Daylight Donuts

MAY 2017

Iowa was stop number two on our weekend donut road trip around the midwest! Taylor and I drove through the rest of Wisconsin (and stopped by Madison and the UW campus - Go Cats though) and down over to Iowa City to try Daylight Donuts, which actually has a few locations across the state. We grabbed dinner near University of Iowa’s campus (again, Go Cats though) in downtown Iowa City, a classic college town with lots of great restaurants and coffee shops.

After another stay at an airbnb (where we decided sharing a bathroom with the hosts maybe wasn’t for us in the future) we woke up early to drive 15 minutes over to get our donuts. This Daylight Donuts is its own building, and is next to a small convenience store and  gas station. We parked right in front and walked in to check things out.

The store itself reminded me of a Dunkin’ Donuts right off the bat. There were a few booths and a couple small tables and the counter with a dozen or so trays lined with donuts ready to be eaten! The black and white checkered floor gave it some local flare, and so did the Daylight Donuts framed posters hanging up on the walls. Noticeably fun and memorable decor - I want those posters!. At 9AM on a Sunday morning, it was just us and one other guy there ordering donuts, so we didn’t have to worry about a line. There were two staff members who were really friendly and helpful.   

There was a nice selection to choose from and the prices were very doable. They have all types of donuts (old-fashioned, cake, and yeast) with plenty of flavors to choose from. The style is definitely more in line with your classic donuts - nothing too ornate! A fun part about getting our donuts “for here” was that they served them directly on wax paper on a cafeteria lunch tray for us to take over to our seats to eat. Easy access and we dove right into our half dozen. We tried a variety of flavors and styles, their filled bismarks, the old fashioned, and a chocolate cherry fritter. We decided they could have been a bit fresher but of course enjoyed them nevertheless! The old-fashioned was the best of the bunch! 

Another successful donut bucket list trip and Iowa was crossed off our list. The location we went to for Daylight Donuts in Iowa City back in 2017 has actually since closed, but there are still a couple other locations around the state to check out!