When pastry chef Tiffany MacIsaac introduced epicurean-quality doughnuts to a restaurant’s brunch menu earlier this year, she banked on the fact that customers would savor the sugary indulgences. After all, guests at Birch & Barley in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., tend to have an appetite for adventure, especially when they order from the restaurant’s list of more than 500 specialty beers.

Ales and lagers aside, orders of high-end doughnuts fit the bill for many Birch & Barley diners. At a weekend brunch, MacIsaac says, they’ve been looking to spoil themselves a little.

Turns out MacIsaac was right about the doughnuts, which are now offered as a “sharing” plate on the restaurant’s Sunday-only brunch menu. The plate includes three doughnuts per order, including a chocolate doughnut and a lemon-poppyseed version. The doughnuts are freshly fried, order by order, and delivered to tables piping hot.

But doughnuts are doughnuts, right? Wrong. The all-star doughnut that has many beltway brunch lovers buzzing is an extraordinary pastry that can’t be found in any old bakery. It’s the toffee-bacon doughnut, an invention that will cause lovers of pork belly to moan in ecstasy. Here’s why:

For each order, MacIsaac says, brioche dough is rolled into a round doughnut shape and dropped into a deep fryer. When it’s finished frying, the doughnuts are drained and coated with a special brown-sugar glaze, which MacIsaac describes as a toffee sauce she uses to ice the doughnut. She then garnishes the doughnut with pulverized bacon bits. That final touch is a brace of pork belly-fueled goodness that injects each toffee-bacon doughnut with its distinctive salty-and-sweet flavor profile.

“People absolutely love it, even though we only offer it one day a week,” MacIsaac says, noting that it takes around 10 minutes to produce each order given her mission of freshly frying and plating each doughnut as diners place orders.  “Originally I prepared it for a ‘family’ meal for our staff after service. Everybody loved it, so we put it on the brunch menu, and it’s been there since then.”

MacIsaac moved to the nation’s capitol last year to help open the restaurant with her husband Kyle Bailey, who also serves as the restaurant’s executive chef. The pastry chef says the first year of serving local diners has signaled a sense of adventure among D.C.-area diners who flock to the restaurant for the specialty beers and an eclectic mix of savory foods that match them.

Surely there’s at least one beer that complements MacIsaac’s bacon-fueled donut. But what if you don’t drink beer?   “There’s always good coffee,”MacIsaac says.

The fine folks over at Boca Java sent us over a bag of their special “artisan roasted coffee” flavor Maple Bacon Morning™ to get our opinion. Well, let me start off by saying WOW — that’s a mighty fine coffee!

I had some family in town so I thought what a better way to taste test a maple bacon coffee flavor then on a bunch of folks too polite to say no. I brewed up the first batch of Maple Bacon Morning™ and just as the coffee maker started to drip I heard the first “What is that? It smells like…maple syrup!” comment. The news trickled throughout the rooms of the house as quickly as the maple smell reached the noses of the family members. Their interest was peaked and a line was forming around the coffee pot.

This particular brew of coffee is on the light side, which matches up perfectly with the hint of maple syrup taste. While there is not actual bacon flavor noticeable, this coffee does make a perfect compliment for a bacon-enriched breakfast as my family & I certainly proved on the morning of my little experiment.

We had pancakes, eggs, and thick-cut bacon with a side of toast and with the addition of Maple Bacon Morning™ coffee, no one left the table disappointed. In fact, they asked where they could get a bag for themselves.

The folks over at This is Freaking Ridiculous posted this picture which will undoubtedly cause bacon lovers around the world to collectively smack their foreheads and say “why didn’t I think of that?”

So bust out the pancake batter and fry up some bacon and have yourself a hearty breakfast (or you could just buy pancake mix infused with bacon, but hey to each their own).

Thanks to BT reader Chris in Virginia for sending us the link.

You may have seen the Denny’s Super Bowl ad (if you haven’t, we’ve saved you the trouble of looking for it and embedded the Denny’s Super Bowl commercial below). You can get FREE BACON on February 9, 2010 at Denny’s restaurants. Just go there and order a free Original Grand Slam® breakfast  between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. and get your fill of bacon for free!

Personally, I’d just eat the bacon…although those pancakes look mighty tasty too…

A mighty fine little hole-in-the-wall restaurant exists smack dab in the middle of Corona, California. If you’re not paying attention you might drive right by without even knowing it was there.

That place is the Burger Basket and they’re open from 6am to 10pm, 7 days a week serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

What we were there for was breakfast fortified with bacon. For our first taste test we ordered the simple meal of the bacon & eggs breakfast plate. We ordered the eggs over hard with some white toast to top it all off.

The bacon was excellent. Thick, just the right balance of soft & crispy for this reviewer’s taste. The slices had just enough grease to keep things interesting without making the bacon too dry.

If you’re in Corona, make sure you stop by the Burger Basket.

Smaste™ Rating: 32.191

The Burger Basket
1058 West 6th Street
Corona, CA 92882
(951) 734-1331

Read what others are saying about the Burger Basket on Yelp

Okay, BT Readers, Eugenia P. needs our help and needs it fast. Here’s the email she wrote…

Hey there – I work at a pretty well known company in WA and have been tasked to come up with an ingenious breakfast event that does not resemble the standard boring breakfast display of bagels, fruit, and muffins. I had an ephifany moment when I thought “who doesn’t love bacon?” – to which my co-workers response was “even vegeterians love bacon”

Anyways, I would love to start a quick dialogue with someone at Bacon Today about creative ideas (including what to serve) for this event. Any takers to help me?

