You voted this Tacoma doughnut shop the best. Our food writer says this one is better

What’s more American than fried dough and controversy?

Doughnuts are a cost-effective luxury and an exemplar of America as a melting pot, both in style and substance. Tacomans love doughnuts, but they love one shop more than most locals love anything in life. That answer is and probably always will be Pao’s.

I tried Pao’s. They’re good doughnuts! But are they destination-worthy doughnuts? Pay a toll kind of doughnuts?

“They do the job and I appreciate the family story,” I said on Twitter last September, “but not so sure the product differs from other everyday doughnut shops in the area. Let the accosting commence.”

A number of repliers told me it was an “awful take.” One person insisted she did not accept my apology. “Wrong,” said another.

What people love about Pao’s, as one local put it, is that their doughnuts are “no nonsense, fresh, and fair!” — a solid tagline.

My dear colleague Matt Driscoll could muster only my name, like a disappointed parent discovering the teenager had scratched the car. Then he defended by far the city’s most beloved shop by describing it, like Tacoma itself, as “hardworking — no lavender or pretension.”

That was precisely my point. All of the families behind our local doughnut shops are hardworking. Most are owned and operated by Asian Americans, a number of them Cambodian — true also of shops up and down the West Coast, especially in California where, in the early 1980s, a refugee named Ted Ngoy forged a multi-million-dollar doughnut empire. He sponsored dozens of Cambodian families to emigrate to the United States and trained, either directly or indirectly, hundreds more in the business of running a doughnut shop.

The pink boxes at Pao’s? Of Ngoy’s making.

His memoir and subsequent documentary feature film from PBS, “The Donut King,” is a raw and very real story of the American Dream, the immigrant experience, and the danger and destiny lurking around every corner of temptation.

THE GREAT TACOMA DOUGHNUT DEBATE

So I made a list of every shop in Pierce County. Then I began a pilgrimage to all 15 with the goal of firmly answering this difficult question: Is Pao’s the best, full stop?

According to the results of our online poll, which drew more than 6,000 respondents, a solid 35 percent — more than 2,100 tallies — said Pao’s.

The next in line succumbed to the pitfalls of a split vote, with three exceeding the 500-mark.

The runner-up: Happy Donuts in Puyallup with 620 fans, or 10 percent of the vote.

In a very tight race for the bronze, Original House of Donuts in Lakewood edged out Connie’s Donuts in Tacoma’s South End. The two were separated by just four votes. (Runoff, anyone?)

Taking home fifth place was Dockside Donuts with more than 400 votes, or 7 percent.

Honorable mentions go out to Le Donut, which fell short of the Top 5 by just 22 tallies, and to Helen’s Donuts & Ice Cream on the Eastside, the last shop to have surpassed 300.

The results were not entirely surprising. I knew Pao’s would emerge triumphant. For a minute there, I thought Dockside would take the silver, proving my hypothesis.

Hold up — I can explain.

I have consumed an insane amount of doughnuts in the past few weeks. At each shop, I ordered as close to the same doughnuts as possible, tasting each one on-site and taking vigorous notes. Then I stewed over my analysis in an effort to determine the Best in Dough of each style and the Top 3 shops overall.

Friends, it was no easy task. It’s all fun and games until your gut pleads with you to stop replacing two meals a day with straight-up sugar. I did it for you, the readers, the people of Tacoma and Pierce County, who deserve an objective analysis of which fried dough deserves your hard-earned green dough.

THE QUEST

Some days I made just one stop on my way to another assignment; usually I visited two, and in a couple of cases, three. (I don’t recommend it.) After ordering, I returned to my hatchback, pushed the driver’s seat all the way back, and opened the box. I photographed each doughnut in full and then torn in half, after which I proceeded to tear off pieces, taking sticky advantage of the Notes app on my iPhone.

In one instance, I towed the doughnuts to an alternative parking lot, and the bewildered lady who caught me with an open box on my lap and another in the passenger seat is probably wondering if I’m OK.

Reviewing my recollections at home, I fleshed out my picks over many painstaking hours and created a scoring rubric:

▪ Winners earned a shop 5 points.

▪ Runners-up earned a shop 3 points.

▪ Honorable mentions earned a shop 1 point.

The shop with the highest total secured the right to Best Doughnut Shop in Tacoma and Pierce County.

I had believed that doughnuts are doughnuts; some are assuredly superior to others, but at the end of the day, we’re talking about fried dough. Through this quest, I learned that every shop has its specialty, whether they know it or not, and that bad doughnuts exist. I also developed a serious disdain for the lack of actual apples in apple fritters and appreciation for the selfish bliss of closing the car door, placing the coffee in the cup holder, slowly opening the box and sneaking a bite of a sugar-dusted round. Of being alone with bitter and sweet.

I still believe that everyone likes doughnuts. Downers who say they don’t — they are simply abstaining from the indulgence, which is fair, but we are hard-wired to like doughnuts.

