Midtown Lunch

Dean and Deluca may have downgraded their Rock Center presence, but the location on 48th btw. 5+6th is still a reliable outlet for Doughnut Plant doughnuts. Yesterday, I noticed that they were carrying two seasonal offerings that I’ve never had before: Pumpkin and Cranberry. Naturally, I had to give them both a try, for the good of the ML community, of course.

The Pumpkin Doughnut ($3) was a spiced cake doughnut topped with candied pumpkin seeds. According to Doughnut Plant’s twitter, the pumpkin doughnuts will be around as long as pumpkins are in season. The doughnut itself is sweet and moist and nicely spiced with a hint of pumpkiny goodness. If you like pumpkin treats, this is one to get in before pumpkins disappear for the year. The Village Voice calls it “something to stand in line for.” While you’ll pay a .50 premium for DP doughnuts at Dean and Deluca, at least you don’t have to deal with the crazy lines downtown. For it’s central location, I’ve never found the 48th street Dean and Deluca to be particularly crowded, though that may change now that it’s Christmas tree time.

The Cranberry Doughnut ($3) I tried was a yeast doughnut with a cranberry glaze. The cranberries come fresh from the Union Square Greenmarket and according to DP’s Facebook page they expect to have them “until the season is over, end of Dec around that time.” With the cranberry doughnut, all the cranberry flavor is in the glaze. If you pound your doughnuts in quick bites, you might find the cranberry flavor to be a bit subtle. If you’re more of a dougnut savor-er, you’ll enjoy and appreciate sweet and tart textured glaze. In any case, it does make for a very pretty doughnut, if you’re having an office holiday party or breakfast. Though I didn’t see it yesterday, apparently the cranberry doughnut also comes in cake doughnut form with “cranberries chopped and folded into both the dough and glaze.”

Anybody spotted these at other Midtown Dean & Deluca’s? (New York Times peoples, we’re looking at you.) Let us know in the comments.

Dean & Deluca, 9 Rockefeller Center (48th Street btw. 5+6th Ave.), 212-664-1363