As the first evening and last night of Chanukah were on Sundays, we are posting this blog a bit late, as we could only make it out to Brooklyn for the second Sunday. Despite being late to the festivities, we had a very aggressive agenda (below in planned order of the route):

• Ostrovitsky Bakery, 1124 Avenue J, Brooklyn, NY 11230
• Pomegranate Supermarket, 1507 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11230
• Sesame – Flatbush, 1540 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11230
• Taste of Israel, 1322 Avenue M, Brooklyn, NY 11230
• Patis Bakery, 1716 Avenue M, Brooklyn, NY 11230
• Schreiber’s Homestyle Bakery, 424 Avenue M, Brooklyn, NY 11230
• Viva La Dough, 501 Avenue M, Brooklyn, NY 11230
• LUNCH: Sunflower Cafe, 1223 Quentin Rd, Brooklyn, NY 11229
• Pita Sababa, 540 Kings Hwy, Brooklyn, NY 11223
• Taam Eden Bakery, 4603 13th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11219
• Weiss Kosher Bakery, 5011 13th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11219
• XMAS LIGHTS: Dyker Heights Christmas Lights

As Tevye said in Fiddler on the Roof, “sounds crazy, no?”

Reality (sugar rush and other responsibilities) crashed on us and we didn’t make it through the entire list but here are the reviews.

A public announcement before beginning – be prepared. Bring water bottles and some other items like plates, plastic knives and wipes. Quartering the donuts is a must if you want a healthy sampling.

Ostrovitsky’s Bakery

Last year, we came to Ostrovitsky’s in the afternoon and they were out of some of their best flavors, including chocolate mousse, napoleon and rosemarie, so we came here first. We picked up one of each, an Oreo and a plain jelly (we were seven people).

Before getting into the flavor and quality of each, I want to share that as opposed to prior years when we arrived at the beginning of the holiday to fight large lines, there was no line here or any pandemonium at the other stores. Eight days of deep fried foods must tap the strength of even the greatest Maccabee.

We made a new friend at the store, a caterer, who very much likes the bakery and shared a story how many bakeries actually get their sufganiyut (filled donuts) from Ostrovitsky’s.

The chocolate mousse was the biggest fan favorite of the reviewers, deeper in flavor than the lighter rosemarie. The napoleon actually tasted like a napoleon- not a donut, which isn’t necessarily a bad mark but wasn’t expected. The jelly and Oreo were both good.

Pomegranate

The big supermarket had a wide variety this year. This year’s selection was good. However, the plain jelly was watery and the “long john” variety had little jelly in it.

The halvah was good but other bakeries were much better.

Pita Sababa

We were lucky to have friends get to Brooklyn before us and pick up a selection at Pita Sababa before we got there on the itinerary, as it is not close to the other bakeries and often has a line. The sampling was fantastic! The halvah was simply outrageous – with lacy halvah on top and rich full flavor inside.

The caramel was okay as was the plain sugar coated. The Dubai Chocolate was divine with great flavor and fullness of filling. It hit the top place this year, knocking Sesame for the first time in our seven year crawl.

Sesame

Sesame has been top of the charts for each of our crawls since 2019. This year, it continued to impress, with plentiful varieties and flavors in both pareve and dairy. People buy them buy the dozens – literally.

Patis Bakery

We stopped into Patis for lunch (as well as Koma sushi) and to try just one donut – a dairy cookies and cream. It was light and flavorful. There wasn’t a very big selection of donuts, and they don’t make them at the location as they do in the other bakeries, so we were very satisfied in light of the difficult competition.

Schreiber’s Homestyle Bakery

We got a few dairy donuts at Schreiber’s, and lace cookies which we consider the best in the category. The strawberry was fine and the marshmallow wasn’t very good, especially as we had it the following day.

Viva La Dough

Viva La Dough was new to our crawl. It did not disappoint. The dough was excellent – even the following morning which is unheard of for sufganiyut. The tiramasu was light and airy – they way you would expect. The coffee filling was tasty, as though you were eating an expensive dessert at a restaurant.

We ran out of energy and did not make it to Taam Eden or Weiss’s Bakery. Taste of Israel had no donuts for walk in.

Overall

As this was our seventh year of the crawl, we have pruned the poorer bakeries and now left with only good selections. Pita Sababa’s Dubai chocolate and halvah were the rockstars of the day. Sesame continues to do well with pistachio, nutella, peanut butter, but some did not like the dairy milk lotus. We give high marks to Viva la Dough, even though the selection is lighter than the others.