This Donut Shop Has Been Serving NYC Since The 1950s, And Regulars Still Line Up

Tourists and locals alike love New York City for its hustle-and-bustle culture, the feeling of limitless possibilities, and, perhaps most importantly, the food. No matter which block you're turning up in the Big Apple, you're almost guaranteed to find a food cart, bodega, or restaurant serving some out-of-the-box creation that you'll dream about for the rest of your life. Thanks to its rich history, NYC can offer well-established foodie delights that other cities just can't compete with, like Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop, which has been a staple of the Brooklyn community for over 70 years.

Regulars know that there's no donut in Brooklyn like a Peter Pan donut. This simple fact has kept them lining up down the block year after year, and easily landed Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop a spot on our list of the best donut shops in each state. The menu is full of handmade donuts, such as classic glazed, jelly-filled, and strawberry frosted sprinkles, as well as more elaborate creations like sour cream cake, cream crumb red velvet, and even the seasonal pumpkin flavor (which might just rival this pumpkin pie-filled donut recipe). The shop also serves other pastries such as eclairs, French crullers, black-and-white cookies, and muffins, priding itself on using original recipes with only slight modern tweaks.

Peter Pan Donuts makes thousands of fresh donuts in the store every single morning. The employees mix the dough and glazes by hand, cut the pastries into their appropriate shapes, and slap those creations in a fryer until perfectly golden brown. From there, those golden, doughy pillows are stacked onto poles, doused in their respective glazes, and hung to drip-dry in glistening rows (much like this donut shop's glazing window in Montreal). Depending on the flavor, the donuts are hand-dipped in sprinkles or topped with crumbs until they're placed in the donut window display, ready for a hungry home.

Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop has operated in NYC since the 1950s, owned by Christos and Donna Siafakas since the 1970s. All these decades later, and the establishment is still family-run, the owners' children helping out with keeping that daily line in check. The pastry shop is open 365 days per year, seven days per week, and is still coming up with new donut creations all the time. As one of the oldest donut shops in NYC, Peter Pan's is proud to have such well-established roots in the Greenpoint, Brooklyn, community and often refers to its regulars as family.