PHLReview
photo credit: NICOLE GUGLIELMO
Federal Donuts
Federal Donuts, run by the people behind Zahav and Dizengoff, serves some of the best donuts and fried chicken in town. And with as many locations as there are summer cookouts in Fairmount Park, no matter what part of the city you’re in (even if you’re at Wells Fargo or Citizens Bank Park), you’re usually pretty close to an order of donuts with sugared glittery crusts or crunchy chicken (which also comes with a free honey-dipped donut). The shop on South Street is one of the bigger locations, and it’s a great spot to grab a quick BEC with a chocolate toffee donut before heading into the office—or if you’re at Tattooed Mom nearby and realize there’s nothing sweet on the menu.
photo credit: Michael Persico
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Food Rundown
Donuts
The donut offerings shift daily but what doesn’t change is that they’re sorted into three groups: hot fresh, classics, and fancy. The classics include glossy staples like chocolate glazed and other hand-dipped donuts. Their fragrant strawberry lavender gets dusted in sand-like sugar, and fall under hot fresh (because they're made to order). And when you want a donut that looks (almost) too good to eat, try the fancy donuts like their cannoli flavor with a mix of ricotta cheese glaze, tiny chocolate chips, and cannoli shell flakes. We’d order this option every day if the menu didn’t change so often. A honey-dipped donut, that’s essentially a Honey Nut Cheerios in pastry form, also comes with each order of chicken too. No matter which donut you go for here, it’s going to be plump, cakey, and thicker than most airy donuts at other shops around town.
Chicken
From fried chicken sandwiches to their five-piece wing combos with fries, you have a couple of crispy options here—the best one being the coconut curry wings. They’re covered in a dry rub that has a kettle-corn sweetness to them, and are crisp enough that you can hear each crunchy bite in your ear.
