Stan's Donut Shop

It was early Saturday morning and my girlfriend had one single thought on her mind—“Let’s go to Stan’s Donuts. I read great things about it,” she said. She hadn’t been excited about anything in so long, I agreed to go to this donut shop. I had given up donuts because of my high cholesterol and because ever since they had closed down Wilson’s Bakery in Santa Clara, I hadn’t found a place that was any good.
We arrived at Stan’s and it was the quintessential ‘hole in the wall.’ It was about 20 feet wide and maybe 100 feet deep in total, with the majority of the space taken up by a long diner-style bar for eating. The place looked like an old diner out of the 50’s, without the large kitchen. There were very few donuts in the donut case, but there were several glazed donuts on the racks they had been cooked and glazed on. I thought..well…not much of a selection, so I purchased a dozen glazed donuts and me and my girlfriend went back to my car.
We sat in the car and had to try one before leaving. We opened the brown donut box and dug in. As I grabbed a donut, I was shocked. It was warm—I’ve never had a ‘warm’ donut before. It was soft—very soft. It felt as if I were picking up a delicate flower and I felt guilty as I raised it towards my mouth. As I bit into it, I could taste the crunchy exterior and as I bit further into it, I could feel the warm and soft and spongy inside. I thought to myself, “this is not a Winchell’s Donut.” As my mouth closed over the first bite, explosions were occurring in my mouth, neurons were firing in my head, and I let out a, “Oh my God! This is the best donut I’ve ever had in my entire life!” I could hear my girlfriend in her own throws of passion as she bit into her own donut. It wasn’t just me experiencing this special donut moment. I took more bites and was not disappointed, as every bite was just as good as the first. I thought to myself, ‘how could this donut be so soft and so warm, and so tasty, and so inviting?’ ‘This is not possible!’ My previous experience with donuts was Winchell’s, Wilson’s, Krispy Kreme—you get the idea—mainstream raised donuts that were cooked in the morning and have been sitting around for several hours—cold and old.
Well Stan’s donuts are the complete opposite. They are made in small batches throughout the day and were still piping warm when we purchased ours. We had to go back to the little shop before we left to investigate further—how could they make such wonderful donuts? Well, as it turns out, the donut maker was making another batch of donuts and we watched him. He spread out the dough onto the cutting board and you could tell the dough was special—it looked as if it had risen and aged just right. It was thick. He spread it out onto the board, and using this nifty little donut cutter, started cutting out donuts and putting them onto the cooking rack. No donut batter machine dropping donuts into the hot oil at Stan’s! The donut maker was this older guy, and I could only imagine how long he’s been making donuts, and how every donut has a little bit of him in them. From 6am to 3pm he’s making donuts.
There you have it, donuts made individually, and having an amazing flavor and fullness that no other donut that I have ever had, could live up to. If you want an amazing donut, Stan’s is the place to go. Get it warm and eat it quickly!

It appears Stan's is now run by different people. All of the workers appear to be Latino and are not very friendly. I was told this morning that on Fridays you may only get a maximum of 6 glazed donuts unless you call ahead and pre-order. I see this posted no where in the shop.

Also, after placing an order and coming back later, my order was not ready. So, they do not honor the orders that are placed.

I agree with the last comment - the quality of the glazed donuts are getting iffy. Some overcooked on the outside yet undone in the middle.

I've noticed over the past few months, sometimes you go in, you can get the glazed doughnuts, which are fabulous; but more often than not, in the morning -- IN THE MORNING -- there will be none. None. It makes no sense. They will have tray after tray of sprinkles, but no glazed? That's like McDonalds having no fries. That's like Starbucks having no coffee. Three stars for the hit-and-miss nature of this place.