10 donut places in Indiana that you need to visit

One of the sweet, sugary substances I can't get enough of are donuts. I've always had a love for them, but over the years my delight in donuts has swelled. I've also become a much pickier eater when it comes to donuts. No longer am I content with Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Kreme, or anything you can get at a local grocery/convenience store. That's not to say I won't eat a donut from one of those places if it is presented to me; I don't enjoy them as much. As a result, I've ventured out to quite a few local donut establishments in my 5.5 years of living in Indiana. If you love donuts, I encourage you to take a trip and give each of these places a try.

1. Long's Bakery in Indianapolis
Long's is the first place on my list because it probably is the most well-known. It has been around for awhile, and it has made it to quite a few "Best donuts in the Mid-West/Indiana" lists. Yes, those lists are a thing, and yes, I've spent too much time looking at them. Long's is just down the road from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and is a CASH ONLY establishment. It's crazy to think that a bakery would have lines at all hours of the day, but Long's does. I've been several times and have stood in those lines. This place has a lot of baked goods to offer besides donuts, but most people are there for the donuts. In my visits, I sampled mostly cake donuts, all of which have been delightful. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd go with the Applesauce Donut, but I'm a sucker for anything apple.

2. Rise'n Roll Bakery (3 Locations)
Rise'n Roll was a revelation when I first discovered it in Fort Wayne. The Fort Wayne store is not their main store, but it is the only one I've been to and the closest one to me. The store has Amish food, specializing in jams/jellies, other canned goods, meat, and cheese, and bakery items. They also can do meals there as well, with simple breakfast items and lunch sandwiches. The main draw for me is their Cinnamon Caramel Donut, affectionately known as the Amish Crack donut. These beauties are covered in a caramel glaze, but then are covered in powdered sugar after that, so when you take a bite it just melts in your mouth. These donuts are truly a dream, and it's no wonder they were voted to be the official donut for National Donut Day in 2018. If you go on that day (June 5th), and they do what they did last year, you'll get one FOR FREE.


3. Deluxe Donuts in Anderson
Deluxe Donuts has, in my humble opinion, some of the best cake donuts I've ever had. This place has been serving delicious donuts for quite some time based on the decor of the place, and they are open 24 hours! This huge, seeing as how many local donuts stores will close in the early afternoon or when they sell out. Not here! I've enjoyed every kind of donut I've had from this place, and have especially enjoyed seasonal flavors like peach and pumpkin. My favorite from here would have to be the Dutch Crunch Donut. It's hard to describe, so you'll have to go try one for yourself.


4. Jack's Donuts (Multiple Locations)
More and more of these places have popped up around Northern Indianapolis over the last couple years, which has been great to see. This local chain serves up anything from a classic chocolate glazed to maple bacon donuts or donuts with cereal on them. I wouldn't say these are as good as some of the others on this list, but I haven't had a bad donut from there yet. I appreciate Jack's because they stay open later than most local places and have good seating areas to hang out and visit.


5. Mary Lou Donuts in Lafayette
It was by chance that I happened upon this gem while out disc golfing in Lafayette. I immediately fell in love with both the donuts here and how much I had to pay for them. These are fairly cheap donuts, but be warned this is a CASH ONLY store. This place tends to garner lines as well, though the couple times I have been in the afternoon I have not encountered a line. My favorite from here is the Apple Fritter, which is large and packed with cinnamon and apples. The blueberry cake donut was a close second.


6. Titus Bakery (2 locations)
I was lucky enough to be able to try Titus Bakery this winter, and I was not disappointed. This is another place that sells a wide variety of baked goods, so it's definitely worth a visit even if you're not a donut person (but let's be real...if you're already this far into this blog you ARE a donut person). They have quite a few types of donuts here too, so I'm eager to go back and try more. Their most popular donut is the Pershing, a donut with maple icing and cinnamon on the inside. I can attest, that is a GOOD donut.


7. Poppy's Xtreme Donuts in Marion
The donut store took off a couple years ago in my town after Marion's other donut store closed. It has been expanding its business ever since and now has a second location along with many other venues that sell their donuts. The draw here is their yeast donuts, especially their filled donuts. Even though I'm more of a cake donut guy, I enjoy their Peanut Butter Fluff filled donut and their Blueberry filled donut. They do have a small selection of cake donuts here, but they aren't as special as their yeast donuts.


