VeganFabulous

the lowdown: Berbati’s Pan | 231 SW Ankeny St., Portland, OR 97204 | 503.248.4579 | Website | Lunch, Dinner, Happy Hour | Items $4.50 - $10 | **

Super cheap.

As the weather declines, the downtown Portland lunch options follows suit. Much of the vegan variety is offered through food carts; unless you are running back to the office, food cart dining isn’t nearly as pleasant as it is during the summer months. To complicate matters, I can no longer simply jump on my bike during my lunch hour without making a change of clothes, thus my options are further limited. Nonetheless, last week I borrowed a golf umbrella and foraged my way to Berbati’s, a gruesome 10 blocks in a downpour.

Berbati’s is a well known night spot sandwiched between the infamous Shanghi Tunnel and Bar XV. This threesome comprise a few of Portland’s most well known hot spots. Even I had a few crazy nights filled with heavy drinking and bar food at these places. Berbati’s is a much different scene during lunch. The daylight draws attention to all the imperfections that are typically hidden at night, the dining room is entirely empty, and the music is non-existent. The vegan options include gyros with hummus instead of tzatiki, veggie panini, and boca burgers. I ordered the gyro with falafel ($4.50), which included fries. It was decent and cheap, however, certainly not worth the trouble nor as good as I remembered it.

the lowdown: Morning Star Cafe | 510 SW 3rd Ave #100, Portland, OR 97204 | 503.241.2401 | Website |Lunch, Coffee | Items $5.50 - $7.25 | **

Cute coffee/sandwich shop and great location, yet avoidable.

Sure, there are cute girls behind the counter. Sure, the name Morning Star sounds kind of hippie which provides hope that they may extend their love to vegans. Sure, the location for downtown Portland employees is great and the prices are affordable. Nonetheless, the cute girls are rude and I can’t bump the image of prepackaged fake meats when I think of this place.

There are a few things that bother me about Morning Star Cafe. First, it is not the fact that their normal menu offers nothing without cheese or meat. In fact, their Specials menu has a permanent item called The Veggie ($6.75) which includes veggies and hummus, a side of chips, and is quite good. The problem I have is that each time I have been there, the person at the register claims they are new and don’t know what they are doing, and sandwiches are routinely served out of order. Additionally, the folks making the sandwiches are completely out of touch with what kind of bread they are using and the inner working of the sandwiches they are making. All of these complaints would be moot if they were in some form pleasant about their ignorance, but shockingly I get the feeling they believe it is a privilege for me to spend my lunch hour there. Luckily I have boundaries for that type of abuse. As for the everyone else, Morning Star is often packed with those who either don’t ask questions, are fooled by the name, or enjoy the abuse.

the lowdown: Taqueria Los Gorditos | SE 50th Ave & SE Division St., Portland, OR 97255 | 503.875.2615 | Lunch, Dinner | Items $1.5 - $6 | **

Mexican food truck with vegan menu.

Hitting up a food truck that happens to be nearby is one thing, but traveling the to other side of Portland to visit one takes a whole different level of dedication. The first time I tried to visit they were sealed shut, despite the Sunday hours I’ve seen posted on the Internet. The second time was on a rare day that I had off from work and my sister and I were sort of in the neighborhood.

Over the last year Los Gorditos has graced blogs raving about their vegan menu. At one point they were offering an entirely vegan menu on Sundays. I don’t know if this is still the case since they were closed when I tried to go on a Sunday, but they do offer a lengthy 11 item vegan menu during normal hours including tofu tacos ($1.50), a tofu burrito ($5.50), enchiladas with tofu or soyrizo ($5.50), and a quesadilla ($5.00). Tofutti Sour Cream, Soyrizo, and Follow Your Heart cheese can be added for an additional $.50. Perhaps I made the mistake of ordering the tofu burrito, but I was not impressed. The tofu was soggy and tasteless and the beans were overly refried. I certainly want to give them credit for having so many offerings but I would not bother going out of my way 30 blocks. Based on the number of people waiting in line for their lunch I’m going to guess I am the minority, but I’ll go ahead and create a longer line at La Bonita.

the lowdown: Deschutes Brewery & Public House | 210 NW 11th Ave., Portland, OR 97209 | 503.296.4906 | Website | Lunch, Dinner | Entrees $8.95 - $26.50 | **

Beer and accidental vegan options.

Going out with family can be quite difficult. Especially when you are traveling in a pack of two vegans and 6 omnis, two of which are over 70. The best way I have found to deal with this situation is to go for pub grub and hope for the best. Since Portland is a micro brew hub, pubs aren’t difficult to find, and lately the newer breweries have been hyping the words “sustainable”, “organic”, and “local”. This generally means they’ll have at least something for everyone.

