I know I’m dieting. I’m doing a great job, actually, considering it’s only been three days (:. But when an invitation to join some of my favorite food-loving folks for a morning, stretching into an afternoon, of giant, decadent doughnuts from Austin’s newest trailer sensation came my way, I decided to partake.
All told, I had what amounted to one puffy doughnut worth of bits and pieces, so it wasn’t as extravagant an expedition as it could have been. But these doughnuts are the very definition of extravagance (see thisiswhyyourefat.com for more examples), and even one probably accounts for a day’s worth of calories for most folks.
Anyway, I’ve already written about my experience in the form of a Yelp review, so I’ll just repost that text. A little context: The site has a Review of the Day feature, which, much like it sounds, highlights one quality review per city per day with a coveted spot on the homepage. A great lady and friend had her review of the Gourdough’s doughnut trailer spotlighted on Thursday, prompting her to schedule a meet-up for anyone whose interest was piqued by her outrageous paean to the place.

Image of the Dirty Berry doughnut (yes, there's a big, fluffy dougnut under all that) courtesy of our group's intrepid photographer (and fabulous food blogger at foodieisthenewforty.blogspot.com). Click on the picture for her take on our gastronomic feat.
When these people meet up at 10 a.m., anything’s possible. In this case, it was more than two hours of laughs, caffeine, sugar, funny puppies, sunshine and a couple bottles of Prosecco among a dozen or so friends, new and old.
Anyway, onto the review, as posted immediately after said gorging:
Ain’t no party like a doughnut party, trust me.
And I now can truly say there is nothing like a Yelp doughnut party to wake a woman up on a Saturday morning!
We are an ambitious bunch, and thus we could not go gently into this grand adventure. Doughnuts galore, doughnuts aplenty, doughnuts for everybody. If you like fried dough, this place is for you — and our celebration would have been for you, if you’d shown up (you couldn’t ask for a better group to enjoy doughnuts with!).
My report card for the doughnuts our sizable group shared:
Mama’s Cake (chocolate and cake batter): sweet, great texture, a classic to share five ways — the cake batter is RICH; Stars: 4
Dirty Berry (chocolate and strawberries): Good, a bit cloying, would make a terrific dessert or a terrible breakfast; I could see it on the dessert menu at one of those upscale comfort food joints; Stars: 3 1/2 (hey, it’s my review and in my reviews, we give 1/2 stars)
Slow Burn (cream cheese frosting and habanero jelly): Great mix of sweet and spicy for a clever Austiny treat; I’d probably pick regular cream cheese over the cream cheese frosting if this were my creation and/or I weren’t sampling a bevy of treats at once, but it definitely doesn’t detract from the experience much; Stars: 4 1/2
Naughty & Nice (cinnamon-sugar with honey butter): This is a NICE doughnut for classic doughnut lovers, reminds me of those rare childhood doughnut Sundays when we’d get a dozen from the nearest shop and the cinnamon ones were the best — but this is better; the honey butter makes me feel a little excessively decadent, though; Stars: 5
Peach pie (I believe that’s the name — it seems to be a limited time offering — has peaches and crumbly topping): Impressive take on the common peach pie/cobbler concept — better than the common cobbler, even; a bit too heavy overall, but might make a great treat for a day when you’re skipping dinner; Stars: 4
Margaritaville: (key lime goo with green sprinkles): the most artificial-tasting doughnut to me — while they’re all decadent, the green sprinkles and the gooiness were just too much — though it gets props for not being overwhelmingly sweet; Stars: 2 1/2
Pecan cinnamon roll (cream cheese frosting, brown sugar cinnamon glaze and pecan bits): This creation was made up by Yelper Carl F. and Total Woman in association with the Gourdough’s chef, and I truly think it ought to be on the regular menu, despite its super-sweetness — the flavors just work so well together; Stars: 4 1/2
The meat eaters had the Mother Clucker (fried chicken and honey butter); Flying Pig (bacon-maple) and Gobble Gobble (a Thanksgiving thing with turkey, cranberries, mashed potatoes and gravy). Meat on a doughnut? Seriously? Too much for me, but everyone who partook enjoyed themselves.

Gobble Gobble: This may be the only time you see meat on my blog, but this pile of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries and doughnut blew my mind. (Again, thanks to foodieisthenewforty.blogspot.com)
Oh, AND we had Champagne (actually deliciously fruity Prosecco out of plastic cups), which in my opinion went especially well with the chocolatey creations. It’s not exactly on the Gourdough’s menu, but an ingenious Yelper definitely put the icing on the proverbial doughnut with that contribution!
Will I be back? I do not want to say yes, but I have a feeling I’ll find myself drifting this way sooner than my expanding belly would like!