Saturday, September 14, 2019

Morning Meander for The Best Donuts in Lexington :)



(Updated.) After our morning walk, Mark was determined to find fresh, mom-and-pop style donuts.


Now, you would think, living in a Southern city, these would be everywhere - but they're not.


In fact, you would be surprised to find how lacking Lexington is donut shops, other than chains like Krappy Kreme (Krispy Kreme) and Dunked-in-Dirt (Dunkin) Donuts - with terrible coffee.


(Me, I'm not a huge sugar-in-the-morning fan, anyway, except maybe Greek yogurt with honey sometimes. I prefer salty in the morning, but my husband loves them and whatever makes my honey happy :)


So, there's Spalding's as a strong #1 for best place to get donuts in Lexington ...









... which truly are phenomenal, traditional, old-school-style, slightly crispy donuts ...









... (plus they've now added on specialty donuts).


However, if you're not in line for Spaldings by 6 a.m, even 5 a.m. on Saturdays? Never mind, you won't get in. Plus last time I checked, they were still cash only, no debit cards for people who don't carry cash on them anymore.


The #2 best place to get donuts in this area, in our opinion, is Frank's Donuts in Georgetown, with the original location in Paris, Kentucky (opening in Lexington soon) ...







It's not as flashy and hipster as the others, but never judge a book by its cover!


This is the only place I know of that has raspberry-icing, blackberry-icing, and blueberry-icing donuts (second shelf) - fresh, puffed gooey deliciousness!







But it's a bit of a drive - and again, if you're not there by 9:00 a.m., you're SOL.


We considered going to Magee's, which we love - which is actually our choice for 4th best place to get donuts in Lex (see #3, which is Doughdaddy's in Versailles, at end of post ) ...



















... but Mark works right across the street from them and people bring them for meetings all the time - PLUS - with it being so close to campus, it is the #1 destination for breakfast during football and basketball games, and since UK is playing Florida today, at home, there will be a wait line that wraps around all the tables and the block, we didn't feel like waiting an hour ...










Plus, I consider Magee's more of a cookie place than donuts - deliciousssssss!


Speaking of UK ... The Wildcat cookies are here, the Wildcat cookies are here!






Then, there's a newer place I can't rate for you because I haven't been yet. Mark has and calls it "hipster" - it's called "North Lime Donuts" ... (on North Limestone Street of course) ...









... which though I'm not hipster, still looks like my kinda artisan-style place ....









... but Mark and I didn't like feeling that we have to dress up for breakfast on Saturday morning, especially just after a big walk.





Sports shorts, T-shirts, and baseball caps work just fine on Saturday mornings, please :)


And some have brought them to Mark's work for meetings and he hated them. He says the icing is super good, but there's nutmeg or hazelnut in them, and he hates both, so cross that off the list.


Thus, we heard they are opening a Frank's in Lexington, and the site is on Google Maps, but it didn't say whether or not they were open yet - so we decided to find out.


However, we wanted to bypass anywhere near UK's campus, as there's a football game and lots of traffic - so I convinced my husband to take New Circle Road East to bypass it (having lived here much longer).


FYI, this is how our nonsense conversations go ...


Mark: "Argh, I HATE New Circle Road. It's almost as bad with bumper-to-bumper, red lights every few feet - and there are no trees, it's getting so run down."

Me: "Seriously, Mr. Detroit? You want to talk about run-down? C'mon, let's go this way for a history lesson, we might learn something. It's all in the way you look at it. The architecture tells you a story."

(Teasing): "And it's educational in other ways, too. I mean, where else would you find 1000 billboards for Trump-voting, white-male-owned predatory businesses like mortgage lenders, cash lending, lawyers, liquor, strip clubs, condemning ads for Jesus and addiction help, all in one place? lol"


"See? White Trumper predatory nuts have got vulnerable, tragic, broken, and poor covered, from birth til death, all in billboards, here. 'C'mon see us, your benevolent white patriach, you can't trust anybody but us - WE'LL save you,' lol. Sure, by pushing them further into debt to you/economic slavery.


