Rhode Island's official nickname is "The Ocean State." However, many of us who know it well call it "The Dunkin' Donuts State."

That's because you can't go two blocks in Rhode Island without seeing a Dunkin' Donuts. Appropriately, the Providence Civic Center, the state's most famous sports venue, was purchased several years ago by the coffee and donut giant and promply renamed The Dunkin' Donuts Center.

No state loves coffee and donuts more than Rhode Island.

That's why it seemed a logical site for Krispy Kreme, the North Carolina-based doughnut company that gained national attention in the mid-1990s. Krispy Kreme had been available elsewhere for many years, but hit the mother lode in 1996 when it opened its first outlet in New York City, the world's biggest hick town. Southern humorist Roy Blout Jr., in an article for the New York Times Magazine, wrote, "When Krispy Kremes are hot, they are to other doughnuts what angels are to people."

When the New York Times Magazine speaks, pretentious people respond. Soon Krispy Kreme was all over TV, including big plugs from Rosie O'Donnell and "Seinfeld."

Seven years later Krispy Kreme finally invaded the nation's doughnut capital. Curious Rhode Islanders turned out in droves. For awhile.

It's four years later; Krispy Kreme plans to close its Rhode Island and Massachusetts outlets.

Several reasons were given, though my guess is Rhode Islanders concluded Krispy Kreme doughnuts didn't live up to the hype.

Krispy Kreme's reputation rests on its glazed doughnuts. As Blount wrote, this is a tasty confection ... when eaten while warm. What Blount didn't say was almost any doughnut is delicious while fresh and warm.

Ironically, exposure to Krispy Kreme may have increased Rhode Island's appreciation of Dunkin' Donuts, which, despite its popularity, seldom receives the respect it deserves for several quality products. It helps that Rhode Islanders buy Dunkin' Donuts in such quantities that at many outlets the supply is constantly replenished.

While Dunkin' Donuts may come out second best in a taste test of any particular doughnut, it would win the Doughnut Olympics because Dunkin' would enter so many varieties. (My personal favorite is its jelly doughnut with powdered sugar, not granulated, though when forced to settle for the latter I gladly say yes.)

Also, despite its popularity, Dunkin' Donuts does not offer Rhode Island's best-tasting doughnuts. Those come from Allie's. As far as I know, Allie's has only one location, on Route 2 between East Greenwich and North Kingstown, in a small, wooden building at the edge of a free-for-all paved lot that offers no clue where you are supposed to park. Inside there are no tables or chairs, booths or benches for customers to dunk and eat their doughnuts. Outside are a couple of old picnic tables, but weather usually discourages their use. Allie's business hours are more for its employees than customers. Nonetheless, Allie's is THE place to stop on your way to the beach. Allie's attracts customers who buy doughnuts by the dozen, two dozen or more. My wife and I have lived in South Carolina for five years, but whenever we visit our kids in Rhode Island they'll ask, "Have you been to Allie's yet?" (Their frosted, raised doughnuts - with jimmies on top – are in a class by themselves.)

Alas, Allie's coffee can't compete with Dunkin' Donuts. It's the doughnut-coffee combo that is the secret to Dunkin' Donuts success. I've never heard anyone mention coffee in the same sentence with Krispy Kreme, for example.

I've never been to Tim Hortons, but this is another huge coffee-and-doughnut company that received a rough reception in Rhode Island. In recent years Hortons expanded south from Canada where it has more than 2,700 outlets. There are now more than 300 Tim Hortons in the United States, 73 in New England, but the company is considering closing several, especially those in New England.

Meanwhile, my doctor doesn't have to worry about my doughnut consumption because there are no Dunkin' Donuts in the Hilton Head-Bluffton area. Doughnuts in general are not popular here. There used to be two Dunkin' Donuts in nearby Savannah, but they're gone. There is a Krispy Kreme in Savannah, but the only Kirspy Kreme doughnuts available in my neighborhood are those sold in supermarkets and convenience stores, which gets me back to Rhode Island. A spokesman for the company that ran the Krispy Kreme franchises in Rhode Island and Massachusetts blamed many of their financial woes on the wholesale end of the business, which includes supplying area markets.

This is a big part of Krispy Kreme merchandising and one that – in my opinion – hurts the reputation of its signature product, that glazed doughnut. I do my food shopping at Publix, a Florida-based chain that has a store within walking distance of my home. That store offers Krispy Kreme doughnuts, as does a nearby Walgreens. I have no idea how old the doughtnuts are; I bought a few soon after we moved here and was not impressed. They certainly weren't better than those made by Publix, subject of this double-sided compliment: The good news is the best bakery in Bluffton is the Publix supermarket; the bad news is the best bakery in Bluffton is the Publix supermarket.

Meanwhile, Krispy Kreme proved once more you can't put stock in that famous line from "New York, New York", the one that goes, "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere."

Though the truism I glean from Krispy's experience is that – in Rhode Island, anyway – you don't mess with Dunkin' Donuts.