Voodoo Doughnut makes its Arizona debut. What to try — and skip — at the Tempe location

Portland-based Voodoo Doughnut opened its 19th store, the first Arizona location, in Tempe on Sept. 7.

The grand opening day lines of Voodoo enthusiasts stretched over a block. A police SUV blocked the turn lane to make room and the overflow of cars had to park in the neighboring Someburro's parking lot.

Tempe's Mayor Corey Woods and Councilwoman Arlene Chin were present at the ribbon cutting and proclaimed Sept. 7 Voodoo Doughnut Day.

"We've been looking in the Valley for several years," said Voodoo's CEO Chris Schultz. "We looked at Scottsdale, but when we found this location, I thought why not. It's Tempe. It's all about creating jobs for me and we have 60 employees here." And he said he's not planning on opening another store in Arizona.

The question you may be asking yourself if you haven't been to the location in Oregon is: Is it worth the hype?

What to expect at Voodoo Doughnut in Tempe

Inside the small pink shop, trays of doughnuts were stacked and ready to be selected. One wall was inscribed with the shop's motto: "Good things come in pink boxes." Two chandeliers added flair to the space, though the main focus was the rotating cases presenting the eye-catching doughnut creations.

I ordered a regular dozen box. Voodoo offers regular, classic and vegan dozen boxes. Unlike other doughnut shops, there are no modifications allowed.

The regular box includes their award-winning Bacon Maple Bar, Chocolate Coconut, Grape Ape (which one of the staff called a hidden gem), Homer, Maple Blazer Blunt, Marsha Mathers, Oh Captain, My Captain, Portland Cream, Raised Glazed, Sprinkle Cake and Dirt.

These doughnuts are over the top, loaded to the brim with everything from cereal to M&Ms, crushed cream-filled cookies and sprinkles.

I tried them all, though the mixed dozen boxes do not come with some of the more visually stunning specialties like their signature chocolate-frosted Voodoo Doll raised yeast doughnut that's filled with raspberry jelly and impaled with a pretzel stake or the Ring of Fire, a chocolate cake doughnut dusted in cinnamon sugar and cayenne pepper, topped with a dried red chili pepper.

That said, the dozen still gives a pretty good overview of the flavors, if not the shapes, the shop has become known for.

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The best of the Voodoo Doughnut dozen

These doughnuts are sweet. Let's get that out of the way right now. The difference is a matter of degrees.

The Bacon Maple is a yeasted rectangular doughnut with maple glaze, topped with bacon. Not even the bacon could provide enough salt to dim the light of the maple frosting.

The Grape Ape yeasted doughnut is prepared with vanilla frosting, grape dust and grape sprinkles, an ombre of purple and certainly pleasing to the eyes. In the middle of the bite, I was hit with the taste of grape juice, the fake one from childhood. That first hit put a smile on my face, but I was over it within two bites.

The best part of the Portland Cream doughnut, reminiscent of Boston cream, is the Bavarian cream, which has a thicker texture than the usual custard filling. The round yeast doughnut is filled with cream and topped with chocolate glaze. If it was an option, I'd skip the chocolate glaze and enjoy the pastry with just the cream filling.

Among the yeast doughnuts in this box, Maple Blazer Blunt did the trick for me. It's a raised yeast doughnut shaped like a cone and dusted with cinnamon sugar. The top is dipped in maple frosting and red sprinkles. I enjoyed the pops of cinnamon and found the partial frosting to be just enough. It allowed me to actually concentrate on and enjoy the texture of the doughnut.

Overall, the cake doughnuts at Voodoo are the winners to my taste. They are smaller, lighter and milder than their yeasted counterparts.

The blueberries give the blueberry doughnut a feel of freshness and respite from the sugary prominence. Ditto the coconut for the chocolate coconut doughnut.

If you're only going to order one doughnut here, make it the blueberry.

The verdict

When I left an hour after the opening, the line still stretched a whole block with patrons fanning themselves in the growing heat, hopes buoyed by the stream of happy customers leaving with pink boxes in hand, including Council Woman Chin, who held a glazed doughnut in her mouth and a pastry box in her hand as she got into her car.

So, was it worth the hype?

If I'm in Tempe and there's no line, I would go back to try the Ring of Fire. I'm a fan of variety and Voodoo certainly adds more options to our massive doughnut ecosystem.

How to visit Voodoo Doughnut in Arizona

Hours: 6 a.m. -3 a.m. Daily.

Details: 1324 S. Rural Road, Tempe. voodoodoughnut.com.

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Reach the reporter at [email protected]. Follow @banooshahr on X, formerly Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Voodoo donut is now open in metro Phoenix. Here's what to try