Sunday, April 05, 2020

Eating in quarantine: Maverick’s Donut Company


So, I won’t be going out for a meal I can review in the near future. But I still gotta ear, and now I have more time to write too. So I shall turn my culinary scribblings to delivery/carry out from local purveyors of fine food, as well as the occasional at home creation of my own. (No, I’m not on the bread baking train, at least not yet).

If you can’t go out for food, bring the food to you. And it’s a good way to support the local businesses that are hurting for business during the pandemic. So with the motto of #TreatYourself in mind, I dialed up upper eats to try local fancy donut company Maverick’s Donut Company for the first time…and they were unavailable. And so I tried again the next day…and they were unavailable. But then Wednesday morning…success!

Maverick’s Byward Market location is closed for the time being, but the Bank and Heron location is open for carry out and delivery. I logged into the app not longer after their 10AM opening, because I’ve heard the popular selections can go fast. And indeed, two of the ones I was keen to try were not available. Still, I picked my six and placed my order.

And 30 minutes later I was meeting my Uber Driver at the curb wearing my winter gloves, making brief small talk with the driver from a safe distance as we did the hand off of the box of delicious goodness. Back upstairs, gloves off, hands washed, and we were ready to feast. Don’t they all look so pretty?



I’ll do a donut by donut review. Did I eat all six in one day? That’s not covered by ATIP; I’ll never tell.

There are two categories of donuts at Maverick’s – the classics at $2.25/each or $22.95/dozen, and the signature at $3.25/each or $33.15/dozen. Pricy, but you get what you pay for. And this ain’t Tim Hortons, even in theirdreams. I’ll review each donut but they were all just so fresh and quality, made with care.

I’ll start with the classics, and in the order I ate them. Over, um, many days…

Cinnamon Sugar Classic: The first one I tried, and probably my favourite of the bunch. A fresh vanilla cake donut that was still a little warm and had that crunch of freshness around the fluffy, most interior. And the cinnamon sugar, mmm, so flavourful and lip smacking. A classic done right.

Chocolate Dip Classic: Chocolate cake this time with that fresh fluffy crunchy texture, and chocolate cakey flavour. Sampling the dip separately you also get actual chocolate flavour in the frosting too, which you don’t always at you know who.

Vanilla Sparkle Classic: Again, the vanilla cake base, crunchy fluffy moist, with a vanilla glaze to hold on a boatload of traditional colourful sprinkles. Well executed, but not my favourite of the classics.

Now, on to the signature donuts.

Chocolate Peanut Butter: Vanilla cake base with chocolate frosting, peanut butter cream, and sprinkled on top. I’m a big chocolate peanut butter fan (Reese Peanut Butter Cups what up?!) so I was excited, but I don’t think this one executed as well as it could have. Biggest miss was that they used a vanilla cake base and not chocolate; I was really surprised to find that. Chocolate frosting was good, but it didn’t have the strength to hold up the chocolate pillar on its own. The peanut butter frosting was light and fluffy and had a subtle peanut butter taste – maybe a tad too subtle? It was generous and went down into the donut hole. The peanut bits on top were a nice textural note. All in all, it felt like it didn’t quite connect. A solid double, not a home run.

Lemon Ricotta: A vanilla cake base again with lemon frosting and lemon cream with little fruit bits I couldn’t identify – maybe some sort of candied lemon? Again, it was good, but not great. Could have been more lemony was my takeaway.


And that’s it. If you're doing some at-home modelling you may have noted that was five donuts – I ordered two of the chocolate peanut butter. A few were unavailable that I’d like to try the Cinnamon Swirl in the classics, and Oreo Nirvana in the signatures. The S’mores is popular but I’m not a big smore guy (don’t care for marshmallows) and I’m not sure about Maple Bacon.

Overall, I thought these donuts were great and I’ll have them again. They’re quality, flavourful, and oh so fresh. Tim’s is more an every day donut; these are a well-deserved #TreatYourself. And while the signatures may get the attention, I think the classics are where they standout. That Cinnamon Sugar Classic was simply outstanding.

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