Half and Half Doughnuts and Coffee....Obviously I'm On the Doughnut Half!

Mar 17

Mar 17 Half and Half Doughnuts and Coffee....Obviously I'm On the Doughnut Half!

A.W.

Make no mistake, I love a good donut or doughnut, however you choose to spell it. Besides cake they are my go to for a satisfying sweet bite. And while I will eat them, I don’t mean those light airy things, I am specifically talking about the cakey, frosted or frosted filled ones that offer all the sugary delight and heft I desire in my desserts. I mean, I was barely in this city a day before I was already tracking the best place to get some. As previously reported, this town is rife with places to just pop in and pick up one. It is almost too easy. This time around I stumbled upon a non-vegan/vegetarian place for a change called Half and Half Doughnuts.

After a few visits I surmised (though I may be wrong) that half are the doughnuts and the other is coffee possibly as they also do a small offering of savory sandwich bites. Let’s be real though, I don’t do coffee and and I can get a sandwich anywhere. It is the doughnut half that has my full attention so if you wanna know about their other stuff, feel free to visit on your own. You do you boo and I’ll do me!

Not going to lie, I have been here more than once or twice or thrice or, well, let us not dwell on that shall we. In the interest of getting a breadth of offerings it seemed to be required. Remember this is a no judgement zone.

Starting off with a mini bite seemed apropos in order to ease my way in lest there be some major disappointment. Luckily, they offer a couple mini sizes of some larger filled versions. Called bombs, based I’m surmising again on the Italian bomboloni/bomba which are a slightly smaller version of a standard jelly filled donut. The bombs are even smaller and would be what I’d call a three bite kind of thing. I got a hazelnut nutella and a bananas foster.

As you can see, they do not skimp on the filling even for the mini size. It is really nice to get filling in every bite on these little balls of creamy sweetness. The nutella was appropriately chocolaty though I really like the bananas foster best. You could really taste notes of banana and the caramel cream filling had just the right hints of burnt caramel that really evoked a real bananas foster dessert, just without the flames. The dough was dense, springy and covered in a sugar glaze. They were like a small perfect dessert bite both full of flavor and very satisfying if you want something sweet without going into to total sugar shock.

Old fashions are kind of where it is at for me. Dense cake donuts covered in variations of icing and Half and Half has several on offer, and they are big to boot. I really liked the Mexican chocolate version with its dense chocolate cake like center with notes of cinnamon and just a small kick of spice on the back end. It was also generously covered in chocolate icing and lightly sprinkled with cinnamon. A tasty variation I was fully on board with. If you are not into the cinnamon and spice they offer a triple chocolate version without those which is just as good and will satisfy your chocolate craving. The black and white I tried on a whim and wasn’t completely in love with. The icing was a little too sweet (imagine!) and I think they slightly over cooked the donut itself. I mean I like a few crusty, crunchy edges but this one permeated through the center. I also had a lemon glazed version which was much better with its full on citrus bite. They do several others like passion fruit or raspberry and I’m sure you can find your own flavor profile fave in the bunch.

Oh ye’ apple fritter. I really became addicted to these in SF because of all the Happy Donuts around town sereving up these fruity, sugary, deep fried dough delights. Here, they don’t do apple it seems and offer up pineapple and blueberry versions as both a nod to and their own twist on the classic. I was intrigued and in theory thought I would really like these since I am a fan of both pineapple and blueberry. As you can see, they are not small things. They are quite big and heavy and they do not skimp on the fruit in either of them. I really wanted to like these but I think at heart, I am a purist and feel like the apple works better for me at least.

These are already super sweet things and pineapple just adds more sweetness but seemed to somehow get lost in all the cinnamon. The blueberries, while there are a plenty you can see, also get lost under all that glaze and cinnamon and I think deep frying them cooks out all their flavor as they are small berries to begin with. It doesn’t mean these are bad, the dough is dense and crispy in all the right spots and the glaze gets where it needs to, but I think I just had an idea in my head how these were going to be and their flavor did not quite reach those heights leaving me a little unfulfilled. And I go back to my previous statement of being a purist for the apple. Using tangy granny smiths helps cut some sweetness and cinnamon and apples to me just seem to be a natural fit. I know these versions have their fans but I’ll stick with tradition on my fritters. And besides, they got plenty of other options I am happy to chow down on.

While I like Half and Half Doughnuts, not gonna lie, these thing be pricey!! Those bombs are $3 each for a small bite. The old fashioned will run you round $4.75 and those fritters—like $6.75!! Yikes! Almost $7! I know prices are high in the city, but even my sweet tooth has a limit. It is why I see this place as more of a special treat kind of stop instead of an every morning with your coffee kind of place. Though the hit to the wallet is kind of softened knowing my stomach will be satisfied with what I get, so that is something. Thus Half and Half doughnuts is a definite recommend with a caveat so you know what you are getting before you go. But when you do go, set aside your price qualms and enjoy the doughnut experience. And who knows, you might actually like pineapple or blueberries in your fritters. And if you are an old fashion fan, you will definitely find one you like here. Sometimes you just can’t go wrong with the classic at any price.