VeganFabulous

the lowdown: Belly | 3500 NE MLK Blvd., Portland, OR 97212 | 503.249.9763 | Website | Dinner, Brunch (Sunday Only) | Entrees $9 - $18 | *****

Romantic restaurant offering custom vegan fare!

Aside from the snow, Christmas holiday, and new Facebook addiction, last Tuesday was the best day of my life. It is on that day my boyfriend Scott asked me to marry him, on bended knee. I have wanted to marry this man since the moment I met him and after four years it is really going to happen. There are many reasons I love him, but the most astonishing is despite how much each of us has grown over the years, we have grown together, building a strong, cohesive relationship capable of weathering any snow storm or basking in any sunlight. I have no idea what I ever did to deserve such a wonderful thing.

After the proposal we walked through the snow to celebrate at Belly, which occupies the same space as the now defunct Terrior. Belly is owned by a husband and wife who are happy to accommodate special dietary needs. The meticulous decor, dim lighting, and friendly service make celebrating any special occasion at Belly and absolute must! In fact, they asked immediately upon arrival if we were celebrating anything special! We started with a side order of fries ($5), great but a bad idea if you plan to finish your entree! Although there are no vegan dishes on the menu, they created a pasta dish ($14) complete with brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and chanterelle mushrooms, among other fresh ingredients. Finally, just as we were preparing to leave (and of course knowing we were celebrating our anniversary), they presented us with a candlelit vegan apple tart. Whether you are celebrating, curious, or plain hungry, Belly is fantastic!

p.s. Check out the VeganFabulous Facebook site! Go ahead, become a fan!

the lowdown: Vita Cafe | 3024 NE Alberta, Portland, OR | 503.335.8233 | Website | Entrees $4.50 - $9.75 | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner | *****

Many veg options and free-range meats.

Have you tried Chacha‘ing yourself lately? You know, the new service that allows you to text message 242242 with any question and a real person will respond within 5 minutes? While waiting for my meal this morning at Vita Cafe I did just that and was severely underwhelmed with the response “Megan Kielman is a Windows System Manager in Portland”. I had high expectations of Internet greatness but it’s alright, especially since I had fantastic brunch, something I haven’t had in quite some time!

For the best Vita Cafe experience visit for a breakfast meal (served until 4pm) where you will have a choice of pancakes, french toast, biscuits and gravy, scrambles and more. In addition to the vegan choices they offer free range meats, cheese, and eggs, making it a perfect spot for those of us whose regular dining partners aren’t of the vegan variety. I kicked my meal off with a cup of Stumptown coffee and soy milk, followed by the “New Year’s Breakfast” ($8), a plate of steamed veggies, fried seasoned tofu, and a choice of corn cakes or french toast. We also split the full order of biscuits with almond gravy ($5). Food comas aside, Vita Cafe is one hell of a place. To avoid a wait, arrive before 11am!

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: East Burn | 1800 East Burnside, Portland, OR 97214 | 503.236.6426 | Website| Brunch (Sunday only), Lunch, Dinner, Happy Hour | Entrees $7 - $19 | **

Eclectic atmosphere with vegan accommodations.

Due to my special food choices, I am often elected the head planner when going out to dinner with friends. I’m always up for an adventure, but not without a fallback to ensure my evening rounds out to my satisfaction! As a result, East Burn was the dinner choice this weekend, because their menu makes strong claims of accommodation, and I picked up dessert for everyone at Sweatpea Baking. It is impossible for any non-vegan to dislike the goods at SweetPea. Not to mention the snicker doodle with chocolate frosting monster cookie is my insurance!

Like any paranoid diner, I called ahead to make reservations. Of course when we arrived at 6:30 we were the only losers there. Regardless, we had top table choices, which would have been difficult had there only been two of us. Between hanging basket chairs and long board tables, how could one decide? The menu is mostly meat centric with a few exceptions that I keyed in on immediately. Between the Penne Pasta with grilled seasonal veggies ($11) and the Portabell Mushroom sandwich ($9), I voted for the sandwich. Much to my dismay, it was only half of a sandwhich, the bread wasn’t grilled, and the “char-broiled” roasted red peppers were most certainly from a jar. The “Trinity Fries” weren’t bad but the portion was rather small. To top it off, the waitress was usually disjointed in her delivery of the specials and beers on tap and I frankly was annoyed.

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: FlavourSpot | North Lombard btwn Greeley & Denver, corner of NE Fremont & Mississippi Ave | 503.289.YUMM | Website | Breakfast, Lunch | Waffles $3.50 - $6 | ****

Unsuspecting food cart offering unique waffle combinations!

Don’t ask me why it took fellow blogger Melisser from TheUrbanHousewife to visit Portland from San Franciso for me to find out about FlavourSpot. Apparently I’ve had my head in the sand for a few weeks too long because the buzz had completely missed me! Anyway, thank god for out of town visitors to spruce things up in a city where you thought you knew it all!

