Portland's Underground Donut Tour

The Portland Underground Donut Tour takes place over 2 hours on a walk and includes 4 doughnut stops: Sesame Donut, Toki Restaurant, Nola Doughnuts, and Voodoo Doughnut. Underground Donut holds tours in cities throughout the United States including Boston, Chicago, and New York City. 

Ian Schaaf-Ritchie leads the Underground Donut Tour starting inside Sesame Donut PDX. Schaaf-Ritchie is a Portland native. "I'm one of the few Portlanders who has always been a Portlander," he said. "A unicorn." Along with McKenzie Kimmel, they lead the tour on Saturday, May 28. At Sesame Donut, customers are offered a hot or cold drink to take along for the walk. 

Fresh doughnuts on display at Sesame Donut PDX. The Underground Donut Tour includes their namesake, the sesame doughnut, a cake donut coated in glaze and covered in sesame seeds and a sample of the rosewater doughnut that is only available at the downtown restaurant located at 503 SW Park Ave SW. You can reach them at (503) 208-2503 or find them online at ordersesamedonuts.com. 

Toki only serves kkwabegi, Korean twisted doughnuts, on Saturday morning. They come in three types: milk tea sugar, dulcey glaze and corn flake, and golden milk glaze and toasted coconut, shown above. The golden milk kkwabegi is made with coconut milk and has hints of lemongrass and ginger. For dinner, Toki Restaurant serves traditional Korean favorites, and at brunch they serve American breakfast items with a Korean twist. 

Toki Restaurant is located at 580 SW 12th Ave. Call them at (503) 312-3037 or visit tokipdx.com. 

Ruby Hernandez and Mark Le Munyon visiting all the way from New Jersey at Nola Doughnuts, the third stop on the donut tour. They had originally planned a trip to Great Britain when COVID closed the world down. With their refund, they decided to stay in the states rather than risk getting COVID and having to quarantine in a foreign country. 

"We always wanted to see the Northwest," said Hernandez, "And everyone is so nice here." The next stops on their tour included the Oregon coast and Seattle. 

Nola Doughnut's specialty are traditional La'ssant, a conjugation of Louisiana and croissant. The process to create the flakey pastry doughnut takes three days. The donut tour included Touch of Honey and Chocolate Ganache La'ssant and a Marionberry filled beignet. 

There are several Nola locations, but the stop on the tour is at 110 NW 10th Ave. Have questions or want to order ahead? Call (503) 895-6350 or see www.noladoughnuts.com. 

The donut tour guides share tidbits of Portland history and inside information about the local food scene beyond sweet treats. The Never Look Away mural at 720 NW Davis St in downtown Portland is one of the sites along the walk. The mural was produced by Zoe Piliafas and designed by Cassandra Swan. "Never Look Away celebrates the beauty and struggle of queer people, declaring that queer people are here to stay, because we have always been here,” the mural production team commented on pdxstreetart.org.

McKenzie Kimmel finishes off the tour by sharing some stories about the iconic local landmark, Voodoo Doughnut's first store in downtown Portland. People line up to claim a sweet Voodoo treat, but customers on the tour don't have to wait to get a taste. Samples include the Old Dirty Bastard, a raised ring with chocolate frosting, chocolate cream-filled cookies, and peanut butter drizzle and Voodoo's bacon maple bar. Voodoo Doughnut opened this location in 2000 and a second in 2008. As of 2022, there are thirteen locations in six states. 

Voodoo Doughnut Old Town is located at 22 SW 3rd Ave, and can be reached at (503) 241-4704 or voodoodoughnut.com.

Tickets for the tour in Portland are $40 and take place Tuesday through Saturday. Purchase tickets or find out more about Underground Donut Tours at undergrounddonuttour.com or call or text (888) 567-8749.