The April issue of Saveur magazine named Earl’s Donuts in Chatsworth one of America’s 50 Best Donuts. Even though I was generally wary of the roundup due to the authors’ omission of Dough in Brooklyn and Frost in Washington state, two of my all-time favorite deep-fried dough purveyors, I had to make my way to Earl’s to see taste for myself. Fellow local honorees included Stan’s Doughnuts in Westwood Village, The Donut Man in Glendora, and Doughnut Hut in Burbank.

Following lunch at The Munch Box, The Astronomer and I made the short drive to Earl’s for dessert. The shop was plainer than I had imagined, with a smattering of tables and not too much else. Two helpful teen boys worked behind the counter.

According to Saveur, “the devil’s food old-fashioned from this unlikely strip-mall source is gnarled and knobby, all the better to hold the spill of frosting.” To supplement the recommended devil’s food old fashioned, The Astronomer picked out an equally gnarled and knobby apple fritter.

Dense, rich, and enrobed in smooth milk chocolate, the old fashioned delivered a serious sugar high. The apple fritter, with its chunks of real fruit and bevy of cinnamon, treated The Astronomer mostly right, although the center was slightly raw and doughy.

Earl’s makes good doughnuts, but one of America’s best? Nah.

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Earl’s Donuts
20429 Devonshire Street
Chatsworth, CA
Phone: 818-341-2869

We’re mad for doughnuts on Gastronomy:

• & a Doughnut at Umamicatessen
• Diaz’s Bakery
• Dough
• Doughnut Hut
• Doughnut Plant
• Doughnuttery
• Dynamo Donuts
• Fresh Donuts
• Frost Doughnuts
• Mighty-O Donuts
• Nickel Diner
• Primo’s Westdale Donuts
• St. John Bakery
• Stan’s Donuts
• Street Donuts
• Texas Donuts
• The Donut Man
• The Doughnut Vault
• Top Pot Doughnuts