Week #2, Poppy’s Famous Donuts

Today’s donut adventure took Em and me to Poppy’s Famous Donuts in Independence. Located near the Truman Library, it has many of the characteristics of a classic donut shop, including good donuts, friendly counter staff and quirky locals. There was a debate about Missourians winter driving abilities taking place when we entered. One of the debaters was leaving and the other said something like, “He can have Alaska.” I felt like I missed a critical part of the conversation but was already sure this place would be an interesting experience.

Em commented that she loved the pink countertops at Poppy’s and the girl behind the counter said she thought they were once red but have faded to a nice pink. With plenty of counter space and low-to-the-ground stools, it was a fun place for two short girls to have donuts and chat while watching the locals drop in for their Sunday donuts.
While I didn’t get an exact count, there is a huge variety of donuts to choose from at Poppy’s, at least 30. I had the glazed donut (pretty basic, on the small side and not on my favorites list) and a chocolate filled powdered sugar donut, which had a really fluffy filling. I would have it again. Em had a filled long john and a chocolate glazed chocolate cake donut. I had a couple of nibbles of the latter and it may be the best chocolate cake donut I have ever tasted. It was chocolate-y without being insanely sweet. Em will have to fill you in on the long john and the cream puff she took home to have for dessert with dinner tonight. It was a thing of beauty and I’m glad it went to her house.

Here are a couple of observations from my short-term donut research: people seem to be almost as committed to their favorite donut shop as they are to their favorite KC BBQ joint and people arrive in groups at donut shops. Twice now we have been to donut shops that were empty when we arrived and then several families arrive at the same time to get donuts. Then it’s quiet again for a bit, with yet another wave of folks rolling in. It’s an interesting trend I’ll watch to see if it is consistent at all donut shops.

Thanks to Mary for the Poppy’s recommendation. It was a fun place!

And now an addendum from Em…

The pink counter filled Poppy’s had everything a girl could want – cream puffs and pink counter tops. So what if they were once red? It’s destiny, I tell you, that they ended up pink. Very much like the shade send to the left and right of this comment box, actually, and the perfect compliment to the sugar high you are sure to experience after just a few bites of a cream filled long john. Just the right amount of chocolate on top of a soft, squishy donut tube filled with goodness.

But the star of the show was the cream puff (filled with the same vanilla pudding like cream that was in the long john) that I got Sunday morning but forgot about until Monday evening. Blasphemy! Light and flaky, covered in powdered sugar, it was divine, and oozing with cream that I ended up sharing with the kitten who alerted me to the cream puffs presence when she tried to get into the bag.

She approves of this donut adventure, but only if I bring one home for her :).