WALNUT CREEK, CALIFORNIA – What’s better than a donut?
How about a donut that’s plucked hot from the fryer seconds before you eat it, and then doused in crazy and creative toppings like marshmallow fluff, raspberry sauce, and even bacon, just seconds before it’s served to you?
That’s the concept behind Walnut Creek’s fancy new donut shop, which just opened on the Pleasant Hill border.
Duck Donuts has officially opened its new shop at 2920 North Main Street (near the I-680/Treat interchange area).
We were the first to break the story of Duck Donuts coming to WC. And we were in the door just a week after the grand opening on February 7th to try out this new and aggressively duck-themed donut spot.
Duck Donuts is a smallish chain with a cult following. But so far, its restaurants have mainly been on the East Coast.
Locals Murat and Mona Bayramoglu loved the chain’s Midwest locations and convinced leadership to let them open a West Coast branch in Walnut Creek.
Duck Donuts is based around a simple but compelling concept. Rather than making a wide variety of donuts types (cake donuts, crullers, yeast donuts, etc) and stocking a big display case like most donut shops, Duck makes a single type of donut base (a vanilla cake donut) and then adds creative toppings.
This single choice allows them to do something most donut spots can’t; when you order your donuts, Duck fries them fresh and tops them right as you order.
Doing this requires some technical wizardry. When we visited, a donut robot was constantly churning away, frying fresh donuts continually to keep up with demand.
A staff member would fill a hopper with batter, and the robot would plop perfect circles into boiling oil. An automated conveyer then slowly moved the donuts through the oil, moved them through a cooling section, and then dropped them into a spinning hopper for staff members to grab.
Staff members (and Duck Donuts seems to require a lot of them) would then take the hot donuts to a prep station.
Here, they had all manner of toppings and sauces ready to go.
They would top each donut with the right combo of flavors (more on that below), quickly put them in a box, and then hand them over to customers, still piping hot from the frying that happened just moments earlier.
Normally, getting a hot and freshly fried donut at your favorite donut joint would be a matter of luck, and arriving at just the right time. At Duck Donuts, it happens by design for every single customer.
We visited with our three kids, and Mona fried up and topped a Valentine’s day donut selection just for us.
The decision to top each donut when it’s ordered means that Duck Donuts can get quite creative with the toppings.
In our box, I especially liked the Raspberry Fluff, which had vanilla icing, a raspberry sauce drizzle, and marshmallow fluff.
A PB Chip donut featured peanut butter icing studded with little chocolate chips.
Although the base donuts are all vanilla, there are plenty of chocolate options with the toppings! A Chocolate Love donut was entirely covered in chocolate icing and sprinkles, and Duck’s “Cupid’s Flip Flop” featured chocolate icing, vanilla sauce and a candy heart.
We also tried some more basic donuts, like a simple glazed option.
The donuts were delicious, and the “fried while you wait” concept makes them stand out. Each one was hot and gooey, with the toppings still molten in many cases. Again, that’s different from any other donut shop I’ve tried locally.
Duck Donuts also serves coffee, and crazy drinks like a milkshake topped with a donut. You can even get a breakfast sandwich served on, you guessed it, a donut!
The interior is bright a fun, with rubber duckies everywhere.
You can even get a duck-themed coffee mug.
To be fair, there are a few drawbacks to the “fried fresh” concept. In a traditional donut shop, service is lighting fast because you’re basically just picking things from a case. Because Duck Donuts fries everything to order, that can mean a longer wait, especially for bigger orders.
If you want a chocolate donut or a lighter yeast donut, you’re also out of luck, since each donut base is the same.
As long as you expect those limitations, though, Duck Donuts is truly a different donut experience from other local options. If you go, I absolutely recommend eating there, or at least eating your donuts in your car right after ordering!
The big idea here is to have your donuts fresh and piping hot. Although Duck’s donuts are still tasty after a few minutes, the full experience demands eating them right away. Duck Donuts has several tables inside so you can enjoy your treats right away.
I’d also recommend getting several donuts and experimenting. Again, the “made to order” concept means Duck can get creative with the toppings, and change them out all the time to make seasonal combos and flavors.
We enjoyed the Valentines themed box, which was especially tasty paired with coffee.
But I would definitely come back to try their signature Maple Bacon donut, or to get themed donuts for other holidays.
Duck Donuts is already drawing quite a crowd. Especially in the busy morning times, I’d recommend getting there early, or perhaps visiting mid morning when the line has died down a bit. Of course, if you want donuts for lunch, the Bay Area Telegraph won’t judge you!
Overall, Duck Donuts is a tasty spot and a very cool new addition to the local donut scene.
Check them out online here or head into the store to grab some gooey, bacon topped tastiness!
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Thank you! I’ll try them, but still have a soft spot for Great Donuts in Alamo. Fortunately, Dainty donuts that took over from Sandy are also very good. Their cake donuts are so divine and they have a multitude of toppings.
We got half a dozen on Sunday to try them out and they are delicious. Very creative idea and love the different toppings.