Week #8, Fluffy Fresh

This morning John and I headed to a donut shop reputed to have the best glazed donut in Kansas City, Fluffy Fresh at 5729 Johnson Drive in Mission, Kansas.

As we parked in front, John pointed out a little something seemed awry with their storefront window (see pic). Not only was the brick crumbling, insulation sticking out and the window precariously tilting, an older lady was sitting on a stool inside the store holding her head. The bakery cases appeared to be empty, but the lady working in the donut shop was already flagging us in, so inside we went!

The lady working told us yesterday morning someone (an older gentleman as she put it) had attempted to add a drive-thru to their donut shop. He didn’t just try once, he tried THREE times! And then this morning, the older lady I mentioned earlier tripped and fell over the same curb that had done nothing to prevent the wayward driver from plowing into the store yesterday. Apparently the City of Mission, Kansas replaced the street side curbs a few years back, making them lower to the ground and also wider than a standard curb. Now there is a 3″ tall curb that is wider than someone’s foot, creating an awkward walking situation yet doing nothing to stop cars from pulling too far forward in the parking spaces.

While tending to the older lady, helping her dial the phone to summon a ride and reminding her several times to get a cold compress on the bump on her head as soon as she got home, she also told us we were welcome to the cinnamon twists in the bakery case (a total of 5) and the fella working feverishly in the back shouted to us that he would have hot glazed donuts up in just a minute. He also added his own personal rant about the curb situation. All of the banter and activity made this donut shop feel like a neighborhood gathering spot. So we waited for the hot donuts…because one should never turn down the offer of a hot glazed donut, especially not one that just might be the best in town nor should one ever miss the chance to absorb a little neighborhood gossip and camaraderie on a weekend morning.

A few other customers had ventured in and no one seemed upset at the limited offerings. We thought perhaps this happened every Sunday morning and that “early” meant prior to 8:30 at this particular donut shop. Apparently not, as the lady said they had been so busy with customers wanting to see the damage from yesterday’s accident that they had sold out early. News seems to travel fast in this part of town!

We paid for our donuts and headed to the car, carefully stepping over the accident-inducing curb. The warm glazed donuts were heavenly. John commented that they were not especially fluffy but did not feel heavy either. Hours later, he retracted that statement as the donut had become one of those that sits in your tummy for too long. That said, they were very tasty glazed donuts, perhaps a runner-up to John’s Space Age Donuts. I should probably not share a review of the cinnamon twist as they are not a favorite of mine, not just from Fluffy Fresh but from any donut shop. It was a good donut, just not a favorite flavor.

We got about a block down the road from Fluffy Fresh when we spotted a Lamar’s Donuts on the corner. From the street I could see their bakery cases were still full of donuts. Everyone really had gone to Fluffy Fresh this morning!

Back in my northern ‘burb, I headed to Em’s house with donuts to share. Em had felt a cold coming on and I had planned an earlier-than-usual donut visit for the day, so a delivery seemed in order since we couldn’t meet for our weekly donuts. I was all excited to tell her about the donut adventure, which really did seem like an adventure today with all of the accident excitement and said something like, “The donut shop we went to this morning had been hit by a car!” To which Em replied, “Oh, so you went to Fluffy Fresh?” Apparently I’ve been living under a rock for the past two days and didn’t realize this had been the Breaking News story for at least 24 hours.

I would like to either re-visit this Fluffy Fresh location or try the one on State Line to get a better sampling of their offerings on a less hectic day. Even with all of the excitement going on at Fluffy Fresh this weekend, they were still churning out good donuts with a smile. Pretty impressive!