Pie Spy - Sugar Plum Vegan

We had cruised Sugar Plum Vegan's web site (http://www.sugarplumvegan.com/) a few weeks ago to see what was up with their new shop opening at 2315 K Street. The web site told us that they were open, but a drive-by shortly thereafter gave us contradictory data. So on a recent sunny Friday, we decided to check in again.

The shop occupies the space that had been True Love Coffee House, Sanaa, and Jasmine in recent years - it's a white Victorian next door to Hina's in Midtown. The interior has been modified slightly to brighten it up and make the small rooms seem less busy. Baked goods are prominently displayed at the counter, where you can order breakfasts, salads, soups, sandwiches, and other eats. Every item on the menu is vegan. Sugar Plum also offers some gluten-free items.

I looked into the display case for the pie, but saw only cookies, muffins, and scones. The pies and cakes are in a cylindrical display case all their own, up near the front window. This is the kind of pie cabinet that diners and old-time bakeries have, with shelves that rotate. However, all the pies and cakes were stationary on our visit. The case held a tantalizing array of stuff on that day: apple pie, with either crumb or pastry topping; apple-granola crisp with raspberry; peanut butter mousse pie, and beautifully decorated deep chocolate cake. I have to say, the cakes were very pretty compared to the pies. What, exactly, is in a vegan frosting that makes it look and behave like butter cream frosting?

I am beginning to think of apple pie as the litmus-test pie for Pie Spy's eating-out adventures. It was certainly the most attractive pie in the case -- so I ordered a slice. There was only one of each variety of pie and cake in the case, which made me wonder whether you could purchase a whole pie there without ordering ahead.

While vegan frosting and cupcakes may be a bit of a challenge, vegan fruit pie is not much of a stretch. Still, I wanted to see for myself what Sugar Plum's vegan version was like.

Sugar Plum's apple pie slice was generously sized (at $3.95 a slice). Full of thinly sliced, almost crisp pieces of apple, and very gently seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg. The filling was exactly moist enough. The pastry of this slice was very white, although not underbaked. It felt a little bit granular rather than flaky, and a little bit sticky. I think both of these attributes have to do with the type of shortening (fat, for lack of a better word) used. I find that certain shortenings do take quite awhile to brown. A cup of coffee would be the perfect accompaniment to this rendition of apple pie to help with that feel of stickiness.

While this slice held no surprises or revelations, it had a welcome home-made quality and it celebrated the apples, rather than drowning out their freshness by overloading the spice.

We sat in sunshine on the patio and enjoyed our dessert, one big fat delicious forkful at a time. Next time, we will have the Pie Spy Camera handy, we promise. By all means make a visit to Sugar Plum if you are in the mood for dessert but want to feel virtuous about it afterwards. [And if you don't want to virtuous about it, go across the street to Rick's Dessert Diner.]

And - of course! - tell them Pie Spy sent you. We will be waiting for your report.

P.S. On our last trip to the Davis Food Co-Op, we spied a placard that read "DFC is pleased to supply pies to Sugar Plum Vegan, Sacramento's new vegan restaurant." This calls for further investigation!