Sweet Pea Baking Co.

Conveniently located in the "vegan strip mall" at 12th and Stark in SE Portland is a delicious little vegan bakery called Sweet Pea. Like its surrounding neighborhood, Sweet Pea is refreshingly unpretentious. The hollow ambience is a bit spartan, the single set of display cases deceptively slim, and the Web site hasn't been updated since shortly after the place opened last December. Still, none of that matters much once you sink your teeth into the pastries. For me, the best time to stop is on the way to work to pick up a muffin, scone or one of the large cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a box of cupcakes to share with the office, or maybe even a giant monster cookie when you just need a whole day's worth of sugar. How sweet!