Come On Baby, Light My Flour...

Restaurant Review: Wildflour Vegan Bakery & Juice Bar

Heaven is in Pawtucket, RI.  It’s called Wildflour and it’s this vegan’s dream come true.

My good friend Rachel and I meet up twice or so a month for Sunday brunch.  One of my most loved omnivores (and frontwoman for the rockin' cover band Long Story Short), she not only tolerates being dragged from one vegan brunch spot to another, but also watching me wolf down sweet potato pancakes bigger than my head before forking in a side of home fries (true story).  Meanwhile, she demurely munches on some granola or (god love her) orders a tofu scramble.  This week we met at Wildflour, a sleek and contemporary vegan bakery ironically located right next to a Dunkin’ Donuts.

(I couldn’t help but feel a little smug as we snubbed America’s favorite donut shop for some animal-friendly fare.)

Inside Wildflour is light and airy, decorated in blues and greens with a wall and a half of windows and enough seating to snugly (but comfortably!) fit a fair amount of people.  My eyes went straight to the pastry case, and that’s when I realized I’d found my Mecca.  Rows of sumptuous cookies, brownies, scones, sticky buns, muffins, cakes, cupcakes, breads, and homemade granola bars sat behind the glistening glass, and I could eat every last one.  There once was a time when I couldn’t meet a pastry without losing all sense of self and dignity, god of cake style, stopping at nothing until the morsel seemed a tasty figment of my sugar-induced coma.  I’ve since built up the reserve of willpower needed to say no to the dairy and egg-ridden goodies that routinely show up in my office.  But these.  These pastries teased me with their Earth Balance-based frostings and beckoned me with their non-dairy chocolate chips, begging for more than a nibble.  At that second I realized Rachel was in serious danger of witnessing hedonistic gorging of embarrassingly epic proportions if I didn't get control.  Thankfully, I had prepared for this moment (pouring over their online menu) and knew exactly what to order: the Breakfast Smoothie and a broccoli cheddar biscuit.  Hell, throw in that chocolate peanut butter cup cupcake, too.

The food was as good as the pastry case was loose.  The biscuit was flakey and savory.  The cupcake nearly melted my face off with its deep choco-peanutty goodness (I was unabashedly licking my fingers, folks). Give any one of the yummies to a non-vegan and they’ll never be able to tell the difference. Surprisingly, my favorite was not a pastry, but the Breakfast Smoothie.  Wildflour is also a juice bar, with freshly squeezed juice combos, herbal tonics, and outrageously tasty smoothies.  The Breakfast Smoothie is a blend of berries, dates, coconut, granola, and soymilk.  The cinnamon from the granola gave a warm kick to the blueberries and milk making it deliciously satisfying, like drinking a warm snickerdoodle.

Prices are not bad; I got my spread for about $12, and threw in a tip just because the pastry case made me want to weep for the feeling of homecoming.

Wildflour is definitely worth a stop if you’re cruising around Providence, or even the 50-minute drive from Boston on a gorgeous sunny day like today.  If gas prices allow, I'm going to become a regular. Consider this bakery vegan-tested, omnivore-approved!