49th Parallel Cafe and Lucky's Doughnuts

There is nothing more basic than coffee and doughnuts for breakfast (well there is but go with me on this) but the doughnuts at 49th Parallel Cafe and Lucky's Doughnuts are anything but basic.

On Thurlow at the corner of West Georgia, 49th PC&LD is located in the sunny (assuming it is sunny) and beautiful lobby of the Equinox Building (?). We found this a wonderful place to relax and enjoy their sweet and savoury offerings and soak up some calm.

Of course, first you have to brave what I assume is always a lineup but they are quick moving and finding a table was not too much of a challenge. Marie and I don't consume a lot of doughnuts so when we do, we don't mind paying the rather steep $3.50 per for something special.

Peanut Butter and Jelly was up first and I am not sure I would have been capable of walking through the line and not ordering one of these. This was a jelly-filled doughnut (raspberry) despite being complete with a doughnut hole! Someone spent some time to work that out! And with peanut butter icing, this treat has worked it's way into my personal pantheon of best sweet treats!

Next up was an Apple Maple Bacon Fritter. This was also a winner but not quite up to the PB&J standard. It was maybe a little dense for a fritter and very sticky. Of course, everything is better with bacon but some of the pieces (of bacon) were quite black and beyond my pleasure zone.

We also ordered a breakfast sandwich (one of several available) with avocado. It was delicious but our photo is a bit of a mess as the melty cheese prevented me from reassembling it properly for photo purposes! The point is that I deconstructed and reconstructed the sandwich making it look like a mess but tasting wonderful. I am not someone who typically approves avocado on everything but this was great.

Obviously, I can't leave without commenting on the coffee. I am not an expert and as I have commented often in this space that my go-to is Starbucks dark, black. On the other hand, I am not a TH double-double drinker so I feel I have some say in the matter. The coffee of the day was Uganda Bukalasi (seriously) and it did not make me weep. The acidity hit me at the back of my tongue and wouldn't go away. I know many folks are 49th Parallel fans and presumably this is a Canadian outfit so I am not going to dismiss it out of hand. Maybe next time it will be better.

For what it's worth, we give 49th Parallel and Lucky's Doughnuts 3 1/2 out of 5.