Eat Out. Babycakes.

This week, for our Sunday 'Beat' meeting, we went to the new Los Angeles location of Babycakes NYC Vegan Bakery. It was much-anticipated, opened January 3, and has been getting a lot of press, so we thought we'd give it a try. It's teeny-tiny (just to the left of Cole's) and smells of pure deliciousness from the moment you enter the vegan paradise. The three of us (sans Lauren, who's started her Chilean adventure) all chose different items, and we were all relatively pleased.

I intended to get a red velvet cupcake, but ended up with vanilla with pink frosting (the one in the Chinese take-out container, pictured) ... Chau had a baked donut and a slice of the banana chocolate chip loaf (in the pink donut box), and Heather had a chocolate chip cookie and a chocolate chip with vanilla frosting cupcake (on the dainty plate). My cupcake was made with spelt, which I now know is an ancient "healthy grain" often used to feed livestock. It was introduced in the United States in the 1890s and is becoming a popular wheat alternative. I found it to be quite coarse for cupcake use--it was almost like a cornbread muffin. That may sound bad, but it wasn't ... just, different. One of those things you may later have a random craving for.

Heather really liked the chocolate chip cookie, but was unimpressed with her cupcake, and Chau liked her pretty baked donut but I didn't hear much about the loaf. The overall consensus was: we wouldn't not go back.

We found it funny--as you might too from the photo evidence above--that they gave us all different forms of containers for our respective desserts. The girls working at Babycakes were sweet (pun intended, ha) and had cute uniforms, which were all uniquely well-accessorized.

T-Shirts and diner-style mugs with their appealing cursive logo are sold in the shop. It's all very retro, girly, and fun. Whether it's the new-to-L.A. hype, or cravings for more (return customers?), the small spot was consistently busy for the hour or so we were holding court at the one outside table.

Babycakes is located at 130 East 6th Street in downtown Los Angeles. Closed Mondays.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins