Meet the worst Times Square interloper\u00a0since the Elmos invasion \u2014 the \u201climited edition\u201d anchovy-cheese donut at weirdly punctuated I\u2019m donut ? <\/p>\n
The Japanese bakery chain, which set up its first US store at 154 W. 45th St. last spring, will stop at nothing to get attention from TikTok influencers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The anchovy donut at I\u2019m donut ? is an abomination. Tamara Beckwith<\/p>\n
This month, the \u201cchef\u2019s inspiration\u201d is to lay a single anchovy across the top of a donut filled with three (count \u2019em, three) types of cheese \u2014 white cheddar, Gruy\u00e8re, Parmigiano-Reggiano \u2014 and creamy B\u00e9chamel sauce. It makes for a dairy debacle. The mutant munchie tastes like a salt slick atop a starch-and-sugar pillow.<\/p>\n
Another supposed masterpiece is a scrambled egg tucked into a donut which, like others, lacks the center hole that\u2019s key to the donut-noshing experience. <\/p>\n
Is it too obvious to say it lays an egg? The yellow ooze from within drew \u201cewws\u201d around the office, a reaction I shared. Japanese mayo and honey reduced the egg to a puddle with a disquieting taste.<\/p>\n
The donut shop drew crowds when it opened last spring. Tamara Beckwith<\/p>\n
The Japanese chain founded by chef Ryouta Hirako in 2022\u00a0claims to \u201credefine\u00a0the very essence of what a donut can be,\u201d but it merely proves\u00a0how much money gullible scene-chasers are willing to waste \u00a0\u2014 up to $9 for a single donut. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s enjoyed months of viral popularity and a fawning review in the New Yorker. There are still lines on the sidewalks some mornings though the frenzy seems to be cooling a bit.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the first US location of a Japanese chain. Tamara Beckwith<\/p>\n
I\u2019m donut ? is a stark, white-on-white affair with all the jolly air of an MRI clinic. Its\u00a0 claim to culinary relevancy is that its \u201cnama\u201d (meaning \u201cfresh\u201d or \u201craw) products are made with brioche dough from \u201cpremium ingredients.\u201d They do have a lighter, fluffier texture than the traditional American article.\u00a0They also thankfully have less of the cloying sweetness common elsewhere.<\/p>\n
But the improvements hardly justify\u00a0the higher cost or the cacophony of elements that don\u2019t belong together.<\/p>\n
Like Italian bombolini, the \u201csignature\u201d choices lack the center holes we expect in a donut. Two of them, the \u201coriginal\u201d without any add-ons and a green matcha version, made little impression on my palate.<\/p>\n
The anchovy donut (center) is the newest offering. Other options include (clockwise from center top) I\u2019m donut? choco shell; PB&J, strawberry chocolate, matcha, banana chocolate cream, and scrambled eggs.\u00a0 Tamara Beckwith<\/p>\n
The haystack-shaped peanut butter and jelly variation would be fine at $4 but not at $8. \u00a0\u201cChoco shell\u201d \u00a0with cacao ribs had less chocolate flavor than the closest equivalent at Dunkin\u2019, where it costs half as much.<\/p>\n
A glazed strawberry-chocolate number, which at least has a hole, was nearly indistinguishable from Dunkin\u2019s in a blind tasting.<\/p>\n
Those searching for good, global food in Times Square can choose from stores such as the Wonderful World of Portuguese Sardines and sit-down restaurants like Nigerian-themed Lagos.<\/p>\n
But\u00a0I\u2019m donut ? \u00a0belongs to the Elmo class of tourist traps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meet the worst Times Square interloper\u00a0since the Elmos invasion \u2014 the \u201climited edition\u201d anchovy-cheese donut at weirdly punctuated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[33226,8675,289,232,9,56,63,65,64,4403,821,2027],"class_list":["post-100609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-chain-restaurants","tag-dunkin-donuts","tag-food-drink","tag-lifestyle","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-restaurant-review","tag-restaurants","tag-times-square"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}