Free-form food-combo-ing and outlandish edible-focused experimentation has always found a foothold in Portland, a town known for its iconoclastic eateries and unfussy approach to sating appetites.
One of the recent leaders of the go-the-delicious-distance food scene in Portland is Blue Star Donuts, a growing company with a quartet of Oregon outposts plus another to come down south.
Make that way down south, as in Venice, as in Abbot Kinney Boulevard, right here in Los Angeles. The grand opening for the new straight-from-Portland pastry place is Wednesday, Oct. 21, but Blue Star is giving Angelenos a sneak peek -- and taste -- with a free donut distribution on Monday, Oct. 19.
Do we even need to type "while supplies last" right here? Okay, we just did.
We're not sure what sort of round, hole-in-the-middle treat you'll walk away with on Oct. 19, but check out some of the flavors Blue Star is known for. There's a piña colada-flavored donut, which may make you long for some splash of pineapple/coconut every single morning, and there's a Blueberry Bourbon Basil, three "B"-starting words that typically don't show up at the same meal, much less within the same foodstuff.
Blue Star has had over three years to perfect the art of the flavor-poppin' pastry, and how that pastry melts upon the tongue. "Brioche-style" is the name of the goodie game with Blue Star, so the bite and mouthfeel of the donut will likely seem a bit different from all other donuts you've encountered.
Donuts, we don't need to tell you, tend to be donutty. Brioche is a whole other ball of dough.
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More Blue Star flavors include The O.G. or Orxata Glaze, which has more than a hint of horchata and the Grenache Ganache, "a nod to California's wine country."
There's also an intriguing choice called Mimosa. Anything else we could write about a mimosa-flavored donut would truly be a case of gilding the cider-yummy, sparkling-wine-tastic lily.
Good to note: Both the Mimosa and Grenache Ganache are specific to LA, not Portland, and they will be available down the road. So let that anticipation build a little as you dream of your initial bite.
Try for your freebie on Monday, Oct. 19, but if those donuts go, go, go -- which they will, will, will -- you can get your dollar bill-waving hands on some of Portland's celebrity pastries beginning on Oct. 21 in Venice.
