Table at Third & Fairfax is a weekly dining column in 2023 where Food and Drink editor Patricia Kelly Yeo will eat her way through the Original Farmers Market. Each column will drop on Thursday for a week-by-week recap of her journey through the classic L.A. tourist attraction. Two weeks ago, Kelly (re)visited Nonna’s Empanadas.
In a bid for work-life balance, I took the week of Thanksgiving off from this column—my first since starting Table at Third & Fairfax 48 weeks ago. By the time I return to the Original Farmers Market on Tuesday morning, I’m refreshed and ready to tackle the last five weeks of eating here. The Christmas decorations are already up in advance of the market’s early Christmas celebration which will happen this Sunday, December 3, from 2 to 7pm. It’s still early in the morning, so the market is fairly empty; most of the vendors haven’t opened up shop for the day yet. Today, I’m headed to Bob’s Coffee and Doughnuts (est. 1970) for a second look at the excellent deep-fried sweets, which easily clinched a spot on my guide to L.A.’s best doughnuts.
The shelves are full when I walk up to the stand, and it’s hard to make a selection when I decide to put together a box. There are a few cake doughnuts, those amazing apple fritters and even a New Orleans-style beignet, as well as the usual yeast-raised suspects. I decide on five different doughnuts, bringing me to a total of $16.90: an enormous apple fritter; one of the beignets; a maple bar; a glazed yeast-raised round; and an adorable chocolate doughnut in the shape of a cat face. After taking a bite into each, I’m not surprised at all to find the still-warm apple fritter as delicious as the first time I tried it back in January. The maple bar, glazed and cat-shaped ones are all fresh, with the fluffy, lightweight texture one usually anticipates from yeast-raised doughnuts. The only disappointment is the beignet, whose texture is more of a plain old doughnut than the traditionally extremely airy Southern treat.
After almost a year of eating through the market, I’ve come full circle at Bob’s Doughnuts, where the regular doughnuts are rock-solid (though perhaps not as great as Sidecar across the street). On average, the prices at Bob’s are certainly higher than most pink box doughnut shops or even Randy’s, where a box of a dozen “fancy” picks (compared to my less than half-dozen mixed standard and “fancy” varieties) currently retails for $30.40. A half dozen doughnuts at Winchell’s currently go for $9.99, for a more direct comparison. Is the premium worth it? If you’re in the area, certainly.
Meals from Table at Third & Fairfax fall into three categories: Skip It, Worth Trying and Must Have.
Vendor: Bob’s Coffee and Doughnuts
Order: A box of five doughnuts
Verdict: Worth Trying. The apple fritter is definitely a Must Have, but the standard varieties here likely won’t impress as much as the ones from Sidecar Donuts just across the street.