At Tony's Donuts
Maine's Specialty Pastry has a Loyal Following
It's been said 'any Maine girl should know about molasses donuts.' Indeed — and Tony's are among the best.
Lorie Costigan
Owner and baker Rick Fournier keeps the shelves of Tony's Donuts well stocked on a cold Sunday morning in Portland.
I — and my co-workers — first became the beneficiary of Frye's fry-o-later largesse nearly a decade ago, when he landed at my office door at The Camden Herald, doughnuts in hand. "Any Maine girl should know about molasses donuts," he said by way of thanks for keeping the pages of the Herald filled with hometown news for his Florida-bound heart. Long since absent from the Herald's editorial page, I can say a bag of fresh doughnuts — along with a prodding note to tell the story of Maine, molasses, and doughnuts — found me at Down East a year ago.
According to Frye, seafaring folks — and their families — found new uses for the molasses they transported from Barbados to Boston and Maine. The doughnut was an extension, along with the molasses-drenched baked beans, Indian pudding, and, eventually, molasses doughnut holes that were the staple of many a Maine meal.
A Maine native I of course had my own doughnut memories, buried deep in my underpinnings, as it were. There was buying the still-warm plain doughnuts from the now long-defunct Camden Home Bakery, there was sitting at the counter of Dunkin Donuts — back in the days when people actually sat at the counter long before the drive-thru aisle— dunking a chocolate cruller into chocolate milk as my grandfather slurped DD coffee during the mid-morning break. The day our family learned Willow Street doughnuts could be bought from a store shelf closer to home than driving to the Rockland-based bakery. Happy memories, all.
Truth be told, until Mr. Frye began his single-man doughnut crusade I had never thought about Maine's cultural connections to the fatty pastry. The days of casual doughnut break, I thought, would become a thing of the past, lost to the convenience of franchise-induced speed of service and transplants — bagels! As it turns out, my childhood routine of dipping and slurping doughnuts in a local bakery lives on daily at Tony's. Die-hard doughnut enthusiasts don't end their fascination there, either. There's a monument to the creator of the doughnut hole a mere mile from the Rockport offices of Down East. Doughnut-themed blogs pepper the Internet, celebrating regional doughnut lore instead of making it the forbidden fruit of calorie-conscious consumers.
Yes, Mr. Frye, there is likely a research paper — or cookbook — that tells the full story of Maine molasses doughnuts and maybe such a missive will be published. Until then, we offer the Three-Minute Maine video, "Tony's Donuts," as a testament to what Tony's owner Rick Fournier calls Maine's "natural" food.
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Reader Comments:
There is nothing better than a Tony's Molasses donut!! When my parents come to visit, my father ALWAYS heads up to Maine and on his way back, brings bags of goodies for us. I still can't decide which is my favorite; plain molasses or glazed.
I'm very pleased to read his name in your article and that the molasses donut and Tony's has been brought to the forefront as it should be.
Here's to John Frye; avid historian, teacher, soldier, and most importantly, my dad.
Now where's my donut?
Ms. Costigan, this was an excellent article regarding a topic that indeed should be kept alive. You've caught hold of a part of Maine's heritage which as many others before, is beginning to fade from our culture. Many might tend to focus on just the goodness and warmth of the doughnut itself, whether molasses, squash, or pumpkin. But the impact of molasses on the Maine's daily fare can be seen in many other foods still popular three centuries after they were created -- baked beans, brown bread to go with the beans, gingerbread for dessert to follow, gingersnaps to fill the kids' lunchpails, and molasses taffy on cold winter nights. It has been part of our culture since before Maine became a state; the history of its introduction via mariners contributes significance to Maine's culture. The fact that a small bakery such as Tony's Donuts in Portland still exists shows the importance of the kinds and flavors of our unique foods. The owner is to be commended for his tenacity while such wondrous commercial Maine bakeries of similar goods such as Harris, Cushman, and J.J. Nissen have one after the other ceased their operations or sold out to out-of-state corporations. Your efforts are a sturdy brace in full support of Maine's heritage.
My parents lived in the Portland area in the live fifties. Those were the golden days when donuts, like milk and bread, were delivered to your house. While pregnant with me, my father relates, my mother ate molasses donuts morning, noon and night! This was before the days when weight control became an issue for pregnant women. When I was born and didn't resemble anyone in the family, it became the family joke that I had to be the molasses donut delivery man's child. While I'm sure this isn't true, I will proclaim that there is nothing better in this world than a warm molasses donut!
Hello Tony's,
I have a friend from Maine who now lives in Connecticut... he is dying for Molasses Donuts... Do you ship them out of state???
Please advise.
Kate
When I was younger - I say younger, but I'm only 23 - my family and I would stop at Tony's after church. Soon I became the designated Donut Shopper with my dad, and I'd have the list of what everyone wanted. I'd walk in an the man - I can still see him in my mind's eye - would say, "Hiya Smiley." As a 10 year-year-old, that was probably the coolest thing in the world.
I live in Florida now, and am more Maine-sick than I could ever have imagined. I would love a donut.