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FOOD+DRINK continued
BEST DOUGHNUT , Don’’ s Donuts Pizza and Deli
LATE-NIGHT FOOD
Toni’s (365 of 799 votes)
HANGOVER BREAKFAST
The Alibi (315 of 737 votes)
EATERY ON A BUDGET
(53.64%) Runner Up: Happy Donuts
RESTAURANT WHEN MONEY IS NO OBJECT
I’m not ashamed to say it was one of the best birthday gifts ever. I was turning 30-something, and my wonderful wife sidestepped all the societal pressures pushing her toward cream cheese frosting, layered cakes and highfalutin ganache. Instead, I got a doughnut tower, with three beautiful columns reaching for the sky, glaze and crumbs glistening by candlelight. It was awesome. So, it was with great pleasure that I saw Don’s claim the Best Of crown this year. Its buttermilk donut is one of the purest pleasures I’ve ever known — like a delightfully sweet, glazed biscuit. And Don’s deserves an extra nod for business acumen: Its location, just a donut hole’s throw from bar row, begins pumping out the unmistakable fragrance of freshly fried doughnuts at about 1:30 a.m., permeating the streets of downtown Arcata just in time to greet drunks on their way home. I’d say it’s a deliciously bad decision waiting to happen, but there’s really no choice involved.
Los Bagels (251 of 850 votes)
Brick and Fire (350 of 815 votes)
EATS IN SOHUM
Benbow Inn (286 of 557 votes)
GROCERY STORE
North Coast Co-op (372 of 919 votes) continued on next page
Big Turnouts Categories that touch our daily survival needs (possibly in order of importance) garnered the most response. Best Coffee House: 924 votes Best Brewery: 922 votes Best Grocery Store: 919 votes
BEHOLD, DON’S DONUTS. PHOTO BY GRANT SCOTT-GOFORTH
— Thadeus Greenson
BEST HOT DOG Costco (38.48%) Runner Up: Humboldt Hot Dogs OK, you can’t argue with the value. At $1.50 with a soft drink, the hefty hot dog or Polish at Costco (girth is important, too) is the deal to end all processed meat deals. And it’s pretty good — a salty, juicy dog with the zippy tang of nitrates. But unlike, say, an organic Humboldt Hot Dog (only one vote behind!), or a snappy Arcata Ballpark dog, there is no sunshine, no crack of the bat with which to enjoy it. No, you will pump on mustard, grind out some chopped onion from the dispenser and sit at the plastic picnic tables — cruelly reminiscent of amusement parks — and eat your dog under Costco’s fluorescent lights, in the shadow of shrink-wrapped pallets of camping equipment, with passing shoppers regarding you: hunched over the crumpled foil wrapper of Humboldt’s favorite hot dog. — Jennifer Fumiko Cahill
THE LURID DRAW OF THE COSTCO DOG. PHOTO BY HOLLY HARVEY
northcoastjournal.com • NORTH COAST JOURNAL • THURSDAY, AUG. 7, 2014
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