Quick summary:
Event will take place on the first floor atrium of a 4 story bldg from about 8am – 10am. Purpose is to get people interested in stopping by our table to chat with us about ‘our services’ we are presenting. The majority of employees in this particular bldg are professional males in their late 20′s to mid 40′s. Attendance is TBD – we most likely can anticipate 100-200 people during the course of the 2 hours and our budget would be no more than $700.

Thanks for your time!

For our money, there’s nothing better than the bacone, which we were first introduced to during Baconcamp 2009 San Francisco…

The Bacone is basically a bacon cone stuffed with eggs, biscuit gravy, hash browns and topped with a tasty buttermilk biscuit.

But Eugenia needs your help, too. Leave a comment below with your most creative bacon breakfast idea.

– Mr. B

Once again, the power of our Readers’ palettes has proven to be a valuable source of new reading material. Becca R. is a bit of a chef, and she has whipped up an amazing recipe for bacon apple crumble pie that we wanted to share with you today. Unfortunately, she didn’t send us any pictures, but YOU can help with that. If you get creative and make her recipe, just snap a shot and email it to us at bacontoday[at]gmail[dot]com. We just might post your photos in a future article.

– Mr. B

BACON CRUMBLE APPLE PIE

1/2 lb sliced bacon
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
1/2 cup extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
3 golden delicious apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon peel, grated(OPTIONAL)
1 (9 inch) store-bought pie shells, prebaked according to package directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In large skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp; remove bacon., and crumble o not drain fat!
(I altered the recipe and i sauteed the apples in the bacon grease briefly , just to add that extra baconness)
In medium bowl, combine the flour and brown sugar, add the butter and, using your fingers, incorporate the butter until the mixture is crumbly.
Stir in the bacon and cheese; refrigerate.
Line a baking sheet with foil.
In medium bowl, toss the apples with the granulated sugar (if you choose to use lemon, add now, i personally did not)
Transfer to the pie shell and sprinkle with the topping.
Place the pie on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
Cover loosely with foil and bake until golden and the apples are tender when pierced, 40-45 minutes.(if you choose the saute the apples in the bacon grease you shoul turn the Oven Temp to 425 degreese and you only need to bake the pie for 20 minutes, becuase the apples are more tender, but play aroun with it, see what you like!)
Let cool before serving.

Thanks BaconToday, this site always brightens my day, and I hope this recipe will brighten someone else’s day.

-Becca R.

Today was a special day. Today I had the humbling experience of being introduced to the greatest breakfast burrito of all time (along with some of the best bacon I’ve ever tasted). This my friends is my tale of a gloriously bacony morning…

It all started with a pack of Wright Brand peppered bacon. From the looks of the bacon in the package the morning was about to get off to a good start. I just didn’t know how good.

Just look at that thick-sliced, black-peppered goodness. The slices are so big they almost overpower the pan. Even before they started to sizzle the bacony smell began to fill the kitchen.

I like my bacon non-crispy. This gives me the added bonus of getting my bacon before the crispy lovers out there.

Scrambled eggs are being carefully positioned on an oven-warmed tortilla. It was at this stage that I grabbed my first taste of that Wright Brand bacon. Salty, tender, with just the right amount of fat and that wonderful pepper coating…if that combination sounds appealing to you please stop reading this post and go buy some Wright Brand bacon. Seriously, it’s that good.

If you are looking at the above picture and say “wow, that’s A LOT of bacon” kindly leave this web site. If you look at the above picture and say “WOW, that’s a lot of BACON!!!!!!!!!!” please read on. You are about to learn the secret of life. Seriously.

What are those yellow and reddish chunks on top of the bacon you ask? You recogonize the shredded cheese but are confused by what lies between it and the glorious bacon. Peppers? Onions? No and no. These are both yellow and sweet potatoes, and one of them will bring eternal happiness to your bacon-loving soul.

Turns out if you slow-roast the yellow potatoes & sweet potatoes with some carlic, olive oil, pepper, and other tasty seasonings (the chef would not reveal all the secrets unfortunately) you get one of the most amazing taste combinations ever known to the human race.

What’s with the over-the-top, dreamily-worded article you ask? Nothing. I’m serious. Although to be perfectly honest I think it’s the combination of sweet potatoes (AKA yams) and the peppered bacon that really does the trick. The sweet and salty interplay made for an absolutely perfect and extremely portable breakfast meal.

Now, if I could only get the lunch truck to start making these…

Smaste™ rating for the Wright Brand peppered bacon: a whopping 43.959

Smaste™ rating for the complete breakfast burrito: 45.999 (I’m not even sure the Smaste™ scale goes that high)

There’s a new 24-hour diner in town and it’s got great food and a quirky name. Corky’s Kitchen & Bakery has a down-home feel. Their menu is packed with American classics like bacon & eggs, plate-sized pancakes and chicken fried steak.

I had the bacon & eggs breakfast plate, which came with hash browns and biscuits and gravy. 

The bacon (because really, that’s what we’re here to talk about, isn’t it?) was good. Not fantastic, but good enough to satisfy me through breakfast. It was well cooked – crisp, but not crunchy. Smaste™ rating: 32.846.

Corky’s currently has three locations; Rancho Cucamonga, Rialto and Ladera Ranch.

– Mike