Olympic Trading Post Donut Station

I mean no disrespect to the owners, because they do have a great collection of items availability to purchase, but I’m here to talk about the donuts. Exclusively. Holy moly, those donuts!
Whether you’re coming or going through town, you’re going to pass OTPDS. Stop here. Just do it. Buy donuts. Tons of donuts. Any favors. It doesn’t matter. You will leave super happy, and the owners are super nice, so it feels good to give them business while sating your belly.

I eat donuts whenever I see them, regardless of the time of day, how cold or warm or wet or dry it may be outside, which side of the bed I woke up on, or even the time that has elapsed (or more likely, «not elapsed») since my last meal. Although I have never met a donut I didn’t like, I certainly recognize the difference between well made, hand-​crafted pieces of artwork, and crappy, soggy, heavy donuts that hit your stomach like a lump of wet plaster, but only after sticking in your throat for way too long. Don’t get me wrong… I do not begrudge the crappy donut… I just eat less of them at any given sitting. Too many places turn out donuts as an afterthought — they may taste great while eating them, but within an hour of downing a mere half dozen, you feel like crap. This can cause crazy thoughts… like swearing off donuts… forever. See what I mean… CRAZY THOUGHTS.
But OTPDS are some of the best donuts I have ever had. They are light… and oh… so…super…tasty. Simply put, they are delicious… and clean. If you talk with Courtland you will find out that he and his wife (Debi) didn’t set out to make donuts when they opened Olympic Trading Post out on Simms Avenue. But the last tenant left a full kitchen… complete with deep fryer. Courtland speaks about the process of making donuts with such youthful enthusiasm that you would swear they are new to donuts, but they are not, having made them at a prior store of theirs. Making donuts — GREAT DONUTS — is clearly the culmination of art and science, and it only takes one bite to know that they have struck glazed gold with these sugary Port Townsend piles of dough.
Everything we had was EXCELLENT. Unlike my normal routine of getting only vanilla cake donuts, I was so enamored with the chocolates that I started alternating. On my first visit of the day I’d go with a chocolate in my left hand and a vanilla in my right… and on the next visit of the day I’d go with a vanilla in my left hand a chocolate in my right.
We were in PT for a week-​long vacation and had multiple donuts daily. On more than one occasion, we got a couple to eat while walking out to the marina or Maritime Center… and then stopped in on our way back to have a couple more. I even stopped in on the way to a Rotary luncheon. Now, one might think that after knowing each other for more than two decades, I wouldn’t have to explain the truth about donuts to my partner, but yet again I did. Eating donuts has nothing to do with being hungry, and choosing when to eat them has nothing to do with what other meals may have come or gone in the near past or future. I am ALWAYS hungry for donuts, regardless of anything else. Moreover, an appetite cannot… repeat, CANNOT be «ruined» by eating donuts. Donuts have been known to satisfy… appease …even cure an appetite, but never in the history of mankind have donuts ‘ruined’ an appetite.
If you are heading downtown specifically for OTPDS, I’d advise calling first. It could possibly save your wife from having to bear witness to you «pitchin’ a fit» when you find OTPDS closed. It is especially heartbreaking when you have spent the past 24 hours thinking and talking about which (and how many) donuts you were going to try the next morning. We immediately (and with great haste) drove out to Olympic Trading Post, to make sure Courtland and Debi were OK… and maybe in the hopes of finding them simply running late. That is when I saw something that made me love OTPDS even more. Sure enough, right there on a handwritten sign was «gone fishing for the day.» That is an excuse I cannot argue with, and fully support and respect. I think part of what makes OTPDS so good is that Courtland and Debi know how to enjoy the finer things in life. They certainly know what is important, which clearly translates to their donuts. Nonetheless, would it have killed them to leave out a few ‘day olds’ on the curb for me to rummage through? …come to think of it, I bet they don’t have ‘day olds’ because they likely sell out daily.
Finally, there is the price. I don’t know about you, but I’d pay just about anything for a great donut. So at $ 1 a piece, these are a bargain. Heck, that fiver was burning a hole in my pocket anyways. My partner was astonished at my $ 1 tip and exclaimed, «You just tipped them the equivalent of a whole donut!!!» I like the way she thinks, so ever since, I equate everything to the price of OTPDS… because that is usually what I’d rather be spending my money on. «Damn, gas is up to 4 donuts a gallon!!!»
Open April Fool’s Day through Halloween.
(I was recently informed of their official name, which is why the new listing for an older reviewer.)