blognut

Banbury Cross
705 S 700 E
Salt Lake City, UT 84102


For reasons we will not get in to, earlier this week Blognut ended up in Salt Lake City, Utah. After successfully avoiding theological conversion while touring the Morman Temple and Tabernacle, we decided it was time for a donut. A quick Google search later and we knew exactly where we had to go.

In 2001, Banbury Cross Donuts was voted best donut shop in Salt Lake City by Citysearch, which, surprisingly, is filled to the brim with local donut dealers (a finding which once again brings out our frustration with New York City and its unacceptable lack of donut shops). We blow $10 on a cab to Banbury which is located on a mostly residential road a few miles from downtown Salt Lake. I comment to my Slovenian cab driver on the magnificence of the Wasatch Mountains (the portion of the Rockies in which SLC resides) to which he responds “I hate the mountains” – (having grown up near the Slovenian/Austrian Alps he apparently has no respect for our second-rate American counterpart).


I arrive at Banbury Cross at 2:30 in the afternoon. I stand at the counter with a local mail woman taking a break from her deliveries to take in one of Banbury’s critically-decorated Nuts. After a few minutes of waiting for an employee to make an appearance, the mail-lady says to me confidently “They’re on break.” “Really,” I reply, to which she hits me with “No, just messing with you – they’re just lazy.” Then she starts laughing hysterically at her own joke, which I couldn’t help but think wasn’t actually a joke, but really just a lie.

Finally, an unenthusiastic Donut-Lady arrives at the counter and takes our order. The mail woman gets two glazed and retreats to her USPS van to enjoy her purchase. We order three donuts – a Cinnamon, a Strawberry-frosted, and a Maple Bar (while Banbury is supposedly known for their double blueberry variety, consisting of a blueberry cake donut topped with blueberry frosting, we don’t spot any behind the counter – the Donut-Lady looks at us like we’re crazy when we inquire about them and says “Maybe we don’t make them anymore” - so we’re not exactly sure what the Blueberry situation is).


The best thing about Banbury’s donuts is their tremendous size – their ringed varieties are nearly twice the height of a DD or KK offering. But their quality doesn’t end with just stature, their flavor is super-good as well. The Cinnamon is a yeast-raised ring topped with a cinnamon/sugar crumb mixture which we think comes from Aunt Jemima coffee-cake mix (remember the ones in the little rectangular paper tray?) – if not, it’s a near perfect knock-off. This Nut was truly amazing. In addition to the sure fire delicousness of the crumbs, the dough was soft and stretchy, almost like a fresh, hot bagel, but much easier to chew. The Strawberry had a similar consistency and the perfect amount of berry-flavor. The maple bar, though tasty, was hard and dry – mainly because we accidentally left it on the air conditioner vent in our hotel room all night. We decided it wouldn’t be fair to judge this Nut.

We left SLC happy to have discovered this Donut-Temple, tucked away in a salty valley and nestled between rocky mountains.

Donut Scores:

Cinnamon - 9.3
Strawberry Frosted - 8.8
Maple Bar - NA

Morman temple, Temple Square