Best Doughnut Shop

LEONARD ORTIZ, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Every doughnut at The Donuttery is hand-crafted, fresh and great tasting thanks to a dedicated production staff.

1. The Donuttery

17420 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach 714-847-7000; www.thedonutteryhb.com

There is something about a small, intimate, doughnut-diner coffee shop that pulls people together with a sense of belonging and community.

“Perhaps that is why old-timers stay, and newcomers return,” said Alyssa Chan, assistant director, Restaurant Operations, for The Donuttery.

“After the madness of National Donut Day, June 3rd, our staff cheered with exhaustion that we survived another year,” she said. “It has been a hectic and challenging year for us with the ebb and flow of staff and supply shortages.” Chan added that The Donuttery’s ranking among the best doughnut shops in Orange County “is a testament to our incredible team, their dedication and relentless drive to produce really great tasting doughnuts, ones that could bring our community joy and momentary reprieve from the pandemic.”

Chan called The Donuttery “a charming, oldtime, well-worn juxtaposition to the modern era of loopy invention and Instagram-ready dessert art.” Preserving traditional flavors is important. “Every doughnut is still hand-crafted with misfits and imperfections, and prizing freshness and process above all,” she said.

“We are constantly chasing for perfection — finding that synergy between texture and flavor. Our production staff has dedicated immense time and resources to studying, testing and experimenting with many varieties of flours for the purpose of extracting their natural flavors and utility for yielding the perfect crust and crumb.”

In the future, The Donuttery hopes to expand its vegan and gluten-free options.

2. Sidecar Doughnuts & Coffee

270 E. 17th St., #18, Costa Mesa 949-873-5424 sidecardoughnuts.com

Sidecar’s flagship location in Costa Mesa opened in 2013. The Sidecar story began with a warehouse-turned-test kitchen and a renovated 1959 Helms Bakery Truck.

The creators asked friends and family over to weekly taste test gatherings, and they took their truck around town to share fresh doughnuts with the neighbors.

Sidecar’s doughnuts eventually made numerous “best of” lists including The Register’s, and they were featured on food programs on the Cooking Channel and Food Network.

The doughnuts are made daily from scratch and are fried in organic, sustainable palm oil.

Doughnuts are made throughout the day in small batches so the doughnuts are always fresh.

Unique flavors include dulce de leche churro, maple bacon, celebration cake, Saigon cinnamon crumb, passion fruit pavlova, lemon poppyseed, basil eggs Benedict and cream and butter and salt.

Orange County natives Victor and Brooke Desprez run Oliboli along with daughter Hailey and son Hunter. The family opened Oliboli Donuts in October 2018. “We love our customers and strive to make each one of them feel at home,” Brooke said.

The family prides itself on their baking methods. “Oliboli Donuts is a family-run business that specializes in naturally leavened, sourdough donuts. We bulk-rise our dough for 40 hours and we fry them to order. We also offer tender cake doughnuts made with house-milled white Sonora wheat flour and kefir. We work with the seasons and source locally as much as possible. Many neighbors supply us with Meyer lemons from their backyards and we work with small farms for many of our other fruits and toppings,” Brooke said.

Original flavors include the Bumbleberry, a vanilla cake filled and glazed with a “bumble” of berries like wild blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries; and the Banoffee, topped with fresh banana slices, banana whipped cream, toffee sauce and streusel.

3. Oliboli Donuts

135 W First St., Tustin 714-760-4876; www.oliboli.com