I Only Wanted a Doughnut!

Early yesterday I picked up a friend to take him to a spot where he would pick a ride to work. He is an old licensed electrician who supervises a crew of younger fellows just learning the trade. Something he said suddenly brought to my mind a strong longing for a fresh doughnut and a cup of coffee - decaf of course. I could just taste the sweet luscious treat I had in mind. I wasn't about to settle for a Hostess donut, or any round limp substitute wrapped in plastic, but a real, freshly deep-fried morsel with a hole in the middle and coating of powdered sugar or glaze. Or I might choose a donut with rasberry or lemon filling. But where to find one around here where the only franchise food shop is for Subway sandwiches. There are no Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Cremes, or even Mom's generic donuts east of greater San Diego.

In an area near two houses, I passed the Chef's Hat Restaurant, recently demoted from a small dinner house back to a bar and grill - Chef's Hat Bar and Grill. It was closed at this early hour because I suspect most of their business depends on the nighttime bar trade and not as much on the grill they advertise. There, I thought, is a golden opportunity to open at 5 or 6 a.m. and catch the Border Patrol trade. This area is along a 40-mile strip of sparsely inhabited communities on a two-lane blacktop road that hugs the border as closely as the rugged terrain will allow. It goes from a matter of a few feet away from the border in Jacumba, to several miles away in other places to the west, and almost every single restaurant along the way sells 'authentic' Mexican food as their specialty. BOR-ING!

This is the stomping ground of the Border Patrol with all its recently increased number of new patrolmen. If it were only opened early, those officers could watch for border-crossing violators from the windows of the Chef's Hat Bar and Grill as they munched donuts and drank their morning coffee. If I were only younger with longer periods of energy, I'd make the proprietors of the Chef's Hat a proposition to open early and sell donuts until about 10 a.m. or whenever they wanted to start their day. I have great recipes handed down from my mother and grandmother. But I suppose sooner or later some people would want bacon and eggs or a stack of pancakes, and that is not what I have in mind.

I happened to remember that The Golden Acorn Casino, an Indian truck stop and gambling casino in Boulevard 10 miles east of Jacumba, had a bakery counter where they had donuts, bear claws, and cinnamon rolls among other baked goods for sale. The pastries weren't cooked there, but they were the real thing and not too bad. I went to the casino only to find that in recent remodeling they had discontinued the bakery counter. I left in disgust, picking up three quarters off the floor as I went, and drove on up the mountain to the La Posta Casino, another Indian establishment. (San Diego County has more Indian Casinos that anywhere else in the country) It looks like a prefabricated metal warehouse outside, but is cozy inside with a stone fireplace incorporated into one side of a square bar in the middle of the large room. There is a restaurant at the rear of the building called Marie's Fine Dining that offers tasty food served with linen napkins and other high priced amenities wasted on the enchilada eaters who frequent the place. Marie didn't have any donuts, bear claws or cinnamon rolls, BUT I found a cinnamon roll in a machine. The picture on the package looked delicious, so I stuck my dollar in the slot and bought one that I found to be pretty good when I ate it for dessert last night.

An added benefit turned out to be the casino's policy of giving senior people $10 to gamble with on Mondays and Wednesdays. It was Monday so I got my $10 and spent the next hour playing slot machines, chatting up people, and drinking free decaf coffee.

My search for a good donut was a failure, but it resulted in a nice break from my usual dull routine, and put me out in the world with real people to talk to instead of just dogs, cats and horses. Hmmm - tomorrow is Wednesday. I could go back and recycle another of their $10 bills through their slot machines and have another free cup of coffee.