Visiting the Doughnut Vault, Downtown Chicago

March 10, 2012

For my birthday, Liz had a ton of surprises in store for me. Friday night, after work, we met at the apartment and were readying ourselves for a nice meal out (I had just asked for a steak dinner). We had a 7:30 PM appointment, and when it got closer to 7 I began to get worried about us finding a cab. When I mentioned this to Liz, she told me not to worry about it.

A few minutes later, as we walked outside towards the cab stand at the Logan Blue Line… I noticed a limousine, parked right smack in front of our place. Believe it or not, I had intentionally left my camera at home – figuring I’d stop with the documentation for one night, and just enjoy our time out. Never fails – leave the camera at home, and something interesting always happens.

Sadly, all I have to show for the evening is this kind of blurry Instagram photo, taken by our driver.

We had a fantastic meal at the Palm, and I got a ton of pretty awesome gifts to boot. I was also informed that I had another birthday surprise, slated for Saturday morning. All Liz would tell me is that “it involves food, but it’s not breakfast.”

Saturday morning, I kept trying to guess where we were headed. Liz made us get out the door by 8:30, and we made our way downtown. The moment we hit the Ohio exit ramp, I had my suspicions where we were going.

A few minutes later, we pulled up next to the Doughnut Vault.

It wasn’t even 9AM yet, and already a small line has formed.

The staples are printed on a menu, outside the door. There was also a special doughnut today: birthday cake, of all things.

Here’s our place in line. Not too shabby, but we were waiting a solid 30+ minutes before the doors opened at 9:30 AM.

Here’s the line circa 9:20 AM. Seeing this many people made me wonder just how many doughnuts were made in each batch. I wondered if there was some magical marker (a specific door or store/restaurant) that put you in jeopardy of actually being able to buy doughnuts.

Each person is able to purchase up to 6 doughnuts. At what point in the line does it become a gamble, as to whether there will be any doughnuts left?

Inside, there’s not a lot of room inside. The door is to my left, and there’s room enough for maybe eight people total before you hit the counter.

Liz, placing her order. The woman behind the counter was courteous, but uber quick. She was moving like she had downed several shots of espresso. Makes sense, given the lines they normally have… but man, she was definitely a flurry of motion.

A glimpse of our bounty. L to R starting from the top row: Vanilla Glazed, Gingerbread stack, Chocolate, Buttermilk Old Fashioned, Birthday Cake, Chocolate.