Every food lover in Southern California has heard of the fresh strawberry and peach doughnuts at Donut Man in Glendora, far away in the northern reaches of the 57 freeway, right where civilization peters out into the 909. (Just kidding, 909ers.) They're delicious, but they're very, very far away and require a concerted effort to go get.
Imagine my surprise, then, when, desperate for coffee, I stopped at Friendly Donuts in the El Modena section of Orange and ordered that liquid staff of life and a Boston cream doughnut to go with it, and was asked, “Do you want strawberries in it?”
Do I want sliced fresh strawberries in my doughnut? HELL YES I DO. I barely remembered to take a photo of it before I scarfed it down.
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Imagine if the strawberry croissant from Cream Pan came in chocolate-glazed doughnut form. It's amazing what the simple addition of a couple of pieces of fruit can do to the standard Cambodian doughnut cartel doughnuts that you can get in every non-chain donuttery from here to Hemet. It isn't just strawberries, either: you can also get bananas and Nutella in your doughnuts, if you like.
Are they as good as Donut Man's? No. There's no glaze, the strawberries are sliced instead of whole, and the doughnut itself is extremely sweet. It doesn't matter, not at all. Friendly Donuts is a lot closer, and their version is also a lot easier to eat than Donut Man's, which don't fit even in my enormous mouth. They're also cheaper, at $2 apiece.
Friendly Donuts people: please, please, for the love of pastry, go buy some peaches at the farmers market and make peach doughnuts too while the season lasts.
Friendly Donuts, 4442 E. Chapman, Orange; 714-538-4942.
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