Downtown Donuts - Santa Ana
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I don't dislike donuts, but if there were a dozen donuts and a dozen bagels placed in front of me, I'm going for the bagels.
My attitude changes, however, if the donuts are fried fresh and doled out from a street stall during a festive night market.
Such was the reason I finally took the opportunity to try Downtown Donuts last Saturday night. It was while we were strolling the small crafts fair outside the Yost Theater in Santa Ana that I saw Downtown Donuts had also set up a tent. They were serving hot, freshly-made donuts straight from a small portable deep fryer and charging $4 for a half dozen (covered in either powdered or cinnamon sugar).
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It immediately reminded me of my childhood in Indonesia when our family would set out into the night after dinner in search of bolang-baling. Bolang-baling is Indonesia's donut/beignet--sweetened dough fried to brown-crisp pillows--and the good ones were made by itinerant street hawkers who would fry them in woks heated by a whoosing propane fire.
And though Downtown Donuts' donuts aren't anything like bolang-baling, or even a typical American donut--they're cotton soft, kind of floppy, and bite-sized--they are wonderful when hot and eaten outside in the dark of night--the exact right environment in which sugar-covered confections made of fried dough taste the best.
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You could conceivably have the same experience by going to the brick-and-mortar of this mom-n-pop, which is also in Santa Ana and open late on weekends. But for some reason, I prefer these donuts when I find them by chance, served from the fleeting impermanence of their temporary stall. Why is that?
Downtown Donuts
307 W 3rd St.
Santa Ana, CA 92701
(714) 450-0139
http://www.downtowndonutsdtsa.com
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