VeganFabulous

the lowdown: Oba! Restaurant | 555 NW 12th Ave, Portland, OR 97209 | 503.228.6161 | Website | Lunch, Dinner | Entrees $7.50 - $28 | ****

To see and be seen.

Long gone are the days when I would leave work early to get a head start at the Oba First Thursday mack scene. This last visit was a combination of celebrating some good news on the home front and an excuse to dust off the motorcycle and cruise around town. However, I learned that just because you take the mack scene out of the girl, doesn’t mean the mack scene disappears. My boyfriend was attempted prey for a young nicely dressed local. Be careful, it’s a shark pool in there.

Oba is another one of the Pearl District’s hot spots that have a fabulous alternative menu, but you have to ask for it! This isn’t just for us vegan’s though, the menu includes vegetarian, dairy-free, wheat-free, and low-fat choices. There are so many options on the menu you could spend hours reading through all of them. In my previous visists I have ordered the grilled vegetable and tomato tacos ($10). This time it was a quick decision to try the roasted butternut squash enchiladas ($18). The plate includes two enchiladas, quinoa salad and normally a creamy walnut sauce which was replaced by a spicy tomato sauce for the vegans. Not only did I clean the plate, the service is outstanding! Bust out your snazzy clothes and throw back some fresh fruit coctails and fantastic food!

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: Muddy’s Coffeehouse | 3560 N. Mississippi Ave, Portland, OR 97227 | 503.445.6690 | Website | Items $3 - $7.50 | ***

Basic breakfast grub!

Home Depot is the worst big box store on the face of the planet. 50,000 square feet of endless aisles filled with millions of DIY items and I can never find what I want. When I do, I can only buy 50 lbs of peet moss when I only need about 1 lb. After leaving the store and vowing I would never return, we hit up Muddy’s for brunch and Pistils Nursery on Mississippi Ave, much more my style.

Muddy’s is like having brunch at your cool hippie friends’ house. Random tables and chairs, mix and match coffee mugs and place settings and multiplication flash cards for good measure. You serve yourself coffee and place your order with whomever walks by. They are happy to make anything on the menu vegan with one requisite tofu scramble (must specify vegan). Being a scramble whore I ordered it. $7 included potatoes and toast which I doused with house made hot sauce. If you visit Muddy’s for lunch take your pick of a TLT or tofu sandwich. Although the scramble wasn’t my fav, I give Muddy’s a load of props for being effortlessly laid back, having some vegan love on the menu and reminding me that as department stores continue to take over the world there are still good people doing good things and I’d rather give them my hard earned cash.

the lowdown: Bridges Cafe | 2716 NE Martin Luther King Blvd., Portland, OR 97212 | 503.288.4169 | Breakfast, Lunch | $4.50 - $10.25 | ***

One fantastic tofu scramble!

Have I already mentioned that I love my new neighborhood? Well I do and I especially love that Bridges is 3 blocks away and ready to serve breakfast on those mornings that I am hungover from staying up too late cleaning!

Bridges can be found on MLK with multiple signs advertising “Breakfast All Day”. The dining room is tiny and packed with the occasional sighting of over worked servers hustling to keep the coffee refilled and food in people’s faces. Some folks may not appreciate the impatience of the servers but I thought it added to the charm. Just be sure not to futz around while ordering the tofu scramble or they might give up on you. Regardless if you like attitude or not, I can assure you that the scramble makes up for it! A plate full of tofu with mushrooms, red onion, spinach, and potatoes coupled with the best damn bread I have had (aside from Dave’s Killer of course) and a mug full of K&F coffee. All ingredients are local, fresh, and fantastic!

the lowdown: Proper Eats Market and Cafe | 8638 N. Lombard St., Portland, OR 97203 | 503.445.2007 | Website | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner | Entrees $6.25 - $9 | ****

Laid back all veg cuisine!

St. John’s is the only place in the city limits of Portland that is seemingly further away than it actually is and when I visit, I feel as if I were in another state. In an attempt to articulate my thoughts on why I feel this way, my mind keeps wandering to the fact that it might be the beautifully intricate St. John’s Bridge, the population of teens always walking about, or the unfamiliar layout of the roads. Nonetheless, St. John’s offers an unconventional all veggie dining option that doesn’t get enough attention.

Proper Eats is located on the main drag of St. John’s and offers anything from open mic, live music, to movie screenings throughout the week. We visited on a Tuesday just in time for 1st Amendment Night where they were playing an film (I’ve forgotten now) that was blasting so loud you couldn’t think nor see your food. Luckily we convinced the high schoolers occupying the furthest table to release their table to us so we could enjoy the food and conversation without yelling. As such, I enjoyed the “Cornmeal Tempeh Plate” while my friend dined on the special of polenta with mushroom gravy. My favorite component was the tofu-cilantro sour cream atop the crispy tempeh. The portions were fairly large as I managed to snag two meals out of it. Honestly, it is difficult to decide what to order as everything on the menu sounds fantastic AND while you wait for your meal you can browse the adjoined market that offers fresh produce, spices and other vegan specialty items.

the lowdown: Bob’s Red Mill | 5000 SE International Way, Milwaukie, OR 97222 | 503.607.6455 | Website | Breakfast, Lunch | Items $3.95 - $7.29 | ***

Eat vegan then go shopping!

