Mike's Donuts in Everett,MA has closed

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/localRegional.bg?articleid=2151
Unfortunatly, the owners were forced to retire to the sunshine of Las Vegas in order to make it easier on the wife's failing health.
Our best to them, and thanks for the memories.
DaveM

Another good reason to NEVER move back to the Boston area.......

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

Another good reason to NEVER move back to the Boston area.......

you mean besides the fact that it takes a samll fortune to rent,buy-heat-replace the roted cars-keep the driveway clear in winter-not to mention the wedding-bdays for the thousand reletives!!! But then again---New England falls can be a big temptation!

There is no admittance of it in the story, but the fact remains that the only operating krispy kreme in the area is not too far from him in Medford,MA.
The donut wars: Dunkin Donuts vs Krispy Kreme are just starting.
Krispy kreme just announced a location inside the food court at the Prudential Center.
I also met the son of the owner of Mike's, and it wasn't obvious that the business was going to be passed on to the next generation.
But you could never mistake the quality of those donuts.
And Tiki, I agree with you on those things that you mention. Somedays it is difficult to understand how Massachusetts stays afloat.
DaveM

quote:

Originally posted by tiki

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

Another good reason to NEVER move back to the Boston area.......

you mean besides the fact that it takes a samll fortune to rent,buy-heat-replace the roted cars-keep the driveway clear in winter-not to mention the wedding-bdays for the thousand reletives!!! But then again---New England falls can be a big temptation!

the traffic, the tunnel and bridge tolls, constantly standing in line at the bank, Post Office, Stop N Shop,......driveway? What driveway? In Southie we parked on the street and shoveled the car out 5 times a day.
Too bad about Mike's. Great donuts. Way bettah than Krispy Kreme.

the other tragedy here is that Mike's was open 24 hours during the week. There just aren't that many places open 24 hours in Boston, and now another one of the proud few bites the dust.

quote:

Originally posted by DaveM

There is no admittance of it in the story, but the fact remains that the only operating krispy kreme in the area is not too far from him in Medford,MA.

Which has got nothing to do with it. The guy is old. His wife is dying. He doesn't want to wake up at 3 a.m. to make doughnuts anymore! I'm sorry, but I just cannot fault him or his decision.

quote:

And Tiki, I agree with you on those things that you mention. Somedays it is difficult to understand how Massachusetts stays afloat.

Admittedly, this is coming from someone who has only lived in Massachusetts for two years, but: live within your means, adjust your expectations to fit the city's reality (if 75% of the complaints are about the hassles of owning and driving a car...why not, I dunno, get rid of the car?) and know what you want and Boston's one of the greatest cities on earth.

Lucky---i agree----Boston is a wonderful city--IF i was to live in a city again it would be either Boston or SF and i also doubt that KK had anything to do with Mikes decision. I do miss 24 hr donots--especially good New Emgland cake style---here in Ok,donut shops open at 6am and close at 11am. However-living with in yor means---exactly how does a young guy with a wife and kid and $40000 a year supposed to do that when the house he needs STARTS at $350,000! Tough to start out with a family and a 1/3 of a million in debt even if it is at 5% interest! Stats for Bostaon area show huge increasees in personal debt--to me-having enough to cover the bills dosnt always mean "living within your means"---thats living from paycheck to paycheck---and thats scary with a family to support.I Imagine Mike will do fine in his new home with the check from the sale of his old one and i for one--wish him well!

Lucky, how can you get rid of the car in MA? You gotta get to the Cape, Wingersheek Beach, North Conway, Providence, Woodstock, Newburyport, etc. etc.
Beantown is good.....I would give a rating of great cities to live in as Paris or Brussels.

Sad. Sad. Sad. Sad. Sad.

I've been to Mike's many a time and this is a textbook Road Food loss. These are the places that just aren't being replaced. Another local example (speaking of Krispy Kreme as mentioned above) is that another KK is being shoe-horned into the Route 1 location eleven miles north of Boston currently housing Russo's Candy & Ice Cream and across from Kelly's Roast Beef. While usually a Krispy Kreme arrival is good news, the displacement of Russo's to another further north locale has apparently led to their decision to no longer produce hand-made / dipped chocolates but rather contract such out.

Again, another place that just isn't being replaced.

To not end this on a total note of loss, don't forget Kane's Doughnuts in neighboring Saugus, Massachusetts as an alternative to Mike's. See:

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=81&whichpage=2

KK is going into Russo's on Route 1? Really?

Yup.

Like Route 1 doesn't already have enough stuff. Supposedly there's a Daily Catch on Route 1, I could never find it. I even know the owners well, Paul and Maria, still could not find it. Behind the dinosaur maybe.....
good luck to KK there, it's hard enough to change lanes, much less get off the road.

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

Like Route 1 doesn't already have enough stuff. Supposedly there's a Daily Catch on Route 1, I could never find it. I even know the owners well, Paul and Maria, still could not find it. Behind the dinosaur maybe.....
good luck to KK there, it's hard enough to change lanes, much less get off the road.

lleechef, I've not scene the Daily Catch up in those parts but I have dined at the Naked Fish on Route 1 north closer to Peabody (as well as the proverbial Hilltop, The Ship, Kelly's, Prince Pizza and too many others to remember).

