The Pacific Northwest is known for a lot of things, namely the rain, Boeing, and the ever-present Starbucks. Yet in the past decade or so, it has established itself as microbrewery heaven with strong ties to the great outdoors. If you go for a visit, you’ll see more dogs than average, more Subaru outbacks, and more than one Sasquatch sticker.
Bellingham, WA is about 30 minutes south of the Canadian border, an hour-ish north of Seattle, and lives up to the newer Washington persona: plenty of outdoor living, lots of microbreweries, and lots of health-conscious food. That being said, I was eager to try some local delicacies on my recent trip home.
Enter: Rocket Donuts.
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This gem of a science fiction throwback is straight from your comic book dreams. Complete with space monster decor, an enormous rocket, and black-and-white sci-fi films playing in a loop. They opened the first of two shops in downtown Bellingham back in 2006, and the enormous outdoor stainless steel rocket at the Holly Street (original) location is now a local staple. Their second location opened in Fairhaven, the small boutique town next door.
Rocket offers the expected array of coffee bar options to pair with your donut or ice cream choice and give you a variety of donuts, including their monster donut (11 inches across!!) and Gluten-Free, Vegan and Keto donuts. As expected, the classics are present: the raised maple (and bacon) bars, chocolate with sprinkles, apple fritters, etc. However, I honestly didn’t pay too much attention to the case because I was amazed that they offered six vegan offerings: blueberry, maple, chocolate with/without sprinkles, vanilla with sprinkles, and raspberry (it might have been strawberry now that I type that out…) with sprinkles. For a small donut shop, I was amazed that they even offered one, so six was well beyond my expectations.
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I only could justify eating three donuts that morning and tried the maple, chocolate with sprinkles, and blueberry.
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So how are the vegan donuts?
Well, the donuts are smaller than the other standard, non-allergy-friendly offerings. However, for a vegan donut, the price was right: $1.95 each after tax. That is pretty reasonable, considering the premiums that are usually charged for premium donuts. The chocolate was good, for sure, but the icing left a little bit of a waxy feeling on my tongue. But it has been a hot minute since I’ve had a maple bar, and that vegan maple donut was SO TASTY. When (not if) I go back, the maple will be a reorder for sure! It was the perfect amount of sweetness, but I could actually taste the donut. And the blueberry –> who doesn’t love a solid blueberry donut with a cup of coffee? Perfect for a rainy morning. My husband wasn’t there to weigh in, but that would have been his favorite, hands down: not too sweet, not too cakey, just good.
Bottom line: 4 out of 5 donutholes.
So, if you find yourself in Bellingham, Washington, I would recommend making a stop at Rocket Donuts, if not only for the vegan, gluten-free, or Keto donuts, than for their sci-fi memorabilia and the cheery ambiance worth sticking around for a donut and cup of coffee.
Stay weird my friends!
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The Donuteur 