churros make blognut go "bleh"

Blognut loves Mexican food. I love tacos, burritos, enchiladas, flautas and just about any other shape our neighbors to the South can mold meat, beans, cheese and tortillas into. But no matter how hard I try, I just can't get behind Mexican Donuts. And by Mexican Donuts I mean Churros.

To this day, the only Churro I've had that was moderately enjoyable was that from Havana Central. But having been tipped off to the Churros at Soho's Dos Caminos by Donut-Scholar John T. Edge, I thought for sure this was my chance to finally land a top-notch Churro. The place is known for stuffing high-end Tex Mex into the mouths of people like Ashlee Simpson so chances are the prices are high and the décor chic - but does the pastry chef know his/her way around a Donut?

But before we get to Donuts, I'll start by saying that the taco chef certainly knows his/her way around a taco. The fiery slow-cooked pork carnitas are among the tastiest and freshest I've ever had. And probably the hottest too. One bite of this simple union of pulled pork, green chili salsa and aged cotija and I'm harkened back to the time I bit into my first habanero pepper in the middle of a Kroger Supermarket thinking it was a baby bell. I had to drink six smoothies and a jug of bottled water before I could speak again – I'm lucky I didn't have a hyponatremic seizure right there in the middle of the produce section. I convince my dinner party to wait for nearly an hour before ordering dessert while my taste buds rebound from the pain.

In order to experience the Dos Caminos Churro, one has to order a whole bunch of other useless crap. Along with brownies, bananas and passion fruit marshmallows, the Churros are served merely as dipping vehicles for the White & Dark Oaxacan Chocolate Fondue. And me being a white chocolate hater, of course my pot has a white to dark chocolate ratio of around 4:1.

I think my problem with Churros comes from the fact that I don't like crispy desserts unless there's an element of soft to balance the consistency. I don't like Chip's Ahoy, I like Soft Batch. I don't like ginger snaps, I like malleable gingerbread men/women. The softer the better. So when I get one of those foot and a half long Churros from the street vendors it feels like I'm eating a rod of stale cinnamon toast. And while much smaller, Dos Caminos' Churros have the exact same effect on me. Crunchy, hard and really not all that flavorful unless slathered in chocolate fondue, half of which I can't even eat due to the inherent vile-ness of white chocolate.

So while I commend DC for their superb savory fare - most definitely some of the best Tex-Mex in the city - their Churros have only helped solidify my view that Mexican Donuts generally suck. But I'm keeping an open mind because somewhere out there, maybe Mexico, perhaps SoCal, there has to be delicious soft-centered Churro waiting for a visit from Blognut.

Dos Caminos Churro -

Dos Caminos Soho
475 W. Broadway,
New York, NY