Ask local doughnut connoisseur Peter Thomas, whom a reader recommended as a valuable source. We talked for an hour about the best apple fritters, the glory of a plain cake and the notion of getting hooked on a certain shop.

“I’ve always been a doughnut kind of guy,” said the Puyallup resident, who frequently goes out of his way to assuage a craving. “I’ve never been a huge sweets fan,” but doughnuts? “They’re sweet enough that I can enjoy ‘em.”

What follows are TNT Diner’s winners in seven style categories — cake, raised, twist, buttermilk bar, old fashioned, cruller, apple fritter — scored on the basis of look and feel, texture and flavor, uniqueness factor and overall desirability. Aggregated at the end, we reveal the Top 3 shops.

BEST CAKE DOUGHNUT

Winner: Dockside and Pao’s

Two words: toasted coconut. Coconut was my cake of choice because it seemed ubiquitous and I love the stuff. On a doughnut, its bitterness and texture adds much-needed dissonance. Pao’s was the only shop to take this extra step, the kind of fastidious choice that upgrades any dish from good to great. The cake itself exemplifies freshness. Despite my best efforts in this decision, I could not ignore Dockside, where the cakes are just a little bit more moist, a little bit lighter on the tongue, a little more nuanced in flavor.

Runner-up: Kolby’s

Quietly, Kolby’s in Spanaway offers delightful cakes, especially in the chocolate, full of rich cocoa flavor — like the best cake-style brownies — and a glaze soaked ever so slightly into the top layer of the dough, as if it had been dunked while still warm.

Honorable Mention: Connie’s, Le Donut

Most styles at Connie’s satisfy, but a nod to the cake because the vanilla was superior to many others. Le Donut’s cakes boast an admirable crisp to the outer crust. On Fridays only, visit for the “applesauce,” the flavor reminiscent of cinnamon-doused sauce itself.

BEST RAISED DOUGHNUT

Winner: Variety

This one, glazed or dusted in sugar, transported me to childhood, to a mental state where little was more magical than a doughnut. It’s incredibly light, airy, fresh, subtle, supreme. When our poll was shared on the Tacoma Reddit page, one reader described this specimen as “a fluffy cloud,” and this person was right. The difference among my selections in most categories was typically quite narrow; here, the choice was obvious.

Runner-up: Dockside and Happy

The nearest cloud hovered over Dockside, where the glaze doesn’t overpower, the coconut (or other topping of choice) covers nearly the entire round, and the lighter density out-competes most contenders. At Happy, I found myself returning to the raised sugar and its memorable bounce. What makes these two great as opposed to pretty good is the oft-elusive airy texture.

Honorable Mention: Frank’s, Kolby’s, Happy, Pao’s

The raised at Frank’s and Kolby’s, both in Spanaway, harken to their due-east competitor at Variety in looks, but the flavor leaned toward dinner-roll over doughnut. At Pao’s, they are fine choices but not quite on par with those who medaled.

BEST TWIST

Winner: Happy

Soft and supple, Happy’s twist was the only one that gave a shop’s raised a run for its own fluffy money. The reason might lie in its unusual shape, bulbous on both ends and barely twisted twice in the middle, instead of end-to-end. That left room for the perks of the dough to shine.

Runner-up: Dockside

The Dockside twist also retains its dough’s airy nature. Many don’t bounce back but shrink under the pressure of your doughnut-tearing fingers. This one springs while also being “Just good!” as I exclaimed mid-chew.

Honorable Mention: Le Donut, Variety

Le Donut’s twist, which I particularly enjoyed in the generous “crumble” coating, benefits from select turns of the dough. At Variety, similar care to the raised adds heft, with a surprise cinnamon sprinkle inside.

BEST BUTTERMILK BAR

Winner: Kolby’s

It was at Kolby’s where I realized the power of the buttermilk bar — that is, when it’s shaped like a mini sandwich bun, yielding crunchy nooks like a proper sourdough loaf. Many of these can be quite plain. This one is not glazed yet not plain, ever-so sugar-soaked, the interior almost like a muffin.

Runner-up: Original House of Donuts

A nod to the 1959 origins of what is posited to be the first doughnut shop in Washington state, the buttermilk bar at OHOD differs from every other in the region. It’s almost burnt, in a strangely addictive way, with a muted tang. I could see how fans would flock for this special doughnut.

Honorable Mention: Variety, Helen’s

The crunch was on for the buttermilk bun at Variety, and like other styles here, it stood out from its peers. At Helen’s, I appreciated the simplicity of the long, two-pronged bar, plain enough to shield you from criticism for emulating Joe Dimaggio dunking at Dinky Donuts.

BEST OLD FASHIONED

Winner: Happy

In one of the closest races, Happy’s old fashioned reigned thanks to delicate differences — namely, a darker tone that offered a deeper flavor and optimal glaze-to-crunch exterior and structured-yet-moist interior. It’s complex, more so than its competitors, and had me coming back for more, copious doughnuts consumed aside.

