re: Best Donuts in New Orleans

Friend,

I was told most of the Tastee Donuts, when they were sold from the Gil Copeland family to the current owners of that local chain, stopped using a key flavoring ingredient, which had natural vanilla extract, because of the cost. The only current former Tastee Donuts that are not owned by the current owners of the chain are the Tastee on Loyola in Kenner and Ronnie’s in Houma. Both of those locations continue to serve real Tastee donuts true to Gil Copeland’s recipe. The other Tastees, such as the one on Broad, in Lakeview and the ones in Metairie on W Esplanade and the one on Clearview do not use the vanilla extract. Like the McKenzie stickers on the old king cakes say, “You taste the difference.”

If you do a blind taste test you too will tell the difference. It is quite the shame that these Tastees do not taste as good as when you were a kid. The same can be said for Tastee king cakes. The only ones worth eating are the ones from Tastee in Kenner and Ronnie’s in Houma.

A little known story about donuts in New Orleans: the original Krispy Kreme recipe is supposedly a New Orleans recipe from a chef named Joseph LeBeau who sold it and his donut shop to the Kentucky family who made it a national name. KK did not arrive as a store until 2000 on Clearview not far from where Uncle’s favorite Manuel’s Hot Tamale food truck would park at the old strip on the articulating West Metairie. That strip was torn down in the mid 90s to make room for Sav-A-Center, which later became Rouses.

Yours,
TulaneLSU