Countryside Donut

Maple Bar and Old-Fashioned

Countryside Donut, $.85 each

For a donut-maker to hand over your order packed in a brown paper bag is a bit of a gamble. Will you make it out the door before fryer grease mottles the bag with disfiguring stains? Will you be down the block before the bag corrodes into oily pulp?

Or, if you've stopped by Countryside Donut on the way to the Edmonds ferry, will you get most of the way across Puget Sound before even a hint of oil stipples your to-go bag?

Husband-and-wife team Sokgim Lim and Youkhun Taing (below, left) came to the US as refugees from Cambodia, with a young family and no resources. After years of saving, planning, and looking for opportunities, they bought the Countryside Donut House, a new business in a small Mountlake Terrace strip mall. Absolutely the only thing they knew about donuts was Americans really like them.

Twenty-five years later, they know a whole lot more. The first months were rocky; the Taings lost customers and trashed unsatisfactory batches as they struggled to master the unfamiliar process. But being self-taught turned out to be a huge asset, with the Taings developing their own techniques that make their ordinary offerings (fritters, old-fashioned, glazed, etc) extraordinarily light and flavorful.

In addition to being not at all greasy, the old-fashioneds (above, front) combine crisp edges and a cakey center, while the maple bars (above, back, and below right) are airy and delicate, made with a slightly tangy dough and a mildly sweet glaze.

Countryside Donut House

21919 66th Ave W #1

Mountlake Terrace, WA

425/672-7820