DSE at the VASST B&H show you said that there was a EQ plug-in way to easily get the AT897 to sound like its more expensive brethren. What plug-in(s) were you referring to, and is there a pre-set, if not would you mind sharing what I should be looking to tweak (ie. mids, bottoms, etc.) and to what extent? I figured if I'm gonna do this I may as well do it right.

I use the WAVES Rennaissance plugs (the one I showed) because of their warmth.
There is no preset, because it's not like mic modeling (which doesn't really work anyway) but rather pushing extremely small differences.

So basically I'm in the trial and error zone.

Yeah, unfortunately. Basically, it's finding the sweet spot of lower mid and very hi mid or lower high end freqs, that gives it just a "touch" of edge. It's harder to describe than it is to hear it. You'll hear it. Especially if you can have the opportunity to listen to some higher end mics.
Overall, once you start getting into higher quality mics, the differences are subtle from each other, but that subtlety can make all the difference in the world. If you don't have the $$ to get the best, you can use good EQ to get reasonably close.