Sometimes, you don’t just want any old greasy donut with watery frosting, you want quality. Fortunately, if you live in the Seattle area, the best donut shop in your state (at least according to Chowhound) is within reach, and with three locations in the city’s suburbs, to boot. Its name is Lone Star Donuts, and it first opened in the suburb of Silverdale in 2022. It started as a family-run spot with owner Omar Santigo Gomez doing much of the work to produce the fried doughy treats.
As the name suggests, there’s a Texas theme going on here, with the shop selling “Texas-style” donuts. This may confuse some who look at the menu and see items like an apple fritter or an old-fashioned glazed donut, which don’t seem particularly Texas-specific. According to the owner, Texas-style means that the donuts are larger than normal. But perhaps what’s more Texan about Lone Star is that it serves kolaches, an originally Czech pastry that caught on via immigrants to Texas and is now particularly common in the center of the state, although you should be able to find good ones in places like Houston. They’re made with a light, yeast-based dough and filled with sweet or savory fillings; Lone Star sticks to the savory route with a classic sausage and cheese filling, and a spicy variation that adds jalapeños. Beyond that, Lone Star offers a wide selection of classic filled donuts (with fillings running from classic Boston cream or berry flavors to options like guava or key lime), plus iced donuts that also run a similar gamut from classic (strawberry or vanilla) to novel (blueberry-lavender, anyone?).
What else to know about Lone Star Donuts
While Lone Star is somewhat new on the scene, it has quickly become a local favorite, taking out the title for the best bakery in southern, central, and northern Kitsap (the county where Lone Star operates). That prize was awarded by votes from donut-loving locals. Apparently, it’s been enough of a success to expand pretty fast: In the years after opening its first location in 2022, the donut shop opened two more locations in nearby Port Orchard.
The original location is in Silverdale, a small city with mountain views on the west side of Puget Sound. Unfortunately, that means that for downtown Seattleites, Lone Star will be more of an excursion than the kind of place you can swing by en route to work — you could make a trip of it with a ferry ride across the sound (or take a hefty 70-mile drive to avoid any boat travel). Its newer locations in Port Orchard are a little closer to the city and walking distance from public transit to a ferry terminal. The original location is open from early morning (5 a.m. weekdays, 6 a.m. weekends) until mid-afternoon, and the Port Orchard locations start early, with one closing around midday and the other at 5 p.m…