Junk Food Nation, yesterday after work I walking down in DC’s Penn Quarter area when a limo passed by with a bunch of girls standing up, sticking out of the sun roof. As it passed by, one of these two guys next to me yelled “WOOOOOOOOO!” The girls pointed and shrill-screamed back – in typical girl-sticking-out-of-a-limo fashion.  The following exchange occurred:

Guy 2: “Dude, don’t yell WOOOOO at them?”

Guy 1: “Why not?”

Guy 2: “Because THEY’RE the ones in a limo, THEY’RE having a good time, THEY should be yelling WOOO at us!  You don’t engage them.”

Guy 1: “Well, I dunno – they looked a little shy, a little frigid up there.”

Guy 2:  “Well, they were Indian girls.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Nation’s capital!  Hurray.

Today’s junk food resulted from a tweet Dunkin’ Donuts sent out yesterday: “Have you tried DD’s new Chocolate Dipped Cherry donut, a cherry flavored chocolate cake donut w/red icing drizzle?”

And I thought, “I haven’t….but that sounds delectable and NOW I MUST HAVE IT.”  Off to DD I went!

Growing up in Upstate NY, we ONLY had Dunkin’ Donuts; I never heard of Krispy Kreme donuts until college.  Thankfully, DD has taken the Krispy Kreme way of having a FLAT box to transport donuts in, to avoid crushing the frosting or glazes within.

The Dunkin’ Donuts I went to was part of the Verizon Center, where the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals play.  There was some crazy lady in front of me having a donut meltdown. Also, we were the only two people in the store.  No one else looking for donuts at 1:00pm on a Friday? You don’t say. (I HAVE ISSUES.)

I picked out three donuts that I’d not seen or tasted before for the purposes of this blog: Dunkin’ Donuts Chocolate Dipped Cherries Donut, Cherry Blossom Donut, and Lucky Mint Donut. (OK fine, I bought a half dozen but gave one away and ate two others on my own…SUE ME.)

The Dunkin’ Donuts Chocolate Dipped Cherries Donut was what I was here for.  Chocolate cake donut, glazed with normal white glaze, and drizzled with a cherry icing on top.   DROOOL.

On the DD website, this is actually called the Dunkin’ Donuts Chocolate Dipped Cherries Donut. Why is it not called the Chocolate GLAZED CHERRY donut?  Beats me.  The donut-naming nomenclature is apparently a formula I can’t unlock.

Dunkin’ Donuts Chocolate Dipped Cherries Donut is pretty legit.  A nice deep cocoa-ey cake donut, super sweetened by the white flaky glaze on the outside.  The cake batter had a little bit of cherry mixed into it, and the cherry icing was VERY cherry.  As my buddy Corey described (he had one too), it fluctuated between tasting sort of like Cherry Coke and Cherry cough medicine.  I’d say that was accurate – processed cherry flavor has a tendency to get a little too chemical tasting if concentrated.  I’d give this donut a 7 out of 10.  Definitely enjoyed it.

The Dunkin’ Donuts Cherry Blossom donut was named, I can only assume, after the Cherry Blossom festival here in DC.  Or as known to DC residents, the pollen-everywhere-turn-your-car-yellow-green Festival.  Sorry, only *I* call it that.

The Dunkin’ Donuts Cherry Blossom donut is a regular cake donut with glaze on the outside and the same cherry icing piped all over.  Really going outside the box, DD.

WHAT!? The inside is pink??? That’s because this cake had more of that cherry extract mixed in.  Or, as the website describes it, “Cherry Flavored Bits.” (Yikes).  It tasted just so-so to me – the cherry cake didn’t have the same burst as the chocolate cake, so I basically just tasted a lot of sweet cake donut with cherry icing.  So the whole thing tasted like cherry-ish cake which…I didn’t really love.  I’m not sure if cherries and cake just go together that well… cherry’s have a very tart taste so the flavor is not the most refreshing or sweet.  4 out of 10 here, DD.

Finally I grabbed what must’ve been a St. Pat’s leftover – the Dunkin’ Donuts Lucky Mint donut.  Top of the Donut to ya, lad! Shove a cake in your mouth!

The Dunkin’ Donuts Lucky Mint donut was a chocolate cake donut with chocolate fudge icing covered in these little sugary rocks of mint.  This donut looked AMAZING.  No info on the DD website.  Maybe I got the last one?

NOM NOM NOM.  This is the winner of the day.  Very chocolatey cake donut, accentuated by VERY chocolatey chocolate icing.  On top of that, the minty rocks were crunchy but not TOO crunchy, and dissolved perfectly into the chocolatey flavor to give the whole thing an almost-Thin-Mint flavor.  The mint was just the right blend of mint and sugar – they didn’t taste like breathmints or peppermints or those little chalky things at restaurants.  Nope, it tasted just like mint and sugar and the combo was lovely.  8 out of 10.

It’s springtime, right? Why NOT eat donuts at 2:00 in the afternoon?  Happy Saturday, Junk Food Nation!

Thoughts? Hit me in the comments below or hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy or on my Facebook Page.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy