A recent edition of Creative Loafing, Tampa's free newspaper that has everything about everything that is happening in the world of Tampa, ran an article about the opening of a new vegan bakery and quick service restaurant located inside Duckweed Urban Grocery in downtown. The joint, called Farmacy Vegan Kitchen + Bakery, features a bevy of desserts (think donuts, muffins, raw cheesecakes, brownies, cake pops, cobbler, breads and power balls) all made sans meat or dairy. Farmacy also serves a handful of vegan meals including lentil soup, Avocado BLT and a hummus wrap, kale salad, lentil salad, Shepherd's Pie, veggie lasagna and black bean meatballs. So here we are, Sunday morning, with two kids craving a new adventure. Let's go get ourselves some vegan treats.
When we arrived on the Farmacy scene, I realized quickly that deciding on one thing wasn't going to be an easy task. There was a lot to like (by the looks of things). Z-Bot made her decision quickly, a vanilla donut with sprinkles. I went with a vanilla donut with Oreo cookies and caramel and a sticky bun. Special K was fine just drinking breast milk.
Our assortment of donuts and sticky bun
The donuts were really good. Their consistency reminded me of the vegan donuts you can get at Buttermilk Provisions in Wesley Chapel. They were soft and moist and held together well. They had a consistency that I normally associate with cake. Unlike Buttermilk Provisions, which glazes all of their donuts, Farmacy's were topped with chunks of fun (be it Oreo or sprinkles or something else). The toppings added a subtle sweetness, a slight flavor contrast and a different texture to the cakey donut. I really liked that about them. Normally when it comes to vegan donuts, Z-Bot doesn't always finish them (yeah, more for me). At Farmacy, she scarfed that entire sprinkled beast down. I asked her how it was and her eyes lit up and she said "Good!" That's about as animated as I see her when it comes to food. I'll chalk her up as a fan of Farmacy's donuts as well.
Speaking of fandom, I grew up a huge fan of sticky buns. As a youngster, that was my "breakfast dessert" of choice. But it had been years since I had eaten one. This abstinence was partially because no one else seems to have the same affinity for sticky buns as I do (and I wind up eating the whole thing myself) and partially because I haven't found a good vegan one in Florida. Unfortunately, I still haven't. That's not to say that Farmacy's version was bad or inedible. It absolute was not. I just didn't find the taste of their sticky bun to be all that interesting. I wanted a little something more, something that stood out and caught my attention. I think consistency wise the sticky bun was excellent. It showed great promise. Tastewise, eh. I found myself wishing I had selected multiple donuts instead of the sticky bun.
My goal for my next visit, yes there will be a next, is to convince the kids that they want to sleep in just a little bit longer so that I can do a sort of brunch thing that meshes Farmacy's donuts with their Avocado BLT. That would probably just about make my Sunday.
Making my Sunday's for the last two months (yes, this track has been sitting in my inbox since the end of March) is You Are Number Six's "Midnight Blue". The track has a sugary darkness to it. That's why it seems like the perfect musical metaphor to a donut topped with an Oreo.
Expect a new YANS track, "Sealed With a Kiss", sometime this week. Expect to see it on the blog sometime in September.
Just kidding.
Sort of.
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