The Ship is undergoing some type of renovation at this time (interior).
I have heard the new theme will be Italian.
That new KK will be a traffic nightmare at that intersection.
At the Medford opening, KK was selling donuts in the parking lot to reduce the traffic jam.
The Daily Catch is a small storefront restaurant on the northbound side of route 1-#124 Broadway-it is in a small plaza near "Rockit records", and what is now a Polcari's restaurant, but used to be Augustine's years ago.
I have not had an occasion to go. I will make time for Kane's Donuts (sorry, Dr. Adkins)
DaveM

i95, I can see all those restos like I was there. Search for the Daily Catch, there really is one there, I never found it. Never had a bad meal at Naked Fish, either. Someday make the trek up to Hamilton on 1A......go to Black Cow Tap and Grill. Tell Wendi the bartender you know me.......

If you go onto yahoo yellow pages there are a handful of non dunkin/kk/honey dew donut shops in the boston area. I'm sure some of them are fairly decent too. Actually I don't find honey dew that bad compared to dunkin or kk.

Now, if Kane's went out of business, cutting off my access to those coffee rolls the size of my head...well, that would be a tragedy. On the other hand, the opening of the KK in the Pru just makes my weekly CD shopping trips on Newbury Street that much more enjoyable. There's room for both in my world.

I personally don't rate them very highly, but a lot of people swear by Twin Donuts in Union Square Allston, including my wife.

Best doughnuts in all of Massachusetts, though: Donut Dip out in West Springfield. No contest.

quote:

Lucky, how can you get rid of the car in MA? You gotta get to the Cape, Wingersheek Beach, North Conway, Providence, Woodstock, Newburyport, etc. etc.

The tireless employees of Budget Rent-A-Car, my friend. I walk three blocks from my house to Brighton Ave and I've got wheels for a weekend for the whopping price of between $40 and $60. And when I'm done, I drop the car off at the lot and I walk home. No need for parking (no fistfights over a space, no need to be troubled by the idiots who think that because they shoveled out a spot once, it's theirs until the spring thaw), no need to hold insurance (saves me hundreds of dollars a year right there!), no need for astronomical car payments (ditto, only substitute "thousands"), no need to wait in line at the Allston Car Wash to get it detailed, none of that. It might seem like an extravagance at first, but think about it: if I rented a car for the weekend EVERY weekend, at say $50 a pop, that's $2600 a year in rental fees and that's before you factor in the freebies and discounts I get for being a frequent renter, which believe me add up. (Free rentals, free upgrades, the works!) I could not possibly own a new low-mileage car like the ones I rent for less than $2600 a year, especially once you factor in insurance, parking, fees, and maintenance. Renting cars is a comparative bargain!

And if I need to get someplace in town, there's the T (another comparative bargain -- even with the new fare increase, try taking the subway or a bus in New York City for those prices, and try getting ANYWHERE via public transportation in any other city!), Zipcar, the occasional taxi and even -- shock horror -- my feet. Now, personally, I'm from Texas, and I would not recommend doing this in someplace like San Antonio or Lubbock, but living without a car in Boston is dead easy.

quote:

However-living with in yor means---exactly how does a young guy with a wife and kid and $40000 a year supposed to do that when the house he needs STARTS at $350,000! Tough to start out with a family and a 1/3 of a million in debt even if it is at 5% interest! Stats for Bostaon area show huge increasees in personal debt--to me-having enough to cover the bills dosnt always mean "living within your means"---thats living from paycheck to paycheck---and thats scary with a family to support.

I understand entirely, Tiki. That would be scary to me too. I recognize entirely that I am EXCEEDINGLY lucky because I personally am in a situation where I don't have to worry about housing costs (the house we live in has been in my wife's family for close to 50 years and is free and clear) and, not having any kids, we don't have to worry about those expenses. Trust me, I'm cognizant of how apt the first part of my screen name is. The thing is, if I couldn't afford to live in Boston, I wouldn't live in Boston. The sad truth of our economic system is that not every city is within everyone's means, and if someone can't afford to live in Boston without going into debt, they shouldn't live in Boston.

Anyway, I don't mean to thread-jack, but I felt those points needed addressing.

Mike's was the best! They still made their batter from the original 1946 recipe, their donuts were at least half-again as big as the chain donuts, until recently they were only $4.20 a dozen, and they always seemed to have just come out of the oven. But when Kripy Kreme openend their first Boston-area store last Spring, less than a mile from Mike's, business at Mike's dropped noticeably. We used to tell the counter girls that KK was a novelty and that the customers would all be back in no time. But many of them didn't come back, and it's a shame. Boston has lost the best donut shop it ever had.

Im sure that no matter how good donuts are that are still around--for Mikes regulars--life just wont be the same anymore--i guess KK.s are good donuts and i always like DD's plain cake dunkers---but theres is something that a "Mikes Donuts" have that the chains dont---a "Mike"---and that my friends is not replaced by a chain, no matter how good the donut is!

I hear what you're saying, Tiki, but my take on this is that Mike is doing what's best for himself and his wife. I can totally understand his reasoning, and it would seem a bit selfish to me if I bemoaned the loss of his doughnuts. His wife's health is more important than whether I get a cruller.

So true Lucky!!! and thats the bottom line!

***** five stars for the daily catch ---go north, stay in right lane, pray, watch and you will see it. slam on brakes, pray again, hang a right and say hello to marie for me.

I noticed that there is still a Mike's Donuts listed on Tremont Street in Roxburry Crossing. Is this place related to the Mike's Donuts in Everett that closed? Are there other Mike's Donuts in the city still open?