Deschutes Brewery is the latest of breweries in Portland. Located in the brewery blocks of the Pearl District you can only imagine how busy this spot can get. Arriving at 2pm on a Sunday afternoon warrants a 20 minute wait and I’ve heard waits up to an hour are to be expected on any given evening. I’ll start by saying the service is terrible. If you’ve ever wondered where the frat boys and sorority girls end up immediately after graduation, it is apparently as a server a Deschutes, where the only requirement for employment is aloofness and a keen sense of your coolness. The food is limited but not out of the question. The “House Made” veggie burger is not vegan so don’t even ask. This leaves you with a choice of the “Seasonal Veggie Panini” ($8.95) and “Roasted Portobello Mushroom” ($10.95). I ordered the mushroom option and had sandwich envy when I saw that the panini was a mountain of roasted veggies. Whereas the mushroom sandwich simply had roasted onions. Although the food was tasty it wasn’t worth the price or memories of all the college parties I was never invited to.

the lowdown: Chance of Rain | 1522 SE 32nd Ave, Portland, OR 97214 | 503.235.8022 | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner | Items $5 - $9 | **

Coffee, sandwiches, strange people.

For the foreseeable future I am not covering new territory for Sunday brunch unless the place comes highly acclaimed. I am tired of feeling like I waited all week long to have a great cup of coffee and plate full of tasty vegan grub only to end up with a watered down tofu scramble or charged $13 for 4 individuals plates of food. I want vegan biscuits and gravy, and banana pancakes. I want to be knee deep in tofu scrambles and coffee with soy milk. There is a whole world of restaurants out there that I have already visited and damnit I can’t wait to go back!

You may be asking what triggered the above declaration. Admittedly it is a combination of several disappointing dining experiences and Chance of Rain was my latest escapade. Perhaps it was the 19 year old seated nearby boasting of his 9 shot rum binge the night before, the dust covered chess board missing too many pieces to play a reasonable game, the dilapidated internet computers, or the server sticking his finger in my coffee to fish out a swimming grind. Chance of Rain is a coffee and sandwich shop during the week, brunch spot weekends only. They offer a variety of vegan fare including sandwiches and burritos and for brunch a teriyaki tofu scramble. The scramble, a combination of spinach, mushrooms, soft tofu, onions, and chives, was decent but became secondary to the other elements of the visit. Next weekend - Vita Cafe!

the lowdown: Mississippi Station | 3943 N. Mississippi Ave., Portland, OR 97227 | 503.517.5751 | Website | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Happy Hour | Entrees $8 - $17 | **

Cozy, life music, and somewhat vegan friendly.

Yesterday morning I woke up completely out of ideas for brunch. Rather than visiting one of my favorites we decided to pick a neighborhood and ride our bikes around until we found inspiration. This adventure lead us to Mississippi Station, an anti-climatic discovery.

Next door to Gravy, one of my breakfast top picks, is Mississippi Station, known for their larger than life patio and live music. Before making the decision between Gravy and the Station, I asked the hostess about vegan friendly options. She casually informed me accommodating would be no problem with their assortment of veggies, fruit, vegan sausage, potatoes, and toast. Four plates and $13 dollars later I had the ingredients to build my own breakfast. Although the sum of the parts equaled a tasty, healthy breakfast, why didn’t the hostess (or chef for that matter) have the foresight to combine it all into one dish and charge me a reasonable price? Sure, I never asked her what form my breakfast would take but never imagined I’d be marginalized to the side dishes.

the lowdown: Get Bento | 505 NW 14th Ave., Portland, OR | 503.274.BENT | Lunch, Dinner | Items $5.50 - $8.00 | **

Offbeat bento in a hurry.

I’ve been in Tigard all week for training despite my moral opposition to driving. Yesterday I felt even more like a typical American when I stopped to grab a quick bite to eat before jumping back on the freeway en route to another appointment. I never enjoy food on the run but sometimes it’s that or go hungry and I am not the type of girl to go hungry!

In a gas station turned restaurant, Get Bento has a unique curb appeal that could pull just about anyone off the street to satisify their curiosity. My recent visit marked my second attempt at the place, hoping they had added some love to their bowls. Although their bento is edible and a reasonable choice when in need for fast food (not fastfood), it lacks the sprinkle of care that could make it an amazing place. Let me break it down. There are two choices, all veggie bowl ($5.50) or the tempeh and veggie bowl ($6.25) and choice of brown or white rice. The teriyaki sauce is nothing more than the teryiaki you can buy at any god loving grocery store, too much sugar and vastly dehydrating. The under cooked veggies include mushrooms, zuchinni, squash, and onions. Its too bad that food doesn’t live up to the creative name.

the lowdown: Down to Earth Cafe | 7828 SW 35th Ave., Portland, OR 97219 | 503.452.0196 | Website | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner | Entrees $6.49 - $13.95 | **

A place to eat in the old hippie village.

