{"id":108631,"date":"2017-07-27T22:47:22","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T02:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=108631"},"modified":"2017-07-27T22:47:22","modified_gmt":"2017-07-28T02:47:22","slug":"for-philadelphia-phish-fan-its-time-to-make-the-doughnuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/07\/27\/for-philadelphia-phish-fan-its-time-to-make-the-doughnuts\/","title":{"rendered":"For Philadelphia Phish fan, it’s time to make the doughnuts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Phish<\/a>
Phish announced its 13-show run in New York with a video in January that showed giant doughnuts rolling through the city. (Photo<\/a>: Phish\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK \u2014 Phish announced its 13-show run in New York with a video in January that showed giant doughnuts rolling through the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

That got Felicia D’Ambrosio’s phone buzzing, with calls from friends hoping that might mean a role for the Phish superfan and co-owner of a Philadelphia doughnut and fried chicken shop that had made doughnuts dedicated to the band in the past.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, no, I don’t want to work on Phish tour,\u201d thought D’Ambrosio, who has been to more than 100 shows.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then came the request. From the band.<\/span><\/p>\n

Time to make the doughnuts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doughnuts are everywhere in Phish’s \u201cBaker’s Dozen\u201d residency at Madison Square Garden, which kicked off last week and lasts until Aug. 6, from the tickets to a huge mural to the thousands of Federal Donuts being given out to fans each night. The band is even working each night’s custom flavour into its setlists.<\/span><\/p>\n

The band \u201cnever stops surprising me and delighting me and I trust them,\u201d D’Ambrosio said. \u201cTo us at Federal Donuts, it’s this weird collaboration of this thing you love and this thing you love.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Phish’s doesn’t need gimmicks to draw fans to their mostly sold-out shows, but they are known for playful gags on stage. One song features guitarist Trey Anastasio and bass player Mike Gordon performing while jumping on trampolines, and drummer Jon Fishman’s other instruments include a vacuum cleaner.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was Fishman’s standard outfit \u2014 a blue dress covered with red doughnut shapes \u2014 that first inspired D’Ambrosio to whip up The Fishman \u2014 a blue vanilla raspberry doughnut with a pink glaze \u2014 ahead of a 2015 show.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark Welker, the executive pastry chef at New York’s Eleven Madison Park and NoMad, took notice of the Fishman doughnut and another Federal Donuts creation, The Fluffhead, named for a classic Phish song \u2014 and when the band came to him for a recommendation on a doughnut maker for the residency, he recommended D’Ambrosio.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew their doughnuts are really, really good. They’re fans. This is the only option,\u201d Welker said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The band sent its flavour ideas to Federal Donuts chef Matt Fein, who came up with his interpretations to send back to the band.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen they were like, ‘yea, rock and roll, go for it,\u201d’ D’Ambrosio said. \u201cIt was nice and simple.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For the Phish strawberry doughnut, Fein said that his muse was a Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake Dessert Bar. He made the shortcake topping out of freeze-dried strawberry and doughnut crumbs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s neat to get their take on what they wanted and then be able to put my name on it,\u201d Fein said. \u201cMost of the flavours they chose were pretty traditional. That being said, they said growing up they only really had traditional\u201d doughnuts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Federal Donuts employees are putting in overnight shifts to get the doughnuts made in Philadelphia and shipped up to New York for each show \u2014 but Fein said the fact that the band is working the flavour into the show makes the extra work totally worthwhile.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coconut on the first night brought a cover of Harry Nilsson’s \u201cCoconut\u201d (\u201cshe put the lime in the coconut\u201d), strawberry had the band performing the Beatles’ \u201cStrawberry Fields Forever\u201d a capella, and night three’s red velvet meant an opener from the Velvet Underground and the Phish classic \u201cWading in the Velvet Sea\u201d to end the second set.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tuesday nights \u201cjam-filled\u201d honey-dipped doughnut saw the band extending songs that even it doesn’t usually jam to. \u201cLawn Boy\u201d usually lasts a few minutes, but went on for a half hour. It wound up trending on Twitter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Welker said that his favourite part has been watching D’Ambrosio’s reaction when \u201cStrawberry Fields Forever\u201d began.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe did all of this,\u201d Welker said. \u201cTo think they’re playing songs and she’s making doughnuts has just got to be the best experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 Phish announced its 13-show run in New York with a video in January that showed giant doughnuts …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":108638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19932,19931],"class_list":["post-108631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized","tag-doughnuts","tag-phish","mauthors-josh-cornfield","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}