ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
Doug Wright on where to find Utah’s best doughnut
May 8, 2019, 4:44 PM
When Doug Wright arrived to taste-test the state's best doughnut, he was saddened to see the bakery case was empty of the raspberry fritter. Photo: Doug Wright
What’s the best doughnut in Utah? The votes are in, and the winner is the raspberry fritter from Mirror Lake Station in Kamas. According to six out-of-state judges, the pastry was recently crowned the best overall among 22 other bakeries during the Utah Dough Show in Salt Lake City.
About 1,200 people attended the show, according to Kristin Wade, owner of Mirror Lake Station. She said many of the show attendees were amazed the best doughnut in the state is produced by a small-town gas station. Wade said the bakers begin frying the pastries at 2 a.m. and make about 400 a day.
So who better to confirm the judge’s top pick than KSL’s own Doug Wright?
“I am the renowned Utah doughnut connoisseur. There’s no doubt about it, I am the aficionado,” he said, “the end-all and be-all of doughnuts. I devoted my whole existence to doughnuts.”
Doug traveled to Kamas to sample the best-in-state raspberry fritter at the Mirror Lake Station, but when he arrived at 11 a.m., they were all sold out. They told him they try to keep doughnuts in stock until noon but because of all the notoriety, the pastries were gone early.
“I am sad,” Doug said, “and still have a mountain to climb.”
He said the rule of thumb is never to buy gas-station doughnuts, but Mirror Lake Station is the exception.
Based on the bare shelves, “I am a true believer,” said Doug.
Doug Wright with Steve Salles enjoying one of the Movie Show’s favorite treats: doughnuts.
So if you can’t travel to Kamas for the state’s best, Doug has some other doughnut hot spots to visit:
- He said Banbury Cross is the day-in, day-out gold standard. “Cannot go wrong.”
- The square doughnut at Lehi Bakeries is a must.
- The standard at the Art City food truck is the sugar-and-cinnamon but he says also try the piping hot, bite-sized doughnut dripping with maple syrup.
Doug says his DNA is based in the round pastry because his great aunt Hazel Dunford is the originator behind the ubiquitous Dunford chocolate doughnut. Today, Dunford Bakers operates out of a 50,000 square-foot facility in West Jordan.
Doug says if you didn’t like doughnuts, you’d get kicked out of the family.
