We're surprised Portland didn't already have one.

At the beginning of May, the city's first all-vegan doughnut shop Doe Donuts opened on the corner of Southeast 82nd Avenue and Powell Boulevard. The wood-lined bakery, decked out in -- you guessed it -- whimsical deer artwork, specializes in brightly colored, beautifully decorated and fluffy doughnuts that you might not even realize are vegan. Part of the secret behind Doe Donuts' textural success is its owners Carly Sitner and Crystal Wegener, who met in the bakery department at Whole Foods. Sitner has been a vegan for nearly two decades, while Wegener isn't. Together, they've been able to troubleshoot animal-free ingredients over the past two years, finally landing on a mix of soy milk, soy butter and flax seed to make cake and yeast doughnuts that taste just like their milk-, egg- and butter-based siblings. Except for a small stack of mugs along the back wall glazed with "go vegan, stay vegan, doe donuts" and a T-shirt (for sale) hanging on the wall, it would be easy to forget this isn't just your neighborhood doughnut shop.

The dish: If you're looking for a sugar rush, you've come to the right place. Most visitors will go straight for the brightly colored doughnuts, like the seasonal bubblegum-pink strawberry-rhubarb fritter; the doe! -- a sprinkle-topped strawberry milk yeasted ring; or the matcha topped with raspberries and pansies. Stick with those, and you'd score every time. Fruit lovers will adore the fritter, with chunks of fresh strawberries hiding beneath a rhubarb glaze. The pistachio-colored matcha doughnut tasted impressively like the earthy tea, a feat that's significantly easier in theory than reality. Almost anything chocolate ganache-covered, particularly the golden child, the shop's signature chocolate-raised topped with brownie, chocolate shavings, chocolate chips and gold pearls, is excellent, too. But some creations missed the mark. A lovely salted vanilla bean ring was so oily it overpowered the excellent glaze. The "Oregon Trail" doughnut, dipped in chocolate then topped with peanut butter, pepitas, strawberries, chocolate chips and potato chips (think trail mix) looked the part, but didn't quite stick the landing. The doughnut boxes, too, are unusual. Shaped to look like flower boxes, they're cute for half a dozen, but dozen territory becomes awkward and unwieldy, so long we were afraid we might not make it through the door.

The takeaway: There's finally a doughnut shop just for vegans, or anyone with a particular animal-product allergy, and the doughnuts don't disappoint.

Sample menu: Doe! ($3), vanilla bean bullseye ($2.75), peach streusel ($3.25), matcha ($3.50), smores stuffed ($4)

Drinks: Coffee ($2.50-$3.50), Numi tea ($2), canned and bottled coffee, kombucha and sodas ($1.50-$4)

Go: For a (mostly) guilt-free treat, the earlier the better.

Details: Breakfast and lunch hours, Wednesday - Monday; 8201 S.E. Powell, 503-333-4404, doedonuts.com

-- Samantha Bakall

sbakall@oregonian.com

Follow @sambakall