Chicago: Doughnut Vault (Revisited)

I might have once told people that I would never again willingly put myself through the torture of waiting in the Doughnut Vault line only to discover at the cashier that all the interesting doughnut flavors have been sold out.  

I really need to stop making grand proclamations like that.  I always end up eating my words.

Which is how I ended up one freezing Saturday morning...waiting...in line...at the Doughnut Vault:  

Goddess C wanted to go.  And if you value your life, what Goddess C wants, you give it to her.  With a smile.

Not wanting a repeat of my first painful trip, this time we made sure to arrive early.  As in Doughnut Vault opens at 9:30 in the morning on Saturdays and we were on the bus at 7:45.  Oh yea.  We weren't taking any chances.

As we were walking down the street, I offhandedly told Goddess C that if we weren't first in line and I'd woken up early on a Saturday morning for nothing, I was going to throw the hissy fit to top all hissy fits.  Just as we rounded the corner onto Franklin, we spotted a group of girls coming from the opposite direction.  Oh hell no.  We might have sped up a little.   Maybe a lot.

But we were first in line.  Booyah.

We were also there at 8:30, an hour before Doughnut Vault was scheduled to open.

I thought we were crazy enough, but apparently everyone else in Chicago is just as out of their minds because half an hour later the line was already around the corner.  Do people have nothing better to do on Saturday mornings?

Anyway, we got what we went for.  The special of the day was the double chocolate yellow cake doughnut with chocolate sprinkles but that looked like a toothache just waiting to happen, so we happily turned it down.  Instead, the two of us each got a buttermilk old-fashioned:

We split one chestnut glazed:

And a gingerbread stack (there are three in a stack):

That's six doughnuts for the two of us.  Gawd.  Why do I always do this to myself?

We were standing around trying to figure out where to enjoy our spoils when it suddenly occurred to us to grab a table the food court at Merchandise Mart.  Genius.

My problem with Doughnut Vault is that while the texture of the doughnuts is always spot on perfect, Doughnut Vault doughnuts are just too sweet for me.  Two bites into the old-fashioned and I was itching for some milk.  Or some fries.  Goddess C agreed with me.  We tried to get fries from the McDonald's in the food court but the lunch menu wasn't out yet and we ended up leaving empty-handed.

Anyway, now that I've done Doughnut Vault twice, I think I can say that I'm set for life.  And now that I've said that, just watch.  I'll probably be back in that damned line next month.  Sigh.


Doughnut Vault
400 1/2 N Franklin
Chicago, IL 60654
http://thedoughnutvault.tumblr.com/