masters, and the secrets were revealed to them. Learning when to throw the flour, proper handling of a rolling pin, the intricacies of an old fashion, the “flip,” and countless other tricks of the trade were now in the hands, minds, and notebooks of Cat Daddy and Tres. They returned to Portland regaling the locals with tales of Brad Pitt eating one of their early maple bars, a Chick Hearn memorial documented on Japanese Television, featuring Voodoo Doughnuts, and the wild, wild, times of California — artists, actors, washed up sports stars, old people, disillusioned tourists, and musicians. Ah California… Portland soon learned of these tricks and Voodoo Doughnut became the best tasting doughnuts in the world, chico!! 

After flying in some “Voodoo Oil” from down south, acquiring the nuts and bolts of their shop, the boys started tinkering around with their methods that soon became known locally, nationally, and worldwide. People have talked about Voodoo Doughnut in Tibet, on Easter Island, Japan has some stylish folks sporting the latest Voodoo underpants, and friends have shared a buttermilk bar in Tanzania. I’m sure some corners of the globe have yet to be penetrated. Stay tuned! (STORY)

Grade: A

Every big city has a solid donut shop. For Seattle, this is where Top Pot comes into play.

Begun in February 2002 out of a small brick storefront on north Capitol Hill in Seattle, Top Pot paired a vintage aesthetic with a gourmet spin on the traditional coffee and doughnuts pairing.

SERENDIPITY
Years earlier, two of our co-founders spied a vintage rustic (and rusty) neon sign gleaming above a boarded-up Chinese restaurant called "Topspot". They bought the sign, and then left it idle in a backyard for four years, further rusting and creating a home for raccoons. Then, when the sign was finally driven off to be restored, the center "S" fell off, leaving the words "Top Pot" behind. 

INSPIRATION
The sign became Top Pot’s symbol of blending the old with the new. Our founders sought to create a doughnut shop that moved away from the fluorescent-lit fast food aesthetic. Instead, they created an oasis, where patrons could slow down and savor the nostalgia and taste of a secret 1920s doughnut recipe in a gorgeous vintage environment. 

SUCCESS
Today, Top Pot Doughnuts can proudly claim a rabid fan base and extraordinary growth. Our hand-forged doughnuts can be found in cafes throughout western Washington and Dallas Texas. 

COMMITMENT
We feel so fortunate to have enjoyed such success with a business model that is this much fun. And we remain committed to the simple ideals that brought us this far—quality, inclusiveness, and integrity in every single thing we do.

Top Pot serves up "hand-forged doughnuts and coffee." This shop offers up more than 40 types of donuts - like old fashioned, cake, feather boa, sprinkles, bars, filled and apple fritters.



We stopped in here on a rainy day, in desperate need of coffee and donuts.

Their specialty coffee was "Ovaltine," so I said a quick yes. That was hot, delicious and just a touch sweet.

And for the donuts, I got a raspberry glazed old-fashioned donut, which was super sweet and delicious.

The salted caramel also very good - sweet, thick and sticks to your ribs.

Maybe it was because it was a dreary day, but this really hit the spot. The space inside was cute, the coffee was unique and those donuts were very tasty.

Grade: A