What is FlavourSpot? Simply put, it is a food cart that holds two residences in vacant parking lots around North Portland. They serve sandwich style waffles and black coffee. We rolled up to the Mississippi Ave location last Sunday by bike around 12:30 and the gravel parking lot with chairs scattered about was popping off! The menu consists of a variety of waffle combinations, PB&J, Sausage & Maple Butter, S’More, Nutella and the list goes on. We pulled out four cinder blocks and enjoyed the hyped vegan Sausage & Maple Butter. The magic consists of a folded waffle filled with maple butter and two garden burger sausages (add $.50). It was heavenly but for $6 I was hoping for a bigger portion size because it didn’t take long for me to burn off the 1200 calories on my ride home.

the lowdown: Por Que No | 3524 N. Mississippi Ave., Portland, OR 97227 | 503.467.4149 | Website | Brunch (weekends only), Lunch, Dinner, Happy Hour | Items $2.75 - $11 | ****

Taqueria with loads of drink and eat options!

Yesterday was a great day! It was beautiful, I started my final spring term paper, I planted Begonias in the yard, and caught up on the foodie blogosphere with VJ from the blog AltPortland over lunch at Por Que No!

I’ve been to Por Que No in the past and had to wait an inordinate amount of time for the food to arrive, so I was slightly shocked when the turn around time we experienced yesterday was < 15 minutes! Caution is still in order because I get the feeling Por Que No doesn’t handle load well. Back to the basics! Por Que No is a small taqueria with a menu offering a mucho vegetarian options (denoted by the peace hand gesture) which can mostly be available vegan. With tamales, tacos, bowls, and salads I had difficulty choosing but the “Brian’s Bowl” caught my attention and I went for it. For $6.50 the bowl includes beans, rice, veggies, salsa and a choice of tortillas or chips. It was off the sombrero!

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: Bijou Cafe | 132 SW 3rd Ave., Portland, OR 97204 | 503.222.3187 | Breakfast, Lunch | Entrees $6 - $12 | ***

Great place to take your family.

In a beeline to Stumptown I have only stopped in front of Bijou to decline a copy of “Street Roots” where the same woman has been selling issues on that corner for years. However, last week I had the opportunity to visit Bijou not once, but twice! It turns out that Bijou is good for lunch dates and taking moms out for Mother’s Day. Especially when you are the only one in the bunch that doesn’t eat eggs (or diary or meat).

Bijou, with its understated exterior, is an easy miss when Stumptown’s overflow of coffee hipsters are hanging outside. If you do happen to peer in you may think the only clientèle are yuppie housewives and retirees, but don’t let your snap judgment fool you on this one. Bijou is actually a quintessential cafe complete with bar, open kitchen and very friendly offbeat servers. Visiting for lunch and brunch presents you with one option each and the good news is breakfast is served all day. Be mindful of your arrival time, however. Lunch goes into full force around 12 and on the weekends breakfast is already slammed by 9 (this isn’t your typical Portland roll-out-of-bed-at-11 crowd.). Bijou does a great job of turning over tables at a reasonable pace so you won’t have to wait more than 20 minutes usually and with Stumptown next door, grab a cup and feel free to bring it in with you if your table becomes available. For my lunch visit I ordered the “Japanese Buckwheat Salad”, soba noodles with julienned veggies artistically presented and topped with greens for $7.95. During my return breakfast visit I ordered the “Tofu Scramble” for $7.75. Be sure to request this vegan, they will substitute roasted veggies for the potatoes (which are cooked in butter). Of the two, the scramble was my favorite, simply because it was a heartier meal, I drank lots of coffee, and the toast is thick and fresh. The best thing about Bijou is that everyone can enjoy cafe style good food.

the lowdown: Alleyway Cafe & Bar | 2415 NE Alberta St., Portland, OR 97211 | 503.287.7760 | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Happy Hour | Items $5 - $8.50 | ***

Chill out with some options.

I had been to Alleyway Cafe once before. It was a Friday night, the place was hopping, and the folks sitting immediately behind us were obnoxiously intoxicated and so loud we couldn’t hear ourselves think! I had my eye on the veggie burger but we opted to leave before our eardrums popped. Luckily this weekend I had another chance to go and let me say that the morning after at Alleyway is much different. Get there before 11am and you will be the only kids there!

Alleyway Cafe is the former Local Beet in an aluminum covered building with an expansive covered outdoor seating. The dining room is very minimal offering a no frills dining experience with local art being the only noticeable decor. The menu is a quick read with one vegan option, however, the server offered to sub tofu in any of the other dishes. The $7 scramble, made of Kalamata olives, spinach, and tomatoes, was well, just a basic scramble. Although the potatoes were darn crispy and good, the entire portion was rather small. I found myself reaching for the menu to order something else! Needless to say, Alleyway is a fine choice if you are in the area looking for food with friends think Vita Cafe is too hippie, otherwise, go to Vita.