Because guess who owns the majority of these predatory-on-the-poor businesses? You guessed it - wealthy, Trump-voting white men."


For instance, this known Trump supporter and predatory hack is from Florida and puts these signs up everywhere in poorer, largely African American areas, all over the South - including all over New Circle Road here in Lexington ...













However, John Morgan was just caught paying graffiti artists to "vandalize" his own signs with gang-graffiti writing in poor sections of Southern cities with larger people-of-color populations (see article here).


(Note the "vandalism" still says"#For the People and the messages aren't necessarily negative - just like his original ad lol.)






Isn't that just a stereotypical Trumper thing to do? Claim things are "rigged" and you've been "robbed," but you're the actual thief and rigged it yourself? lol



What's that called again, ladies and gentleman, when mentally ill and/or soul-depraved - men OR women - chronically project their own motivations and behavior onto others?


PROJECTION.


Very good, ladies and gentlemen, you're finally catching on. I hope.


By the way - turns out vandalizing his own billboards was not illegal, nor can it get him disbarred for lack of ethics and racial targeting/profiling. Morgan got in zero legal trouble for doing so and still practices - other lawyers just became suspicious when the signs were all vandalized on the same day in different cities, had it investigated, and called the press, putting warnings on their own websites noting he was official caught doing so.


Oh, but there are more rich white male Trumper predator-of-the-poor ads to be found on this side of town populated predominantly by people of color...





































Mark: "Lol. See? Another depressing reason not to go this way. Hey, speaking of attention-seeking billboards, I'm going to put up one of my face as an ad to my own website I just thought of, like all the other narcissists, and call it "MarkIsAwesome.Com."


Me: "Lol, Oh? And what would draw people to your site, other than your awesomeness?"


Mark: "Just selfies and pictures of every meal I eat, every day, like everyone else does."


Me: "Lol. Wow. That's some riveting shit, honey. And yet it works for so many, inexplicably."

"Okay, now see, here's the historical part though ... this was the first part of New Circle Road built, the original suburban sprawl, in the 1950s - it was the happening place to be, the birth of white suburbia, an evolving story of America, told through civil engineering and architecture."

"Considering Lexington is one of few American cities not built on water, it was originally built like a starburst, with rays coming from main street as a central location. As it grew, they needed a way to connect the "rays" around town. So now it's more like wagon wheel - and New Circle Road was built in 1950 was the bypass road connecting the "spokes."


"They began building the second, outer loop, Man O'War in the late 1980s, but it was never finished - it stops dead at Versailles Road at the gates of Calumet, right next to Keeneland, in a "C" shape and that is because they couldn't get the Wright family - owners of "Calumet" baking powder and other goods, as well as triple crown winners, Whirlaway, Citatation, Alydar, and Affirmed. They almost sold, Calumet almost went belly up, but international Polish businessman, Henryk de Kwiatkowski, flew in in the 11th hour and bought it right underneath developers' noses in bankruptcy auction. It will never sell now (hopefully) - no longer prized winning race horses, it's a pretty successful stud farm. Plus it's a beautiful accoutrement to Keeneland Race track. "










"Anyway, that's another story, back to first loop, the original rim of the wagon wheel, New Circle Road ..."

"So, after the war, when the economy was booming, with segregation still in effect? Man, this was white utopia lol - roller rinks, drive-ins with carhops on roller skate serving your food to your hot rod, bowling alleys - whites only, of course. Even if you were a child of color, no skating, bowling, or carhops for you :("


"Then all the white people starting moved further out in thew newer developments with even bigger lots and bigger homes - and as segregation ended, people of color bought their secondhand American dream - only white people preyed on them in a process called "redlining" - selling them crappy loan mortgages and car loans with astronomical interest rates and balloon payments, or raising the price higher than they were now worth, destining them to fail - there were, and still are, cash advances, pawn shops - anything to make more money off the poor, legally bind and keep them poor - it was a way to keep them economically segregated and enslaved."










