A Vegetarian in Bellingham: Mount Bakery

For some reason it took me 7 months after starting this blog to get around to writing a post about my favorite local dinner spot. And now it’s taken me 6 years to finally write a post about my favorite local breakfast spot. I understand this is why real bloggers have editorial calendars. They actually brainstorm ideas, come up with topics that make sense and are meaningful to them, and then schedule a time to write about them. Potential post topics get written down instead of getting lost in the shuffle. I seem to be the kind of blogger who is directed by whimsy and mood instead. I write about what strikes me at the time, with little thought given to a larger organizational structure. It works for me, but it’s also responsible for forehead-slapping moments of incredulity when I think, “How have I never written about the Mount Bakery?”

Well, today is the day; better late than never I suppose. I want to tell you about a wonderful local bakery that is very vegetarian-friendly and my first choice for breakfast or brunch. They’re known for the crepes, croissants, and five unbelievably decadent versions of eggs Benedict but I feel sure everything on the menu is extraordinary. They focus on locally-sourced ingredients and nearly everything is scratch-made.

On our most recent visit, I made a meal out of side dishes: a side of potatoes with Gouda cheese, a side of veggie sausage patties, and a side of seasonal roasted vegetables. It’s strange, actually, because I’m typically not a fan of Gouda. I’ll usually choose cheddar in all circumstances, but for some reason I got Gouda once on these marvelous potatoes and I’ll never change. It’s a near perfect flavor combination.

On this day, the roasted veggies included purple cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots, summer squash, and some unidentifiable (at least to me) pale root vegetable. I’m excited any time a breakfast menu offers vegetables, especially such a nice, colorful variety. Diet recommendations for reducing chronic disease risk urge us to eat more cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts) and to add more red, orange, and dark green vegetables to our diets (red pepper, carrots, butternut squash, zucchini, snow peas, asparagus). In this case, Mount Bakery wins on both counts. And to make the veg-heads happy, they offer MorningStar Farms veggies sausage patties to round out your meal and add a little protein.

Jeff got the Classic Breakfast: scrambled eggs, potatoes, and whole wheat toast. Simple but satisfying.

On other brunchy visits, when I’m feeling more in a fruit mood than a vegetable mood, I get the Fresh Fruit Crepe: filled with mixed fresh fruit, topped with Belgian chocolate, powdered sugar, and whipped cream. The crepe is pretty reasonable nutritionally (and I’m guessing somewhere between 80 and 150 calories), the fruit is freshly cut and unsweetened, and the chocolate is added sparingly. Let’s be honest, the problem is really the giant mound of whipped cream on the side; delicious but not traditionally considered a health food.

Other menu possibilities for the vegetarian crowd include Belgian waffles with a rotating daily fresh fruit compote; savory crepes with apples, pears and Brie; or house-made granola.

No matter what I get to eat, I always order a large pot of tea. They get theirs from one of my favorite local stores, Spice Hut, and I think the special tea bags are charming. Instead of the standard shape I’m used to, they make these chubby cigar-like tubes and drop them in your teapot. My go-tos flavors are Genmaicha or Sublime.

Happily, Mount Bakery now has two locations. So on our recent visit, as we drove by the downtown store on Champion Street, we noticed they were packed. This was especially problematic because as a fussy food blogger, I was hoping for a prime table by the window to optimize lighting for my always awkward “let me draw attention to myself in the restaurant by standing up and taking top-down shots of my plate” photo shoot. So, we just kept on driving towards the Fairhaven store on Harris Avenue and ended up having our choice of spots.

The bakery staff is exceedingly polite and helpful and very accommodating for special food requests, allergies, intolerances, etc. The quality is consistent and after several years of frequent patronage, I’ve never been disappointed by one of their meals.

Now that you know about this sweet, comfortable, cozy bakery filled with delicious breakfast foods, please don’t take 6 years to get yourself there.

Do you have a local bakery where you are that makes breakfast a joy to eat?

Kristine Duncan, Registered Dietitian

I’m a Registered Dietitian, the author of Veg Girl RD, and a vegetarian who loves to eat. I’m a nutrition nerd who teaches at the University of Washington and Skagit Valley College. I also write about nutrition professionally for magazines and books. If you want to know more, check out my About page.