Seattle - August 15, 2007

Looking a Little Pastry

Cafe Sweet Posie Opens

New bakeries are like the proverbial box of chocolates. Never know what you’re going to get.

Gluten free? Too common translation: the consistency of concrete. Cupcakes? Could be charming and nostalgic, could be sickeningly sweet.

Then there’s Cafe Sweet Posie, the tiny Ballard storefront opening today, which threw us for a loop.

Owned by local caterer JT Thompson, the Neapolitan ice cream-colored spot is cute as a button and full of organic, made-from-scratch treats (gluten-free raspberry coffee cake, cornmeal biscotti, Mexican chocolate cupcakes) that are more than worth the trip.

Turns out that the pillowy pastries and inky cups of Tony’s coffee are just a front: Sweet Posie also makes excellent to-go baskets of whole grain, organic meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), which you can pick up or have delivered.

Consider it a reminder to keep an open mind when it comes to bakeries.

Sometimes it’s tough to see the Forrest for the trees.

Cafe Sweet Posie, 2315 Northwest Market Street (206-784-0303).