"doughnuts" news and stories

Doughnuts and wine go together like... wait, that's insane, right? Not at a place called Psycho Donuts in San Jose, California owned by former techy Jordan Zwegoron. Set up like a "light-hearted" asylum, it's complete with lab coat-clad employees, a padded booth, straitjacket and group therapy area where customers are given plastic bubble wrap (for popping, natch) and donuts named "Cereal Killer," "Kooky Monster" and "Massive Head Trauma."

"When you walk in, you're our patient, and we make you better with doughnuts," Zwegoron told the Santa Cruz Sentinel. That all may not spell 'family friendly' but it's TV gold for producer Nicole Block of LA-based Highlighting Entertainment, who's shooting a sample episode of a doughnut-and-wine pairing reality show to pitch to TLC, the Food Network and the Cooking Channel, reports the Sentinel.

"There's a lot of cupcake and cake reality shows, but we haven't seen a doughnut show," says Block. "Zwegoron is a good character and the doughnuts are unique, so we think Psycho Donuts will be a good candidate." She's decided to match up the crazy confectionist with wine from Poetic Cellars on the hills of Soquel, CA. The cellar's shtick? Each bottle is labeled with a poem. We can't say what's in the paired-up doughnut, but it's four-pronged and goes by "the poetic psycho," like any good reality TV star.

• It's restaurant week in Boston. So many restaurants, so little time...
• Doughnuts! New England is the birthplace of Dunkin Donuts, but there are great indie shops, too.
• Roast pork leg is even tastier when you call it pernil de cerdo al horno.
• What happens when an outdoorsy guy heads inside to the kitchen? It's game time.

• With several new artisenal shops opening, doughnuts appear to be having their day.
• Backyard chickens are one thing; goats are another altogether.
• Shaved steak: Whatever you call it, just don't call it late for dinner.
• Put out the eats: Oscar's coming.

Doughnut lovers, rejoice: Dunkin' Donuts is ringing in the month of love with three new chocolate doughnuts. Yes, you're thinking, "I've had chocolate doughnuts at Dunkin' before, what's the big deal?" Here's the twist -- these are chocolate yeast donuts. And that's a big deal in the doughnut world -- the chain is the first in the country to offer them.

Meet your new doughnuts, released today as part of the chain's "Chocolate Lovers Month":

• Cocoa Confetti: a chocolate yeast ring, topped with chocolate icing and rainbow sprinkles.
• Reverse Boston Kreme: a chocolate yeast shell filled with chocolate Bavarian Kreme and topped with vanilla icing.
• Cocoa Kreme Puff: a sugared chocolate yeast shell filled with vanilla butter cream.

We were lucky enough to get ahold of the new treats. After the jump, our review -- along with more photos.

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• If there were an International House of Doughnuts, these selections would definitely be on the menu.
• Will the MasterChef cookbook spoil you?
• Learn everything you wanted to know about cod, the fish that saved the world.
• The truth about brain freeze will blow your mind.
• Find out why Top Chef D.C. isn't so trivial.
• Honey, are those blackberries in my grilled cheese?
• Skip Capri for some Napoleonic tomatoes and Parmesan crisps.