All this time I had been buying Bob’s Red Mill flours, I had no idea it was a local company. You better believe when I found out there was a restaurant and store close by I planned an outing as quickly as my impossible schedule would allow! Not to mention that I took the opportunity to pimp my Burning Man pictures in hopes I could convince my friend to bring her daughter to this years “American Dream” themed burn. Yes, I know, kids at Burning Man seems questionable, but if there is open communication between the parent and child AND they can reasonably understand their surroundings, I think it would a most exceptional experience.

Bob’s Red Mill is, well, a big red mill with rows of bulk and prepackaged items and food court style dining. They offer a separate vegetarian menu with a selection of vegan items including a tofu scramble, french toast, and pancakes. Please note, the garden sausage is not vegan. I ordered the french toast and subbed a fruit bowl for the sausage. Admittedly, the french toast was inferior to the likes of “Fronch Toast” from Vegan With a Vegeance or Skinny Bitch in the Kitch’s implementation, thus, I wish I had ordered the scramble. Although the vast shopping selection made up for it, it wasn’t quite enough for me to go back.

the lowdown: Detour Cafe | 3035 SE Division St., Portland, OR 97202 | 503.234.7499 | Website | Breakfast, Lunch | Items $4 - $9 | ***

One breakfasty vegan option and two sandwich choices.

House hunting is one of those life activities that presents you with excitement, anxiety, disgust, and disappointment all wrapped up into one package. Prior to my drive by house hunting excursion, I wanted to check out the local joints to get a feel for what I have to look forward to.

Detour Cafe occupies a small, eclectic space with tiny colorful tables and serve your own coffee. The vegan breakfast options are slim with the single choice of a potato skillet. Knowing how I feel after eating a plate full of potatoes I debated over the sandwich options “The Vegan” and “The Veggie”. I settled on “The Vegan” and was glad I did. It normally comes with chips but I substituted fresh fruit to make it as close to breakfast as possible. The sandwich was a toasted hoagie filled with artichokes, mushrooms, and kalamata olives. If all goes well and I find myself moving near Division I will be sure to return to Detour for lunch.

the lowdown: Kinta | 3450 SE Belmont St., Portland, OR 97214 | 503.234.2623 | Website | Lunch, Dinner | Entrees $8.50 - $14.95 | ****

The menu has a “non-vegetarian” section, if that tells you anything about the standard options.

Last week I was on-call for work and just as I arrived to meet my friend at Kinta for dinner, I got called. Of course it was regarding something painfully straightforward, yet important, but I needed my laptop to do the work. I didn’t want to turn around and head home, thus miss my opportunity to hang out and eat at Kinta, so I convinced a co-worker to cover for me while I ate a quick bite. Luckily, Kinta is just the place for a quick, filling meal.

Having options is definitely not a problem at Kinta. They offer rice, stir fry noodles, and soup noodles all of which come with a choice of four vegetables and white or brown rice. The “produce” list contains an array of fresh vegetables including cabbage, eggplant, zucchini and tofu (vegetable?). I ordered the “Veggies in Black Bean Sauce” while my dinner companion ordered the “Veggies in Chili-Miso Sauce”. Both dishes were plentiful and quite tasty. The tofu was firm and crispy and the sauce was spicy. I pwned the dish with good time, partly because I was hungry and partly because I was stressed about getting home in time to respond to my on-call duties. Thank god for good friends to eat with and understand when work reminds you that you are a wage slave.

the lowdown: Wild Abandon Restaurant & The Red Velvet Lounge | 2411 SE Belmont St., Portland, OR 97214 | 503.232.4458 | Website | Brunch (weekends only), Dinner, Happy Hour | Entrees $7 - $21 | *****

Three vegan entrees and tons of family friendly options ensuring everyone’s happiness.

Trying to find a place to eat dinner on Christmas Eve is hard enough, but to add criteria such a vegan friendly, good for the parents, and no prior reservations needed, made it nearly impossible. After spending an hour calling 15 different places my friend suggested Wild Abandon, the perfect place to bring cohesion to our disparate needs.

Wild Abandon is an aluminum sided building just off Belmont. The door is partially hidden by brush and the dark dining room is quite small and narrow. The table was equipped with bread and hummus and the menu offers everything you could ask for when considering the parents. Steak, fish, chicken, burgers, and pasta. Best of all the veggies have three great choices including “Linguini and Meatballs a la Vegan” (which I ordered), “Tofu Heaven”, and “Wild Mushroom Risotto”. The pasta was topped with “meatballs” made from “Gimmie Lean!” and a variety of vegetables and spices. My portions were even larger then the meat centric dishes! Everyone in our party was happy, including, (most importantly) yours truly.

the lowdown: Kalga Kafe | 4147 SE Division St., Portland, OR 97202 | 503.436.4770 | Pizza $12 - $30, Entrees $10 - $12 | Dinner, Late Night | ****

Most everything on the menu is vegan, or can be!

The best way to pre-function before a work holiday party that claims appetizers only (but ends up having TONS of vegan choices I could fill up on) is to chill out at place with plenty of food options and ambient tunes.

Kalga Kafe’s half moon shaped space is quite dark, so dark in fact you need a candle to see your food. The one thing I could see is that at least one person at every table was eating the “Falafel Sandwich”. It doesn’t take much to convince me so I followed suit. I normally can eat everything in front of me but this time I had a difficult time finishing the four large falafel’s stuffed in a pita. The other menu options will take you all around the world including Thai, Indian, and Asian cuisine. The service is friendly but extremely sloooooow, try not to let that deter you from some good grub. One word of advice, avoid having the neighboring nail salon’s neon sign in your peripheral vision.