You won't miss the meat at Lola's -- it's vegetarian but not snooty about it

Russell Battaglia has a kind word for everybody.

Each time a customer walks into Lola's South City Bakery in Hillman City, Battaglia asks, "Hey, how you doing?" while stopping to wipe the perennial dusting of flour from his hands.

He actually seems interested in the answer.

Another bonus about Lola's South City Bakery, named for Battaglia's 6-year-old daughter: It is vegetarian and mostly organic without being uppity about it.

Perhaps it was the slathering of melting Brie cheese on the fresh baguette ($4) that distracted me, a carnivore down to my bones, from the absence of meat. Maybe it was the caramelized onions and walnuts on the pizza ($6.50), made fresh to order and the size of a dinner plate. I didn't add a salad for $2, but I should have.

Instead, I challenged myself not to polish off the wheel of pert pizza slices, also available in Neapolitan or Field Roast vegetarian sausage for $7. I failed. While some may find the sprinkling of corn meal that accompanies many of Battaglia's breads and pastries too crunchy, I find pizza that swoons in my hand distasteful. (Sorry, Tutta Bella.)

I scribbled for hours at one of the bakery's smattering of small tables, cradling my $2.75 double latte -- made with organic fair-trade coffee from Olympia-based Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters -- and listening to the bakery's soundtrack of Lucinda Williams, Toots and the Maytals, and KBCS. Occasionally I ordered cookies, whether a $1 Russian tea cookie, a $1 vegan herbal shortbread (lemon, cornmeal, rosemary and thyme) or a $1 vegan ginger molasses. A $2.50 pot of Rishi Tea is next on my list.

Staying too long could be dangerous for my health, though. On one visit, I ordered both the $6.50 Caprese sandwich, grilled, house-made rustic bread stuffed with an insane amount of mozzarella and tomato and basil, and a $4 rye currant roll heavy with raisins and filled with tangy five-layer English farmhouse cheese.

Carbs and dairy? I'm into them.

Going organic, local and sustainable seems to be a personal choice rather than a "green" marketing tool for Battaglia, who was a co-owner of Tall Grass Bakery in Ballard until 2005. While the Columbia City farmers market is running from May to October, Battaglia closes early on Wednesdays to walk the half-mile north with his goods in a cart.

"It's easier on the way there -- it's downhill," he said. "Coming back -- that's what gets you."