Exclusive-ive-ive-ive... Lula's Sweet Apothecary

I sat down with Bythe Boyd and her partner Derrick over the weekend to discuss their vegan dessert shop in the East Village.  "As a vegan, you always want what everyone else has," says Mrs. Boyd, which was part of her reason for opening Lula's Sweet Apothecary in autumn of 2008.  She says that as a vegan, she constantly finds herself saying, "I wish they'd veganize that."  Such was the case with the concept of an old-fashioned fountain shop.  She was obsessed with the idea of it and when no one else had done it, she decided to take matters into her own hands.  Though neither she nor her partner have any professional background in culinary techinique, they are both vegan (and thus always testing and  tweaking vegan recipes) and had previously owned a vegan food truck in Philidelphia that specialized in veganized burgers and fries.  The truck was called Viva Las Vegan and though it was successful, both were hankering to return to New York.  For months, Derrick traveled to Manhattan from Philly each day looking at spaces until he finally found the sweet sliver of a spot on East 6th Street, just one block from Tompkins Square Park.



The shop is dotted with nostalgic touches like penny candy jars (above), metal shovel spoons and working seltzer bottles from New York's own Seltzer Man.  What you won't find in the shop is trans fats, artificial flavors or coloring or high fructose corn syrup.  There are no stabilizers and each flavor is made in small batches every morning.  The ice 'creams', made with soy milk, coconut milk and nut milk (often cashew) as their bases and sweetened with organic cane juice and maple syrup, are miraculously delicious.  The nut milks are made from scratch.  I tried the strawberry, ginger snap, cake batter, and cinnamon pecan - all of which I adored.  Even a friend visiting from the land of cheese, dairy, and fat (ie France) loved the Lula 'scream! My favorite was Derrick's Irish Sundae: Irish Stout ice cream (made with Brooklyn Brewery beer) topped with hot fudge, crushed peanuts, and a little dollop of soy whipped cream.

What makes Lula's so special is that the owners are truly behind the vegan cause.  They opened Lula's with "the health and well-being of animals, humans and the environment in mind."  When I asked them their opinion of Stogo - another recently opened vegan dessert shop - Blythe said that she was just happy for vegans to have more options.