Flying Apron Organic Bakery Veganism can be a tough row to hoe. Eschewing animal productsno meat, no milk, no eggs, no honeyhas been known to inspire creative cooking, but just as often it seems to produce half-baked, halfhearted substitutes nobody likes. (Call it Tofurkey Syndrome.) Seattle is a vegan-friendly town, so cute little bakeries like the Flying Apron, with its take-out window and tiny, rectangular kitchen, have to work pretty hard to survive. In addition to a brisk pie-making business leading up to Thanksgiving, the bakery turns out an ambitious variety of cookies, muffins, and “butter bars” (without actual butter, of course), and the results are predictably mixed. Berry corn muffins ($2.20) provide that classic cornbread taste and crumbly, slightly grainy consistency, with the berries to keep things moist; macaroon mountains with chocolate ($1.70) also deliver a familiar texture, but their coconut flavor falls prey to a salty-lemony aftertaste that has no place in a macaroon. Bakeries like the Apron deserve the support of those who believe in dairy-free eating, but they also deserve to be nudged toward even better baking. That way, when you try to impress upon your relatives that a vegan life can be a happy life, you have something objectively tasty on hand to back it up. Comfort food should comfort your belly as much as your conscience, after all. Flying Apron Organic Bakery (N.E. 50th St. and Brookyn Ave. N.E., 206-526-2903) UNIVERSITY DISTRICT NEAL SCHINDLER

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