8. Quack Daddy Donuts in Pendleton
This store is located right in the small downtown of Pendleton, and was quite busy when I stopped in. The reviews for the place are glowing, and it seems like many people are delighted in a donut store that lets you customize your own donut. They pump out fresh (mini) cake donuts quite often during the day, and you are able to pick toppings and frostings for your donuts. Toppings range from peanut butter drizzle to cereal to bacon, which reminds me a lot of toppings at Jack's donuts.  This store is a lot like the chain Peace, Love, and Little Donuts in Ohio, which is high praise. One thing that sets this place apart from Jack's and PLLD is that they will serve you milk in a frosted mug, which many people seem to enjoy.


9. Tom's Donuts in Fort Wayne
I usually end up at Rise'n Roll when I'm looking for a donut in Fort Wayne, but Tom's made a Buzzfeed list for best donuts in Indiana, so I've ventured there twice and left satisfied both times. It's a pretty nondescript building, but the donuts are amazing and cheap. I bought 3 donuts there for less than $2, so that's saying something. Once I came in and there were a lot of regulars in there drinking coffee and socializing, and I couldn't help but smile. My favorite donut from here was the Apple Spice donut.


10. Dan's Variety Bakery in Kokomo
To close out my list, I go with another place whose donuts I have yet to taste. Here's the deal: I've gone twice and they've been sold out both times. Normally that would be upsetting, but both times I've come an hour or so before their closing hour (noon). Dan's, more affectionately known as Dirty Dan's, is unique is that they open at 1am. Who would want donuts that late? It turns out that a lot of people do. Reviews on Tripadvisor and Yelp declare that there are frequently lines out the door when they open, and many friends of mine who went to nearby colleges said they loved going on donut runs to Dan's at 1am. I'm conflicted on whether I want to have a late night and get fresh donuts, or if I should wake up early and get them around 8am.


 (Note: I did not include any orchards for their apple cider donuts, though if you like the sound of that, check out Tuttle Orchard, Apple of His Eye Orchard, and Deer Creek Orchard)

Honorable Mention: Heyerly's in Ossian: I was reminded about this one after posting this, but I don't think it beats out any of the 10 I listed. The place smells great and has a variety of baked goods (even homemade pasta!), and had a pretty good applesauce donut. I also remember buying cookies and enjoying those as well.

If you like donuts, you may notice there are some notable ones missing. I either haven't been there yet, haven't heard about it yet, or it may be just okay. Here are some examples of that last reason...
-Square Donuts (multiple locations): fun concept, but donuts are just okay
-Concannon's (Muncie): the store impressed me, the cake donuts notsomuch (they are better known for yeast donuts)
-Taylor's (Indianapolis): good, not great
-GADCO (Indianapolis): expensive craft donuts, and though the ones I had were good, the were out of the one I really wanted (french toast donut)
-Wabash Donut Shoppe(Wabash)- good apple fritters, but they either closed or moved away
-Rocket 88 Donuts (Indianapolis)- closed, and they were expensive (though pretty decent)

When your best friend gets married to the girl of his dreams...

This past weekend qualified as one of the best weekends of my life. However, I played a minor role in the grand scheme of the weekend. DISCLAIMER: I haven't posted in awhile and so many grand things happened this weekend, so this is going to be a long post.

One thing I learned this weekend is that Kenyon, MN is quite a ways away from Marion, IN. A tiny town in the middle of the rolling hills of Minnesota, Kenyon is home to the Gunderson House, a large, rustic house with a rich history. The outside of the house is beautiful, and it was on the front steps of this house that Nate and Brittany got married. However, there were many fun events that transpired before the actual wedding to talk about...

I drove up to Minnesota, spending a day and a half in Wisconsin visiting my parents before moseying over to pick up my friend Jes from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. I hadn't seen Jes in a couple years, but we picked up right where we left off. Good friends have a tendency to do that very well. He had grown some facial hair since I'd last seen him, but he was still the Jes I knew. We passed the time on the drive to our hotel catching up on each other's lives, which was very refreshing. It makes me happy to hear he is doing well. We arrived at our hotel about 45 minutes before I told the rest of the guys to show up, so Jes and I made ourselves at home.

