A few years ago we extolled the virtues of one of Buffalo’s oldies but goodies, Paula’s Donuts. Whether you’re a fan of the peanut stick or the cruller, the maple bar or the raspberry filled, Paula’s is your best bet for top-notch donuts in the city limits.
Once you step inside the Kenmore Avenue location, you can easily imagine
that people used to spend half the day sitting at the counter, elbow to elbow, drinking black
coffee from Styrofoam cups, making significant use of the easily
accessible ashtrays, reading the paper and downing a donut or two–all without guilt. Today these types of donut shops are disappearing, only to make an appearance as a backdrop in the occasional washed-out indie movie. Most of them have been replaced by
cheap, homogenized imitations replete with
drive-thrus and marketing agencies, but Paula Huber’s abilities with a donut kept
her clientele coming in for the donuts, the service and the charm.
Looks like we’re not the only folks that noticed, because today Paula’s has made the national foodie circuit, with a glowing post from SeriousEats.com. The editors sum up Paula’s product in a more succinct manner than I can: “There’s nothing too thought-out or elevated about any of these
doughnuts: they’re just excellent examples of a totally classic form.” You can read more about their visit to Paula’s yourself, but I’ll bet it will make you want to spend your lunch hour trying to get to Paula’s and back, all for the sake of a warm cinnamon roll or a twist, so maybe you ought to wait until the workday is almost over before reading it.