Established on 11/11/11 in a “pop-up” food cart serving up our original Creme-Brulee-Beignet, our long-awaited brick and mortar fryery transitioned from our lil food cart in 2020 to downtown Portland’s Old Town neighborhood offering our beignets and other unique donut concoctions, oh, and beer & cold-brew coffee too, we have been popping up @ variouse locations and from a take out window @ our flagship brick and mortar location ever since.
HOURS
Limited to pop-up’s @ our brick and mortar, and troughout PDX
Address
435 NW Broadway PDX Oregon 97209
Phone
Why 11/11/11?
Greg torching Donutorama’s famous Crème Brûlée donut.
If you asked Greg Slauson, it’s the perfect time to make things happen. In numerology, it represents the gateway to potential.
Longtime Portland resident, and donut lover, he bought his two passions together, and this date was his signal to open Donut-o-Rama.
Portland loves its food, and food carts. While Voodoo may seem like the most sought out food item here, the foodies in the know skip those lines and head to Pip’s, Blue Star, and increasingly, seeking out Donutorama for their specialtly donuts, some which are twice the size of a standard cake), Lemon Filled or Crème Brulee Beignets. These crunchy, blow torched delights are fun to watch being made in front of you, as they’re made to order.
On a recent morning after Christmas and before New Year’s Eve, a stream of visitors on who dropped by to visit the bright, cheery space tucked between the Passport Photo business and a Recreational Cannabis store.
Everyone knows Greg, or has walked by his Passport Photo business, which has been at this corner for NW Broadway for over 40 years. They’ve even tried his donuts when he had a food cart. What’s different this time? The space. With a giant dough mixer, seating for large groups, and the taplines prominently displayed near the mouth watering donut display – Greg’s vision is finally taking shape.
Cold Brew in a bottle. New Indoor Signs Hung. Looking around the colorful, welcoming space, most people don’t know what it took to get here.
“I had been looking at a brick and mortar location previous to opening the donutorama food cart. I initially looked at 439 NW Broadway before the food cart, and I could see trough the dilapidated front there was a hood vent. I wanted to rent the space, so I went into Passport Immigration Photos for two years asking to rent the kitchen. After all of that time the lady working there said it's not for rent, but they are selling the Passport Immigration Photo business, our family made them an offer they couldn't refuse. We backdated the building to its orginal splendor. I opened donutorana in a cart on the corner of 10th and Alder.”
To some, 11:11 is the gateway to potential: greater than the sum of its parts. The innocuous passport store is Greg Slauson’s Gateway to a brick and mortar for his dream. Right now, he is focused on Catering and Pre-Orders, and growing his Corporate Accounts, including online deliveries which Catering Clients can utilize to pre-order the Donuts, some of which are works of art.
A recent Chef Donut with Rick Gencarelli was recently featured on local news. It’s something he’d like to do more of in the future. For now, he wants to get up to 20 Dozen orders a day. From the looks of it, he’s well on his way.
Some people make a wish when the clock strikes 11:11. We invite you to draw your own conclusions as to what this number means, but one thing is sure: if you visit Donut-O-Rama at any time of day, you’ll help one come true for this relentless entrepreneur, and the communities who stand to benefit from his continued focus on charitable giving.