Flying Apron Bakery: Seattle, Washington

Baked goods put a smile on my face. Who doesn't love a good bakery?! When I visit a new city, I like to explore the different levels of bakeries (and restaurants) and always pay attention to recommendations from locals. Always. Always.

There are famous places like Mike's Pastry in Boston where millions of people (including President Bill Clinton) clamor for their traditional italian cannoli's. My friend, Laura, used to live right across the street from Mike's and said that the constant flow of people coming and going was mind boggling. Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of the goodies and thought that the popularity was probably continued by their name and reputation. But I was quite impressed with their immaculate and creative selection of Marzipan. Yes, that is a homemade chunk of marzipan shaped and decorated like a hot dog.
And then there are little hole-in-the-wall places like Magnolia Bakery in New York City that start out perfecting one simple item like a cupcake in a way that is pure, mystifying magic and then can barely keep up with the demand of people lining up around the corner and down the street. In fact, Magnolia's is so completely amazing that I will have to save its review for a separate post (but suffice it to say that I am in awe of these little cupcake gems).

During my recent Seattle visit, my friend Alex took us to this vegan bakery in Fremont in Seattle for a little breakfast goodie buffet.
It's a vegan "sustainable bakery" that uses local ingredients, wholesome organic and unrefined ingredients and all of the ingredients are gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free and mostly soy-free. Instead, they use all sorts of creative ingredients like garbanzo bean flour, brown rice syrup, palm oil, molasses, arrowroot powder and evaporated powdered cane juice.

Luckily, I was there with friends so we got an assortment of goodies because it really was impossible to narrow down the selection. We got an assortment of scones, maple bars, cookies and other indescribably yummy things!
I liked the bakery for its originality and plethora of interesting flavor and texture combinations, but all told, I wouldn't return because I have had better vegan pastry such as the People's Donuts, the vegan apricot almond cookie at Arizmendi Bakery and, of course, the all time best vegan pumpkin scone I have had in my entire life at Mana Foods in Paia, Maui.