"They would give them loans when other people wouldn't, not out of being kind, but as a way to prey on them, keep them down, enslaved economically."


"And the people of color weren't stupid - but they had no other choice if they wanted a car or home, even a sloppy second-hand American dream was better than what they came from."


"White people then blamed the poor people for things getting run down, when it was white fault for preying on the poor/making them pay double the price for their sloppy-seconds anyway, keeping them in the pit - economically indebted/enslaved."


Mark: "Sounds about right. It makes me sad. And like I said, no trees."


Me: "Yeah, that was a thing in the 50s, tear down ALL the trees when building strip-malls and half-acre subdivisions, I'm not sure why. But it's important we don't turn away from, and learn, from our past - all of it, the good, the bad, and the ugly - making sure not to repeat the ugly. Because we need to stop blaming people of color for everything - we did this, to this part of town, ourselves."


"And past the ugly billboards and pawn shops and shady mortgage lender, cash lending places, and bad credit/high price car lots - there are still some little historical gems tucked away, nonetheless, now open to everybody."


"The good, the bad, and the ugly about evolution of modern civilization is all here. And we must never forget that the American dream comes at the labor and expense of our poorest people - America was never "great" for everybody. So we take the good, but don't white-wash the bad and the ugly - do our best not to repeat it."


"One of those gems is the Parkette Drive In built in 1951 ..."










... with the same vintage sign out front, with car hop atop ...


















And it's still old-school diner food - try the Poor Boy and crinkle fries (not to be confused with a Louisiana Po'Boy, which is shrimp).




Then there's Burgers and Shakes, built in 1957 ...







... where up until a year ago, you could still buy a burger for less than a dollar ...







Are they the best burger and fries in Lexington?


No - but fun if you want the whole drive-in/diner experience (particular Parkette).


(IMO, the best burger and fries in Lexington is at Saul Good - but that's another post ;) 

Eastland Bowling Lanes, built in 1959 ...









which became Collins Bowling Center ...









... which only recently closed in May of 2017.


Note that old 50/60s building material looked super cool and shiny modern back then, but it does not age well ...



Rundown? Maybe. That shiny 50/60s stuff doesn't age well anyway.


But it's still an important reminder of post-war white American still-segregated excess - all the good, the bad, and the ugly that came along with it.


So we finally make it to the new Frank's Donuts - Lexington, on 3rd Street - and it's not open yet!!!


Thus, we decided to go out Versailles Road.


FYI, it's pronounced "Vuhr-SAILS" here in Ken-tuck, folks - if you say "Vehr-SIGH," it's a dead giveaway you're not from here and they'll chase you out of town with torches and pitchforks. Just kidding. Sort of.


Same with Louisville - it's "Luhvuhl," almost one word/not quite 2 syllable. Not "LOO-ey-ville" or "Lewisville." And Athens-Boonesboro - it's "AY-thens-Boonesboro," not "A-thens-Boonesboro."


Midway between Lexington and Versailles, just past Keeneland Race Track - is a little BP gas station that doubles as a donut shop called "Doughdaddy's" - which IMO, is actually #3 for third best donuts in this area.


That's right, I said a gas station - what did I just say about not judging a book by its cover?


Sometimes little dives are the best. Granted, usually not gas stations - but trust me on this one? If you're going to Keeneland in October - stop at Doughdaddy's on the way :)













Try the sour cream or maple donuts, they're AWEEEESOMME.








And if you want a little salt instead of sweet (or both)?









Try the bacon and maple donuts - don't knock it until you've tried it (I said "ew" at first, too).


Much like chicken and waffles, contrary to what you'd think, the salt/sweet mix is absolutely delicious.


They're a Doughdaddy's original - the only place I know of where you can find a bacon/maple donut :)


Ding, ding ding - today's winner was Doughdaddy's donuts - ah, hit the sweet-and-salty spots for both of us perfectly today :)


Not to often, though - terrible for you - just every once in a blue moon :)

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