Runner-up: Dockside and Connie’s

Dockside’s old fashioned is so valuable that the shop often runs out of all but a few plains by 10 a.m. Connie’s glazed is slightly larger than most with an outer crunch on top and bottom — a great version.

Honorable Mention: Pao’s, Le Donut, Variety, Top Pot

A few old fashioneds were my least favorite of all, but at these four you can’t go wrong. Pao’s, Le Donut and Variety win for size and buttery flavor with ample crunch. Top Pot’s new-meets-old approach yields one that is softer than most but comfortingly rich in flavor.

BEST CRULLER

Winner: Pao’s

One of the few runaway winners, Pao’s cruller is pure bliss. It’s taller than most and bears a little bounce in your hand. The dreamy interior exemplifies this style: crackly at first bite, then silky as you reach the core. It’s difficult to do well, and Pao’s does it very well.

Runner-up: Helen’s

Though it could stand for a sturdier crust, the creamy, buttery innards of Helen’s cruller compensates for any shortfall. I kept thinking about this one as I tried the others.

Honorable Mention: Connie’s, Dockside

Connie’s cruller is a tad sweeter than its peers, but the texture outside and in still satisfies. Smaller than most, it’s also a great choice for a little pick-me-up. At Dockside, the cruller closely resembles that of Pao’s, proving once again that this shop knows doughnuts.

BEST APPLE FRITTER

Winner: Dockside Donuts

Like most every item in the case at Dockside, the textbook fritter carries a certain gleaming quality of just the right amount of glaze, the right combination of crunch and pillow, the right amount of cinnamon and a few actual apple cubes. I’d take more, but the flavor and texture is spot-on.

Runner-up: Pao’s

The defining factor here was that pesky apple content — a few pieces of fruit, but not as noticeable as the winner. Nonetheless, Pao’s makes a suave fritter, with a wonderful balance between crunchy and soft.

Honorable Mention: Sunny’s, Happy

Happy’s fritter has this almost applesauce-like quality to it, with a layer of apple just under the upper crust. Like the old-fashioned, it’s also slightly more complex than most. In Fife, Sunny’s surprised me with its cinnamon roll-esque fritter, heavily swirled with the spice and dotted with fruit.

BEST DOUGHNUT SHOPS IN PIERCE COUNTY — OVERALL

Champion: Dockside Donuts

Dockside Donuts, established in 2008 by Sam Yam and Kay Oeng, is the unsung superstar of Tacoma’s doughnut scene.

In a hard-fought battle, Dockside is thus crowned the Best in Dough. The Puyallup Avenue shop, surrounded by not much east of downtown Tacoma and north of Tacoma Dome, garnered two wins, three runners-up and two honorable mentions. The doughnuts are fresh, well-developed and liberally topped. Where other shops have obvious standouts and — especially when compared to excellence elsewhere — a miss or two, Dockside never strikes out. I would point to the cakes and raised, which tend to fall to the middle-of-the-road, but not here. Then you also get a top-tier fritter, old fashioned, cruller and twist. The result is an all-around excellent doughnut shop: They just have that Dockside glow.

Runner-up: Pao’s Donut & Coffee Shop

Pao’s held the line until the very last hurdle, but its showing should not deny the storied shop, opened by Pao Lo and Morokat Sao in 1996, its earned pedestal. It also emerged with two wins (one a tie with the champion), plus one runner-up and two honorable mentions. The doughnuts at Pao’s are equally fresh, well-stocked and 100 percent reliable — an absolutely essential detail. In addition to that magnificent cruller, the cake is a standard-bearer and the fritter one to emulate. As with the winner, most every choice sings, and that, doughnut friends, should be celebrated. Please don’t throw eggs at me — we need ‘em for the crullers!

Third Place: Happy Donuts

At first the praise for Happy Donuts struck me as hometown love from Puyallup residents, but the doughnuts — especially that complex old fashioned, that thinner-than-most but hauntingly good fritter, that buoyant twist — speak for themselves. To illustrate just how gritty the fight, Happy likewise landed two wins, but no runner-up and two honorable mentions. The sentiment was further proven when my new doughnut friend Peter Thomas told me that his colleagues, who regularly buy a dozen for the crew, go out of their way for Happy, established in 2008 by Jack Yam and Orn Chan. I have before and I will again, and I encourage you to do the same.

Honorable Mention: Kolby’s Donut House and Variety Donuts

The “South Siders” as I’ve taken to calling the shops beyond the Tacoma city line surprised me. Kolby’s, for its wonderful buttermilk bar, and Variety, for its ethereal raised, were the only other shops to snag gold. A mix of second and third place selections lifted them to the Top 5 in my scoresheet. Perhaps the lesson being: Never sleep on food in a shopping plaza.

This story was originally published March 2, 2023 at 5:00 AM.