Latest / The Radio From Hell Show - Best Of / Donut Critic From August 26th, 2025

Transcript

Donut Critic From August 26th, 2025 · The Radio From Hell Show - Best Of

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You know, Ben the donut critics, only been here for
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: like five minutes and I've already plowed through most of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: what he brought.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: It's just really good stuff. It's Ben Lee is the
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: donut critic. How are you today?
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: I am pretty good.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: I got a haircut.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: I know I was getting a little shaggy lot this
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: last time.
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  Speaker 2: So this is really good stuff. What have you got
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: for us here?
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  Speaker 3: So I brought in Eva's Bakery.
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  Speaker 4: So if you've been to Eva's Bakery, then you know
• 0:27
  Speaker 4: there's good stuff all around on there.
• 0:29
  Speaker 5: So they Eva's just right here on Main Street.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Yep.
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  Speaker 4: So I came in this last week or two weeks ago,
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: and that was when the fire occurred, and my initial
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: thought as I was driving away is I need to
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: make sure to find somebody on main Street to highlight
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: this next time.
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  Speaker 3: So what I did is, yeah, I found one.
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  Speaker 4: And I obviously love Eva's because it is just one
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: of those places that's an iconic place. You look at it,
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: it looks like a little French bakery there, and once
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: you go in, it delivers on taste and quality and
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: you know, ambiance.
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  Speaker 3: It's it's amazing.
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  Speaker 5: So tell us about Eva.
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  Speaker 4: So Eva, this is one of the things I didn't
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: know as I was starting to dive in. EVA is
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  Speaker 4: a sister company to Eva Restaurant. So there's Eva's Bakery
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: and Eva Restaurant, and they were started by the same person.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: His name is Charlie Perry, and he got his inspiration
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: from his grandma. So his grandma used to bake and
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: cook for people there in the West, you know, in
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: Idaho and Washington. They were grain farmers and sold grains.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: And you know, she was a baker and just a
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: richer experience or a richer history.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Than I was expecting for this, but really good stuff.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: And and the reason why I think I love it
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: too is it's just it's not in your face, flashy
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: like I think.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: You just go in and it fills like.
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: You are in France, like a little neighborhood.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So we got a cinnamon roll, we got a
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: queen of mom.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: You feel very strongly about cinnamon rolls. Tell us why
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: this is a good cinnamon roll.
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: Yes, So that's the reason why I really latched onto
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: to Eva was the cinnamon roll I had. I was
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: going through this phase a few years ago where I
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: had to have the best of the best for cinnamon rolls.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Eva's kept popping up on lists, people kept talking about it.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: I went in and tried it and it was amazing.
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: So there's several things about the cinnamon roll that are
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: so good. So it's got that layered dough, so instead
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: of like the traditional like roll type denser dough, it's
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: got that wrapped dough.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's flaky, and then so that yeah.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: The exterior is a little bit crispy, but then it's
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: softened the inside. And then the inside that he does
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: is so amazing because it's a little bit nutty too,
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: so there's that little bit out of a nutty taste
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  Speaker 4: and crunch to it, and the cinnamon is open out
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: so you get that really full flavor going. And then
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  Speaker 4: on the bottom, if you notice, there's a little bit
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: of caramelization, so that's that additional texture and sugariness.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: I love that.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: And then the frosting on top of you you warm
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: it up a little bit and it just melts right
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: into it. So it is definitely one of my top
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: two cinnamon rolls for Utah. So if you haven't tried
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: Eva's Bakery and Salt Lake for cinnamon rolls, you need to.
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: Now you also, like carry was saying, there's queenum on here.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: Yep, So yeah, the Queen of Man's great. It's got
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: that layered dough as well. And then I brought in
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: the almond croissant, which is one of my favorites. It's
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: it's so unassuming, like you look at it and it's
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: just like, oh, that just looks like a bunch of almonds,
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  Speaker 4: like kind of thrown on top, but there is just
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: that almond butter and crunch inside, and then you get
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: the layered dough for the croissant.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Really good.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: So Eva's is right thereby where the fire on Main
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Street happened.
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  Speaker 5: Were they damaged at all?
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: No, So Eva's Bakery is about a block north of it.
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  Speaker 4: But their sister company, Eva's Restaurant, which is the small
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: plate restaurant that also is in this restaurant family, was
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: next to top of Tillo's, and so it was affected
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  Speaker 4: just from like a cleaning and a little bit of
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: a renovation standpoint smoke, But it was spared. However, it's
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: affected because it's closed right now, so they've had to
