A month ago I decided to compare the acclaimed maple bar from Countryside Donut in Montlake Terrace (north Seattle) to the bar I consider the national standard: Spokane’s Donut Parade maple bar. Countryside’s bar was a respectable entry, but not in the same league as those coming out of the fryer at the Donut Parade.
Countryside also loses ambiance points for its suburban strip mall setting that sucks out location character faster than a Dyson vacuum. I’m happy to go food foraging in strip malls, but I’d always prefer a beat-up downtown cafe to a line of generic storefronts facing a sea of parking. But I digress.
Donuts are the point; maple bars in particular. When I originally mentioned my January maple bar hunt, several Facebook connections claimed that the BEST maple bar in the Puget Sound wasn’t Countryside’s at all. CHUCK’S DONUTS in Renton was the real destination for a serious maple bar pilgrim. Unfortunately I didn’t get to investigate their claims last month. Today, though, I did.
Back in Seattle and with a need for a visit to IKEA, I slipped off 405 and headed to Chuck’s first.
Like Countryside, the current location of Chuck’s is a new strip mall. But this wasn’t always the case.
Chuck’s started in another spot in the mid 1960s by Charlie O’Neil with a closely guarded recipe for his famous maple bar.
Other owners followed O’Neil, but each time the secret recipe was sold with the store and the testimony of faithful patrons is that the bars have remained transcendent through each change of ownership.
I tend to be a dining optimist – hopeful that the next meal or bite on the agenda will turn up something truly wonderful. In this case, Chuck’s delivered. The current owners are Vietnamese and probably look nothing like the original Chuck, but they can turn out a donut that should make O’Neil proud his name is still on the sign.
The best maple bars I’ve had before today came with a glaze-style frosting, and Chuck’s secret recipe calls for a whipped frosting that is quite different and quite wonderful.
Once you get past your wonder at the frosting, there is the bar itself to consider. I found it to be soft and moist with just the right amount of bite. I’ll certainly be back, but noticed the whipped frosting is unexpectedly rich compared to the more common glaze.
Back home at Donut Parade I can get through two or even three before the threat of a sugar coma becomes real, but Chuck’s bar presents clear and present danger after just one. This should save me at least a $1.25 a visit.
Is Chuck’s the best maple bar? Possibly. It certainly is wonderful, but I think a hot bar from the Donut Parade might still be my personal standard. Barely. And I think I’ll have to stop by Chuck’s almost every time I’m in town just to reconsider.
