Taking in the sights in downtown Portland, OR.Know that Portland has tons of vegan-friendly restaurants, and the quality of the food overall is consistently on the better-than-average side (in some cases, it is far above average, and makes me wish I could eat out there all the time). Also, I realize I am not posting regularly, and that this photo essay leaves out any one of a number of stories I could try to conjure up from my memory, but I got in about 3 hours ago, and I am simply too exhausted to go there.
I will be pretty busy the rest of this week, too, for various reasons that include catching up, but I am planning to post more regularly again at some point in the near future. Thanks for sticking with me through this sparse time.
Every city should have a vegan bakery (yes, I shared this).
Seriously? The best vegan breakfasts ever are at Vita.
I also ate at Bye and Bye, which had pretty good prices on beer and a delicious vegan BBQ platter. I was told their menu is all vegan. I didn't research that but, if true, it is the coolest thing ever. Dinner and four excellent beers for $23 plus tip! It was dark in there, so no pictures. I also didn't think much of any of the pictures I took at Backspace, a nifty little hangout downtown where I wanted to eat, but didn't; killer-looking veg/vegan menu.
Also downtown: Vegetarian House. I'm not all that excited about the vegan Chinese options in Boston, but this restaurant in the Chinatown area of Portland was quite good. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the entrees, though the appetizers and decor were nothing special. Great place to go eat family style. Not too far away is the always-excellent Blossoming Lotus, where I had the Incan Bowl with tempeh, followed by a little dollop of vegan soft serve (which was a bit icey, with a tad too much vanilla, but that didn't stop me from practically inhaling it). PaRaDoX Palace Cafe is always reliable with their tasty corncakes, but I went twice this time so I tried the PaRaDoX Benedict (vegan, obviously), and it was much better than I had figured it would be when I had seen it on the menu during previous visits. Good reminder not to get stuck continually reordering my first favorite dish!
You see the monster cookie picture above from Sweetpea Vegan Bakery (where I also sampled donuts, boston cream pie, scones, cinnamon rolls and more), but it cannot do the place justice. It's part of the new vegan minimall, which includes an expanded Herbivore Clothing and much larger Food Fight! Vegan Grocery. Scapegoat Tattoo rounds out the row, though I have no tattoos to report, I'm afraid. I did pick up some mint chocolates, almond butter chocolates, rice milk chocolate and Primal Strips from Food Fight! (they also now sell vegan nacho cheese from a pump, people, and I am here to tell you that it tastes amazing). The Herbivore hoodie you see in the picture up top was purchased during a previous visit. This time around, I bought a cute blue "cow hugger" hoodie for my wife instead.
Just around the corner from the vegan minimall is Red & Black, an internet cafe-type place I had visited last year. I liked that location better, but the menu has now gone all-vegan, so I am thoroughly won over. Besides, the vegan cheese nachos were tasty, and the tempeh bacon, lettuce & tomato sandwich wasn't so bad, either.
Well, this turned into a relatively filled out post after all. I did do more than eat while I was a way, but most of that other stuff is personal, and probably not all that interesting to you, dear reader. Suffice it to say that I ate way too much food in Portland. It's just too damn delicious not to eat everything put in front of you just about anywhere you go. I'd probably gain 20 pounds if I ever moved there.
If any of my PDX friends read this, I just want to thank you again for the hospitality and the comfort of your company. It's always a pleasure to hang with you.
Labels: restaurants, travel, vacation, vegan food
