Baker's Wife doughnut: 100 Favorite Dishes

As a countdown to the Best of the Twin Cities 2010, coming this spring, The Hot Dish is serving up a hundred of our favorite local dishes. Send your own nominations to hotdish @citypages.com.

Back when we first tried them, living on the coast, we were enamored with Krispy Kreme doughnuts: When the HOT sign blared in the window, we eagerly watched each O-shaped confection perfection emerge from the glaze waterfall, sugar-wetted, and travel down the conveyor belt. We were hardly able to restrain ourselves--and we didn't, a fact which soon would haunt us. After the three-in-one-sitting incident (ouch!), we'd officially od'd on doughnuts and subsequently cut them out of our cravings list indefinitely.

That was until we rediscovered A Baker's Wife on the utterly nondescript corner of 42nd Street and 28th Avenue in south Minneapolis. A Baker's Wife is as stylish as pleated Dockers and a seasonal sweater--it looks about like it's run by someone with a houseful of children and no help with the housekeeping. The kitchen's oversize, sweet, doughy comforts are as plain-Jane as they come, which was exactly what we were hoping for in a cake doughnut. The Wife's have a golden, crumbly interior, and fried brown crust sprinkled with cinnamon and twinkling sugar granules. We'd rather have our cake ring-shaped than sliced, which is why we've professed to take our dessert for breakfast.

Hungry for more? The dishes in our countdown thus far are linked below:

No. 100: Volcano Salad at Tiger Sushi
No. 99: Eclair at Butter
No. 98: Moussaka at Gardens of Salonica
No. 97: "Flappers" at Colossal Cafe
No. 96: Bento Box at Obento-Ya
No. 95: Sausage, salami, onion, and green olive pizza at Black Sheep
No. 94: Crab Cake at the Kitchen
No. 93: Passion fruit cake at Pardon My French
No. 92: Kafé 421 Signature Dips
No. 91: Lutefisk at Landmarc Grill
No. 90: May Day Cafe Croissant
No. 89: Dowjic at Babani's
No. 88: Osso Bucco at the Modern Cafe
No. 87: Chef Shack Hot Dog
No. 86: Adult Mac & Cheese at Good Day Cafe
No. 85: Ropa Vieja at Victor's
No. 84: French Toast of the Dead at Chino Latino
No. 83: Uni at Origami
No. 82: Bagel at Common Roots
No. 81: Jasmine Deli's bánh mì
No. 80: Pho 79's bò cuốn lá nho
No. 79: Sweets Bakeshop's Kettlecorn Cupcake
No. 78: D'Amico Kitchen's Chicory Salad
No. 77: Be'wiched Deli pastrami sandwich
No. 76: La Grassa's lima bean appetizer
No. 75: Bulldog NE Tater Tots
No. 74: Pop's Swedish Meatballs
No. 73: Hot Plate's Caramel Apple French Toast
No. 72: Grand Cafe's Ham and Cheese
No. 71: Galactic Pizza's Thailander
No. 70: Jackson's milk chocolate gelato
No. 69: Patrick's Bakery and Cafe's tiramisu
No. 68: Punch's Chopped Italian Salad
No. 67: Red Stag's Smelt Fries
No. 66: Mancini's Grilled Garllic Bread
No. 65: Uptown Bulldog's Chicago Dog
No. 64: Crema Cafe's Sorbet Spritzer
No. 63: Matt's Bar Jucy Lucy