Pip's Original Doughnut

Pip's Original Doughnuts

4759 NE Fremont St., Ste C

Portland, OR 97213

Yelp

When traveling, I grapple with this horrible first world problem.  There's just not enough meals and time in a day to eat everything I want to eat.  With some thoughtful planning, we were able to squeeze in a visit to Pip's for some fresh-from-the-fryer mini doughnuts.  Like everything else Portland, the shop is a charming little place with hipsters taking your orders using iPads and Square.  Actual inked signatures and paper receipts are becoming a thing of the past.  So Zhu Zhu Hamster and Little Pet finally rolled out of bed to meet us here before our hike.

While the doughnuts are the main attraction here, the chai is not to be missed.  I don't usually like chai.  All those spices in a hot beverage is not something I'm used to, but I quite enjoyed the offerings here.  You have the option of whole, skim, soy, hemp, or almond milk.


Smokey Robinson smoke, vanilla, cinnamon, clove
Zhu Zhu Hamster was hating on my choice.  I opted for hemp milk, which wasn't the bad part I don't think.  I guess my chai tasted like a campfire.  I thought it was interesting and comforting.  Zhu Zhu wasn't having it.

Ginger Rodgers ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, molasses

Zhu Zhu Hamster ordered this cold by accident and they kindly made another one hot and on the house.  Gotta love great service!  She enjoyed her beverage more than mine.  Regular milk, not hemp milk here.

Heart of Gold coconut, tumeric, clove, cardamom
Another tasty one that Decidedly Undecided enjoyed.

Candied Bacon and Maple

Raw Honey and Sea Salt

Apricot Butter with Habanero Salt

Nutella and Sea Salt

Cinnamon Sugar

"The Dirty Wu" cinnamon, honey, nutella, sea salt

(starting from the left, moving clockwise around the plate, ending in the middle)

First off, fresh fried dough is hard to mess up.  Wait, I should take that back because the zeppole at Scopa were like rocks.  Ok, so these were moist and fluffy on the inside with lovely crispy exteriors. Mini donuts allow for higher surface area:volume ratios, which allows for bite sized nuggetty crispy sweet goodness.  All the flavors were just as described.  Interestingly, the one with apricot butter was reminiscent of a McDonald's chicken nugget topped with sweet and sour sauce.  Overall, the contrast of salty and sweet is what made all the flavors sing.  The Dirty Wu just combined all the flavors into one explosive bite.  My favorite was probably the honey and sea salt, for it's pure simplicity and integrity of the flavors.

I think Pip's blows Blue Star and Voodoo (never been here, but nobody I know actually likes this place) out of the water.  Not only are there no lines, unlike those other places, but the donuts are tasty without the unnecessary glam or gimmicks.  Give me some fried dough.  Serve it warm.  Make it fluffy and moist on the outside.  Make it sweet, but not too sweet.  A sprinkle of salt doesn't hurt either.  If you're on a diet and don't want to cheat with these, come for the chai.  

10 - You NEED to eat here  

9 - Awesome! 

8 - Very good
7 - Good 

6 - OK

5 - Average
4 - Not bad

3 - Not good

2 - Terrible

1 - Do NOT eat here