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: go through and clean it. And it's also affected from
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: the construction, and that's one of the things I like
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: to talk about getting people out is Hey, I know
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: this is happening, I know the construction. I know it's
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: kind of hard to get to, but you really have
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: to rally around these businesses because if not like they
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: are suffering as well.
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  Speaker 5: So can you help by going to the bakery.
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: Yes, so if the bakery, and then once that opens
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: up in the next week or two, they don't have
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: a definitive date, but making sure to get into that
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: area and support those businesses right around that bakery.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: You've put the hours on here, which I think is interesting.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: They're open seven days a week, but they close at
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: in the afternoon, at three thirty in the.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: Afternoon, and yeah, and that has to do with downtown
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: traffic in general. I feel like that's one of the
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: things Salt Lake has struggled with, and I think that
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: that's one of those things that we just had to
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: get in and support in those hours. In those times,
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: it was actually pretty easy to go in and do
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: it in the morning, and so if you have an
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: early morning commute, it is easy to swing onto Main Street,
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: get it, and then get out in the morning hours.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: So that's what I prefer now.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: I went to the Downtown SLC dot org website still
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: front page. There. They have the Main Street Fire Employee
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Assistance Fund where you can go to donate to help.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Over two hundred people lost their jobs in those fires.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: You could just donate there. Because we were talking with
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Jimmy the wine guy last week. A lot of those
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: people you probably know them too bad. Two hundred people
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: out looking for jobs and there's just not enough for
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: different establishments to absorb that.
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: So go donate there.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and this is the time you know that you
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: can step up and go and visit. Another place that's
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: really affected in what I want to highlight maybe next
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: time or a time after that is sugar House right
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: along twenty one hundred South. A construction is just horrible.
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: We experienced it on two hundred South here. There are
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: several businesses that needed help because you couldn't get in,
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: you couldn't park, and it really does affect what they
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: are able to do and employees and everybody around it.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, if you're thinking about lunch today, maybe do
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: EVAs get some pastries for the weekend, but maybe go
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: to lunch in sugar House, like to Bruges, maybe that's
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: one of the places.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's having a really hard time. Yeah. This cinnamon
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: roll is maybe the best cinnamon role I've ever had.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: It's delicious.
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, good yea, And when you look at it, it
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: really is unassuming. I went in and I was like, oh,
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: maybe it's an off day.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: They were kind of like, you know, kind of falling
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: outside of each other, and it was amazing. I had
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: one just barely as well before I came in.
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  Speaker 2: So you had a whole one probably, huh.
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  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I'll bring it.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we had to split one.
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  Speaker 3: You can't have it both ways.
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  Speaker 4: You complain about how much I bring and then I
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: give you a little bit.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Less, and then I don't complain about any of it.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that you bring us these these treats.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: I just I just wanted to just say that I
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: could have had more.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: I'll bring you a bigger portion next time.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's good. It made me go I don't
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: I shouldn't. I should have saved it was the first
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: thing I ate, and it the the other two things
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  Speaker 2: on the plate are good. Yeah, but that cinnamon role
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: just sort of popped. Yeah, And I should have saved
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: that for the last.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, but this is a good thing.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: So we always say, if you have a recommendation for
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: good food, yeah, come to me and I would love
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: to try it. But if you know a business that
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: is struggling, let me know, because that's kind of a
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: fun thing for us to do, is highlight and make
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: sure that they are, you know, getting the attention that
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: they deserve.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Maybe you could do the same sort of thing for radio.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: You want him Ben to take a little bit of
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: us around town as is there a.
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: Good place to park for Eva's Bakery?
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: So I actually parked right out front because like I said,
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: it was around eight am and there are ten minute
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: parking slots right there and it's it's actually in and
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: outre cost.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: So Ben, thanks, follow Ben on just look for the
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Donut Critic on Instagram and you'll find all of his stuff.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: YEP, I appreciate it, guys.
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: Thanks Ben.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Amazing