It was raining, I still wasn’t allowed to ride my bike (due to my surgery), and gas was $3.99 a gallon, making it a perfect opportunity to drive to Multnomah Village for brunch.

Earth Cafe has all the makings for a fantastic meal. Colorful cafe nestled in the heart of downtown Multnomah Village, world music overhead, friendly service. Nope! Unless those characteristics make up frozen soy milk, watery tofu scramble, slow coffee service, and forgetful waitress. The truth is, Earth Cafe has great intentions, it’s just that something was lost in the execution. There are several vegan items scattered throughout the menu and I decided upon the scramble over the burrito, both $8.99. Although the scramble included a great combination of veggies (zucchini, tomato, red onion, spinach), the tofu was so watered down I could hardly taste them. The potatoes weren’t bad but the first round of toast had butter on it, despite the menu clearly indicating vegan. Hmm…now I am starting to wonder about the scramble.

the lowdown: Bay Leaf | 4768 SE Division St., Portland, OR 97206 | 503.232.7066 | Website | Lunch, Dinner | Entrees $8.95 - $10.95 | ***

All vegan/vegetarian Chinese cuisine.

As a new homeowner we fell into the overconfidence bias of thinking we could fix a few things around the house. We visited the dreadful Home Depot and proceeded to apply caulking to the tile shower. Everything appeared to be going well except we missed a few minor details. The caulking didn’t match AND we didn’t wait long enough for it to dry. Instead of a few cracks in the grout we ended up with a stringy mess at 4:30 in the morning! Alas, having friends competent in this arena is an absolute bonus and receiving household tips over dinner is a winning combination.

My friend and I had been looking forward to Bay Leaf all week. When we arrived to the strip mall-esque scene we promptly ordered more food than either of us could reasonably eat but that I ate anyway! Everything on the menu is vegan or vegetarian making it a difficult choice but all the reviews recommended the “Sesame Tofu”. To round out the meal we ordered the “Green Curry” and “Dumplings”, bringing our total to $24. The dumplings were marginal and the curry was a fantastically bland combination of broccoli and soggy tofu. Thankfully, the “Sesame Tofu” redeemed the visit, but unless it is on your way home and you are picking up takeout, don’t bother.

the lowdown: Sweetpea Baking | 1205 SE Stark St., Portland, OR 97214 | 503.477.5916 | Website | Bakery, Brunch (Sundays Only) | Items $1 - $3.50, Brunch $10 (All You Can Eat) | **

UPDATE!! -  Per below, the Sunday buffet brunch will start requiring patrons to use a clean plate each time they go through the line!! Thank you Sweetpea!

Dear Blog -

I know it has been a while since I last wrote, but this time I really have a dilemma and I tragically don’t know what to do. The mission of this blog is to provide information on finding fabulous vegan food, which to me, means that I will report on my experiences patronizing and dining at establishments wherever I go. The issue that I am faced with now is with regard to the highly buzzed All You Can Eat brunch at Sweetpea Baking. Firstly, let me mention that on several occasions I have had their baked goods, including the whoopie pie, muffins, and the jumbo cookie sandwiches, all of which are utterly scrumptious. Last Sunday, with much anticipation, I checked out the brunch. For $10 I had unlimited access to a sneeze guard-less line of pancakes, tofu scramble, biscuits and gravy, potatoes, collard greens, polenta, “sausage”, and of course coffee and oj. I piled up my plate and we dined community style over a crumb covered table in the corner. One by one I tried each component of my dish, determining that the sum of the parts equated to a good meal, with the lowest common denominators being the rubbery potatoes and hard biscuits. As I was preparing for round two it occurred to me that people were reusing their plates, something I had always considered to be a mortal sin on the buffet line. I figured I had simply missed the plate exchange so I asked the friendly cashier. Sadly, he confirmed my fear. Unfortunately, once this thought resonated with me, I was unable to finish my meal. Honestly blog, I truly wanted to write a raving review about the buffet. Not only is it a fabulous idea, it is a great addition to the thriving Portland vegan food community. However, I stand by my commitment to provide information and insights so that others can make their own determination. Sometimes it is a very hard thing to do.

Yours Torn,

VeganFabulous