My chubby inner fanboy lets out a silent scream as I enter Voodoo Doughnuts. Somewhere c.2007 Anthony Bourdain went to Voodoo at a time in which Doughnuts were hardly “de rigueur.” What is now a hipster delicacy was at the time just another fattening cheat meal in the middle of the Atkins craze.
In 2008 I was in Portland and wasn’t able to get my Voodoo Doughnut fix, but fast forward to 2018 and I’m back and Voodoo is still going strong with two locations in Portland.
While the place is busy for a weekday morning, it doesn’t seem to have succumbed to the pressures of media attention and success. It felt like, well, a doughnut shop. The choices are overwhelming, but I opt for the one most likely to give me diabetes and a trip to the dentist — the Fruit Loop doughnut.
Sadly, like people watching Reservoir Dogs for the first time in 2018, expectation and reality do not coincide like they should. The Fruit Loops are mushy, meaning the doughnut may have been made the day prior, and the whole thing is so sweet that I can’t finish it. I’m almost disappointed in myself.
Like Reservoir Dogs, however, you do have to think about where Voodoo fits in place and time. While there have been many copycats since, this was one of, if not the first, places to embrace the elaborately crafted doughnut. Just like Reservoir Dogs it’s necessary to remember that as many have followed in their wake.
With a toothache and a sugar-infused hop in my step I move on with my day — satisfied.
