Upon arrival to Wicker Park, none of us had eaten lunch, and we were feeling pretty hungry. “Why not satiate ourselves with some doughnuts?” we asked ourselves. Cue acoustic guitar and lonesome whistling: two doughnut stores stood directly across from one another, storefront-to-storefront. Almost as if they were a part of an old Western movie, their exteriors stared each other down, locked in a perpetual gaze. This is a Glazed and Infused versus Stan’s Donuts and Coffee showdown! Who will draw first?
…Okay, to be honest, I didn’t really feel any tension. No tumbleweeds crossed between their paths, and the popularity of urban Wicker Park would never give you the feeling of being in a deserted ghost town. The employees of either store didn’t even seem to care (or notice) that my friends and I immediately went from one doughnut shop to the other, supporting both competitors’ businesses in the same hour. When choosing between G&I and Stan’s, is there a real doughnut dilemma? Here is my opinion of both:
Glazed and Infused
Glazed and Infused was our first stop. I’ve eaten their doughnuts before, but this was my first time at their Wicker Park location. Interestingly enough, they share their space with another restaurant. We sat in what was possibly a communal space, and a waiter brought us water. It felt mildly uncomfortable to be casually eating a donut in a sitdown restaurant atmosphere. There also weren’t too many customers, but maybe there isn’t a large demographic of people who eat doughnuts at 2:30pm on a Friday. The doughnut I tried had a very promising title: Banana Nutella Pretzel. However, I couldn’t taste the banana (trust me, I looked for it) and was disappointed to find that the Nutella flavor, which took up one-third of the title, was only drizzled on top of the doughnut almost like an afterthought.
Glazed and Infused’s doughnuts look really delectable in photos, though:
Find more Instagram photos of Glazed and Infused’s doughnuts here.
Stan’s Coffee and Donuts
Stan’s. Wow. Not only do they have doughnuts and coffee, but there’s also gelato to accompany your sweet treat and homemade lemonade. There was a wider range of doughnuts to choose from compared to Glazed and Infused and even a vegan and a (mostly) gluten-free option. Not wanting to have exactly the same doughnut but wanting to try something similar enough for comparison, my friend and I split a Peanut Butter Banana Pocket. It was great! We could taste banana because there were visible chunks mixed with the peanut butter interior. I was satisfied and felt that my money had been put to good use. It was a small shop and there were also a lot of customers, so we weren’t able to sit down. Yay, Stan’s:
Find more Instagram photos of Stan’s Donuts here.
Doughnuts are an art that can be messed up and still be sold at overpriced values, but if you like cake doughnuts I would recommend Glazed and Infused. They have a wider-reaching reputation than Stan’s Donuts, but it seems like Stan’s has a better reputation with the locals. I as well would definitely recommend Stan’s between the two. If you’re in the neighborhood, see why for yourself!