Blue Star Donuts Gives Away Doughnuts To Celebrate Opening Of Shop In Venice

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VENICE (CBSLA.com) – Free doughnuts, anyone? Blue Star Donuts, known for its gourmet brioche-style doughnuts, gave away doughnuts Monday to celebrate the grand opening of its new shop in Venice on Wednesday.

"It's pretty insane. I don't know if you can see how thick this frosting is, but it's like dessert," said doughnut fan Janet Shaw.

The Portland-based gourmet doughnut company has four shops in Portland, one in Tokyo and just opened up its latest store in Venice on Abbot Kinney Boulevard.

With decadent favors like blueberry bourbon basil and chocolate almond ganache, they look almost too good to eat.

(credit: Jasmine Viel)

Jessica Kulp, manager of Blue Star Donuts Portland, said: "The apple cider fritter is my personal favorite. It's got a hard cider glaze on it. We like to put a lot of alcohol in our doughnuts; that's why our tag line is doughnuts for grownups."

The brioche dough takes 18 hours to make. The end result is near perfection. Blue Star planned to give away thousands of doughnuts Monday until it they ran out.

But they won't be free for much longer. Starting Wednesday, Blue Star will officially open. Each doughnut costs $3 to $4 and change. But they are well worth it for the die-hards.

"It's kind of our thing to do. Family day dates is go get doughnuts," said Blue Star Donut fan Cody DeFrate. "We'll drive all over the city for them."