Videos from the VHS Vault: Horror Comedies

Restaurant Review:Doughboy Donuts & Deli

I found this little gem of a shop tucked away in South Boston. It shares space with a delicatessen, which I did not get to sample from, it being way to early for deli foods and my palate needed to be fresh for the donuts. Oh and what donuts they were! I ordered a glazed and a jelly. I find it best, when reviewing a restaurant, to order a plain glazed donut. This acts as a litmus test of sorts to gauge how well the basics of donut building have been completed. I can happily say the Doughboy chefs have done magnificent work. The glaze was applied expertly- not too little, not too much. Fluffy inside, a bit of a crunch to the outside. As for the jelly donut- powdered perfection! Instead of the usual red flavored jelly, I was pleasantly surprised when biting in to find a plume of purple jelly erupting from it's partially devoured center. The waitstaff was very pleasant and giving. I felt instantly at home! The clientele seemed to be mostly gentlemen from the nearby train station, as opposed to the usual law enforcement types one often encounters in such establishments. The decor was in the late 70's Southie Provincial style one often sees in the area. I was also pleased to see that they had hung up a few Pillsbury Doughboy figurines as a sort of mascot! I plan on revisiting the good people of Doughboy Donuts again soon.


Address:220 Dorchester Avenue, South Boston, MA 02127
Price Range: $$$1/2
Cuisine: Working Class Donut

Videos from the VHS Vault: Comedy Classics

How I was Screwed by a Raisin

I've always been a pretty big Claymation fan. Gumby and Pokey, the Noid, Wallace and Gromit. But back in 1988 it was all about the California Raisins. I loved those soulful little hunks of clay so much. I had all the figures, the calendar, the Christmas album. When I saw an advertisement in the back of a TV Guide for a chance to win a trip to California-just for coming up with a name for one of the raisins, I was totally on board. I spent the next few days struggling to come up with a name suitable for one of these tiny purple heroes of mine. Inspiration finally struck in the form of a delicious pun. Raisin Charles! It was genius! I filled out the needed paper work and popped it in the mail. Months later I was watching television. Either Entertainment Tonight, PM Magazine or some such show. They did a story on how Ray Charles was doing an ad with the California Raisins. Surely this meant I had won! You had to send an additional letter requesting a list of the winners of the contest, which as far as I was concerned was merely perfunctory. It was sealed up. I spoke and Hollywood had listened. My bags were packed. Hollywood here I come! The letter announcing the grand prize winner and runners up finally arrived. Some jerk, from some other state, with some lame-ass non-clever pun name had won. Raisin Charles didn't even get a runner up T-shirt prize. I was pissed. What kind of heartless S.O.B. steals a 13 year old kid's idea and fails to reward him with a trip to California? Needless to say, I have not eaten a raisin since. I pick them out of salads, lick the chocolate off of Raisinets and throw away their traitorous insides. I even skip grapes, knowing what they are so close to becoming. I refused to go see the Taylor Hackford bio-pic of Ray Charles, the pain still being too much to take. It has also made me distrustful of all claymation. I have always done my best to avoid the Noid, but Gumby? My therapist suggests playing with Play-doh for 1 to 2 hours a day. It's a slow recovery, but I'm making it. Each day is a challenge. One day I will be a whole person again.

Videos from the VHS Vault: Sci-Fi Edition

Fantagraphics has a new book out called Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box. It a pretty nice collection of box covers of various VHS releases. Most of them are exploitation movies, a few are weird educational videos. And Network is included, which is pretty far removed from what I consider to be "Grindhouse." Anyhoo, it inspired me to dig into my VHS collection. Here are a few scans of some of the Sci-Fi gems.

Restaurant Review: Dale's Donut Factory

On a recent vacation to the wifey's home town, we decided to dine out at the local donut shoppe. Located in the beautiful lakeside town of St. Joseph, Dale's Donut Factory offers an excellent dining experience for those looking for a break from the plasticized corporate donut chain. They start by serving their coffee not in a plastic or styrofoam cup, but the way the good Lord wanted it-in a ceramic mug. And a plain white mug, not a flashy mug with their logo emblazoned all over it. The wait staff was incredibly friendly and eager to help out an out-of-towner like myself. I ordered a single blueberry donut and a coffee. The donut was wonderful. Little blueberry flecks made for an excellent fruity flavor explosion. The coffee was a delight as well. Although we are well into iced coffee season, the rainy weather outside made for some fine hot coffee drinking. My one complaint was a minor one. A large television is mounted in the corner of the restaurant. I love watching FOX news as much as any other American, but as my mother always says "if you want to kill a party- turn on the T.V." I suppose one could simply take a seat facing away from the offending screen, but if a party of three or more were to dine there some would be forced to face the television. The volume was not on and like I said, it was a minor complaint. All in all Dale's Donut Factory is an excellent place for grabbing a quick bite by yourself or hosting a corporate dinner. A+++

Address:3687 S. Lakeshore Drive, St. Joseph, MI
Price Range: $$
Cuisine: South Michigan Donut