Even if you don’t know me personally, if you’ve followed the blog or our Instagram or YouTube Channel or Facebook Page for any length of time, you know that I have a sweet tooth. You know vegan waffles, cupcakes and donuts are my weakness. You know I cannot physically pass them up when in a new city. In fact, it may be unfair of me, but I have judged entire cities before based solely on the quality of their vegan donuts. No joke. Albuquerque, New Mexico: not so bad–vegan Rebel donuts are pretty good. Amherst, Massachusetts: it’s a good thing it has a sweet independent bookstore and Amherst Cinema with nooch for popcorn because the vegan donuts from Glazed are a bit of a let-down. So it’s to the city’s everlasting credit that Spokane’s only vegan and gluten-free cafe, Boots Bakery and Lounge, is successfully repping the vegan crowd.
Their specialty is pumpkin waffles. Year. Round. Yaaaassss. I don’t know why people think pumpkin waffles should be reserved for October and November–those suckers are freaking delicious every month of the year. And it’s not like whether or not they’re in season matters–everybody just uses the canned stuff anyway (don’t pretend like you don’t). Everybody needs to get on the year-round pumpkin waffle bandwagon, in my opinion. If you disagree with me we can’t be friends. #sorrynotsorry
But it doesn’t stop there. They put homemade vegan chai butter on top of those pumpkin pancakes. And maple syrup. Yes, son! But in addition to waffles, the lounge and bakery makes cupcakes, cookies, vegan quiche, and all manner of actual food (i.e. not sugar) that you can scarf in a booth or take to eat on the trail (or in your office–we can’t all have jobs that permit us to savor vegan chicken salad on a picnic bench under a pine tree whenever we darn well please). Obviously, coffee and booze are also a given.
But in all seriousness, vegan or not, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t stop in at Boots, Spokane’s only vegan and gluten-free bakery and lounge, at least once while you’re in town. Also, I wouldn’t be mad if you went ahead and overnighted me a waffle while you’re at it…
Been to Boots Bakery and Lounge? What’s your favorite treat? Eat on, wander on!
Alisha is a freelance outdoor journalist and photographer based in Ogden, UT. She loves backpacking, hiking, mountain biking, kayaking and snowboarding (even though she’s terrible at it). She’s also pretty sure she’s addicted to coffee. alishamcdarris.com