Call it what you will; after our experience at Fractured Prune, we realized we don’t need an excuse to indulge in the shop’s delicious, decadent doughnuts, though riding 120+ miles between the three of us called for some just deserts.
I’ve been known to eat a doughnut or two after a ride! -Sally Aston (The Velo)
Named after Prunella Shriek, known as “Fractured Prunella” for the broken bones she suffered competing in traditionally men’s sports even into her 70s, you know this shop has the athlete in mind.
We stopped into the Tempe location to test out some of the shop’s tens of thousands of possible doughnut flavor combinations. The shop’s menu is an eye-popping sight when nothing can stand in between you and fuel after a ride.
From the quintessential rainbow-sprinkled Carnival to the Black Forest with raspberry glaze, chocolate chips and powdered sugar, you can’t help but want to eat everything immediately.
In addition to making custom doughnuts with the customer’s choice of glaze and toppings, Fractured Prune also serves their own chosen combinations. As someone who struggles with making such decisions, I was happy to let the doughnut chefs create their own concoctions for me to try. -Jeff Chapin (Athlete Octane)
In our doughnut taste-testing extravaganza we settled on a Top 5:
Carnival: honey glaze + rainbow sprinkles
Salted Caramel: caramel glaze + sea salt
Blueberry Hill: blueberry glaze + powdered sugar
Black Forest: raspberry glaze + mini chocolate chips + powdered sugar
Pig Pen BBQ: sweet barbeque glaze + bacon + tajín spice
Honorable mention – Arizona Spice: lime glaze + tajín spice
The last doughnut in my list was their Arizona Spice doughnut, with its lime glaze and tajín spice. This last one was simply amazing. Not hot enough to burn, but enough to make all the flavors explode in your mouth. -Ivan Lopez-Castrillo (ASU Cycling)
Nothing goes better with doughnuts after a long ride than coffee, and although the doughnuts are the shop’s shining star, its coffee, made by Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Gillies, is worth a try. If you’re looking for some protein, breakfast sandwiches made with doughnuts instead of bread and doughnut sliders also will hit the spot.
The hot coffee was of exceptional quality and the Shamrock ice cream they served with a doughnut almost has to be included in one’s first visit. -Chapin
One of the best non-traditional things we tried was a Lava Nut – a signature doughnut with Shamrock Farms ice cream and hot fudge.
The staff is very cyclist-friendly and invite you to bring your bikes inside the shop. Even if you’re with you’re with a large group, owner Mark Prygocki said if bikes can’t all fit in the store, he’ll move chairs out on the patio so you don’t have to stress about thieves.
Prygocki’s Westgate location even donated doughnuts at a fundraiser for two West Valley cyclists who were badly injured when hit by a car.
The store is open and spacious, there were bike racks outside but because we didn’t have locks, we were welcome to bring our bikes inside and park them against the wall. -Aston
Since they are made to order, Fractured Prune doughnuts are best when they are fresh, and with so many toppings, it’s hard to throw an extra in a bag and stuff it in a jersey pocket. But we’re not sure how anyone could resist eating one of these upon seeing it, so the bike-takeout problem virtually is nonexistent.
Fractured Prune has five locations across the Valley:
- Glendale – Westgate
- Downtown Phoenix – Cityscape and Talking Stick Resort Arena
- Tempe – University House near ASU
- Chandler – Rural and Ray roads
Sally Aston, Jeff Chapin and Ivan Lopez-Castrillo, like many cyclists, are resident doughnut aficionados.