The plan for the night was simple: Go paintballing at an indoor arena in St. Paul, then drive 20 minutes to downtown Minneapolis for dinner at a nice steakhouse. Nate and the rest of the groomsmen showed up early (apart from Nate's brother in law Drew, who was meeting us at the paintball place), so I figured why not leave early and take a scenic route to the paintball place? Nate was ecstatic to hear of our evening plans, and I learn with some relief that I'm not the only one with almost no experience with paintball. Unfortunately, we still made such good time that we got to the arena 45 minutes before our reservation time, which meant Drew wasn't close to being there yet either. To pass the time, Nate, Jes, Grant, Geoffrey, and I tossed a frisbee around in the parking lot. When we finally went inside, we signed our waivers and got loaded up with all of our equipment. Being the bachelor, Nate was provided with everything for free, plus a free upgrade to a better gun. Everyone besides the Fitzgerald brothers opted to wear a camo jumpsuit for extra padding, which smelled rather strongly of cleaner, much like the helmets we wore. We had to share the arena with another group, so we'd play a few rounds and then take a break while the other group went in to play a few rounds. We played 3 v 3, 2 v 2 v 2, and capture the flag (1 neutral flag).  Going into that night, I had only played paintball once before in a forest for only 20 minutes or so (we had to stop because someone got hit in the eye). During that time I never once shot a person, so I was concerned about my abilities to do so. I'm happy to say I was able to hit several people! I also got hit 5 or 6 times...those welts have almost totally faded out now. We ended our session by doing a round of us 5 against Nate, which as you might expect ended badly for him. Nate had actually gotten hit in the neck at one point, but thankfully it had just grazed him and the mark was gone by the next day.

Once we shrugged off all of our gear, we were on our way to JD Hoyt's, the steakhouse where we would feast for the evening. I don't say "feast" lightly because we ate quite well. Grant and I each got a small "buddy bowl" to start things off, and what a heavenly treat that was! It consisted of red beans, rice, creole sauce, and it was topped with cheese and served with cheesy garlic bread. I added a couple shrimp to mine, which was a fantastic choice. Everyone ate well and marveled at how good their food was. My pork chops were phenomenal. Once we finished eating, we said goodbye to Drew and fought the post-game Twins crowd out of the city.

Nate stayed with Jes and I that night. He showered first and then I followed afterward, making a joke about how messy Nate left things. Apparently that wisecrack was enough for Nate to comment how I was like his 2nd mom, since I was always keeping track of him. I took it as a compliment. Sure, one can bring up that a best man should be keeping track of the groom on his wedding weekend, but this has been going on long before this weekend!

Saturday was a more laid back day. The only plans were the rehearsal at 4 with dinner to follow, so Nate, Jes, and I decided to visit the Mall of America. We first checked to make sure Brittany didn't need any help with preparations, but she said everything was under control. The Mall of America is gigantic. I knew that going into the trip, but seeing it, being in it, truly brought the enormity of the place into perspective. There were four levels of stores, with duplicate stores even popping up on different levels. The middle of the mall was a Nickelodeon amusement park, there was a movie theater, mini golf course, log ride, and a plethora of restaurants. We could smell the Cinnabon located on the bottom floor all the way up on the top level. That smell tugged on our heartstrings for awhile, but Nate and I decided gelato would be the better choice. We decided to walk around each level of the mall and then end with a walkthrough of the amusement park in the center. Early on we ran into Nate's family, which led to a short but pleasant conversation. Once we had completed our 2.5 hour journey, we headed back to the hotel for a bit to change into nice clothes for the rehearsal.

