Tschida Bakery – St. Paul, MN

Sometimes when I actually wake up on time for Saturday morning disc golf, I figure out a way to get donuts without telling D.Rough about it. She doesn’t care or anything, but I’ve told people before: A donut you’re sneaking tastes infinitely better than a donut everyone knows about and is ok with you eating. In fact, I’m trying to get people on this bandwagon with me – so I’ll repeat it every time I talk about donuts.

I thought I’d stop by Tschida Bakery since it was on the way to BobaFred’s house – mostly. I had heard D.Rough talk about going there as a kid, but I couldn’t remember what she had said about it. I remember her mentioning there was a “for sale” sign in the window the last time we drove past it, but it doesn’t appear that anyone has purchased it. On the plus side, they’re still open for business as usual.
The place is a small mom and pop-type shop with a cute little store front on Rice Street in St. Paul. You can park right out in front, which I did. I saw a guy literally run to beat me inside the store, which was funny because when I got to the door, I couldn’t open it. I’m not sure if it was jammed or if the I-Have-To-Have-A-Donut-ASAP guy actually locked the door so I couldn’t get in. I pulled super hard and it sounded like I pulled it off the hinges – it was soooo loud. The lady behind the counter didn’t even notice. The other guy scurried out with his donut as quickly as he’d come through the door that magically worked for him.

It’s pretty dark inside, which I thought was weird since the inside is painted white. Just a weird feeling inside – gloomy almost. I asked about a couple of donuts and was disappointed to see they didn’t have any vanilla frosted donuts that weren’t filled with goo. Ah, screw, it I got a vanilla frosted donut with cherry goo in the middle. It wasn’t what I wanted, but it would have to do. If worse came to worse, I’d eat the donut part and pitch the goo. I also got a large cinnamon twist donut. They didn’t have any milk, which I thought was odd, but it didn’t matter. I’d rough it. You have to have donuts with milk. Pop simply doesn’t work. I know a chemical engineer and I’m SURE he’d confirm this fact. It’s just science.

I went back out to the car – the door allowed me to exit – and snapped a quick photo before I gorged myself.
I started with the vanilla donut – really moist. Not greasy or anything, just soft and fluffy. I was a few bites in when I realized these things really aren’t sweet at all. I had even opted for eating the cherry goo, and it still didn’t add much to the sweetness. It wasn’t that there wasn’t flavor – THAT part was there. It tasted like delicious fried dough. It just wasn’t sweet at all. Odd, since I had frosting all over my hands and lap. It just didn’t make me crave more of it. Very weird.

I finished that and moved to the cinnamon twist. This donut was even more soft and moist than the vanilla one. I’m not kidding. This thing was a glorious fried pillow of air. If they could make beds out of these things that I wouldn’t stick to or eat in the middle of the night, I’d buy one. Probably the softest donut I’ve ever eaten that I can recall. But again, the thing is slathered with glaze, but without a hint of sweetness. I’m not usually a sweets guy, but when it comes to donuts, I want them sickening sweet and tooth-coating. These didn’t have either of that. Just amazingly soft dough.

So the upside – awesomely soft pillow-like fried dough.
The downside – no sweetness that makes you want more and coats your teeth.

Maybe the lady behind the counter really meant they were out of sugar, not out of milk. It’s an easy mistake. She was super nice though, so I promise I’m not being mean. I sincerely hope someone buys this bakery and uses their dough recipe. Maybe they will also bring a couple bags of sugar as a little treat to the customers, as well.

When I got home, I told D.Rough my critique of the place. She laughed and said she always thought that when she went there as a kid. Just something missing from the flavor. She never really craved the donuts there, and we think this might be the reason. Some people have different sweet tooth range, I guess. Not anyone’s fault.

Have I mentioned the dough?....

Tschida Bakery
1116 Rice Street
Saint Paul, MN 55117