We arrived a minute late to when Brittany had said to be there, but considering that Nate lost track of his keys right before we left, a minute isn't too bad. Having never been in a wedding before, I found there was a lot to learn about timing and when things happen. After a couple times of going through the proceedings, I felt I had gotten the gist of things. At the rehearsal I was able to finally get to spend some time with the bridesmaids, most of whom I knew from my time at Huntington but didn't know very well. It was nice to get to talk to them again and also meet some new people, like Brittany's sister Bethany, the matron of honor. Another new person I got to finally speak to was Nate's 13 year old sister Brielle. I had been to Nate's house in Michigan once before and had seen his family when Nate moved into our dorm room at the start of the school year, but I hadn't seen Brielle in years and had never really spoken to her. She stood in front of me during the wedding, so in rehearsal we had plenty of time to talk. Thankfully she isn't shy and enjoyed poking fun at me and being slightly violent and not leaving me alone...which oddly enough meant she took a liking to me and we got along really well. After the rehearsal, we all had dinner together at a nice place in a nearby town. Naturally all of us Huntington folk sat together, which actually was a bit of a shame because I would have liked to have talked to some other people who were there too. Regardless, it was a delicious dinner spent with great company. Nate's father, keeping with the characteristic of Drachts being wonderful people, generously paid for everyone. After dinner was over, us young'uns went to an ice cream place in Brittany's hometown and walked around as a thunderstorm began to loom in the distance. It was a nice way to wind down the night. With rain beginning to come down, Jes and I took our leave, made a quick stop at Wal-Mart for car decorations, and retired to our hotel to watch the storm blow through. I read my best man speech to Jes, who is the only person to ever hear it because as it turned out, there were no speeches during the reception. (this was an oversight on my part because I should have asked about it, but it happens)

Finally, we get to Sunday, the day of the wedding. Jes and I woke up early and sat around for awhile. When the time finally came, we changed, snapped a quick picture for Instagram's sake, and headed to the Gunderson House.

 It would be the only picture I took that day. Once we arrived I stowed my phone in Grant's unused shoe and it stayed there until the reception was over. The groomsmen received their flowers and eventually Brittany came downstairs to privately meet with Nate outside. She looked beautiful. The private meeting between the soon to be married couple wasn't quite private, with squealing bridesmaids peeking through a window. All I know is that Nate was smiling from ear to ear pretty much from that point forward. He was enthralled by how Brittany looked and was caught up in the moment. We all took pictures next and then killed some time waiting for everyone else to arrive. Sonya and I were able to spot our friend Evan in the crowd and had a chance to quickly go out and say hi before the wedding began. Bethany and I walked out to our spots like pros, and the tiny ring bearer made it to me to deliver the rings without a problem. I was concerned because I had seen him twirling the box around earlier and heard the rings sliding around inside, but I worried for nothing. When asked for the rings, there was no issue with the exchange. Let me tell you though, standing so close to the proceedings was a powerful thing. The words the officiant was saying seemed to hold more power, just like the words of the song Grant sang and the words of the beautiful original poem Danae recited. There was one point in the proceedings where Nate was supposed to be repeating the words of the officiant that he didn't respond and the officiant had to say the line again. I don't know exactly why that happened, but here's my theory: after he had first seen Brittany in her dress and they met in private, Nate described how Brittany looked as "breathtaking." I think Nate was so caught up in looking at her that he stopped paying attention to what the officiant was saying. I thought I would be able to keep my emotions in check during the ceremony. I was wrong. To hear her grandfather quote a song he sang to his wife, to see tears on Brittany's face, to hear the last notes of a song being sang warbled by emotion, to see two wonderful people getting married feet away...it was too much.   After the ceremony was a casual reception. Tasty food was served, yard games were played, and enjoyable conversation was had throughout the afternoon. Nate and Brittany had a beautiful first dance on the porch of the Gunderson house too. Unfortunately I missed out on the bouquet and garter toss, but I don't regret it because I was too busy decorating Nate's car with Brielle, Bethany, and her husband Joe.

From that point on, people slowly began trickling out and heading home until finally it was Nate and Brittany's turn to say goodbye. Once they had gone, the remaining people did some cleaning and celebrated a successful day by eating at a Mexican restaurant. Just like getting ice cream the previous night, it was a fitting way to wind down from the day. After that was over, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel. I can't help but think of all the wonderful things that happened this weekend and how blessed I am. I was able to travel to a new place and have great conversations with new friends and old friends. I ate great food and experienced new things. The weather was perfect for the wedding and even the traffic going by kept quieter than they could have been. I came to realize just how amazing both the Dracht and Fitzgerald families were. Above all, I got to see one of my best friends get married to the girl of his dreams. The joy and love these two have for each other is something I hope someday I will be able to have because it is an amazing thing to behold.