VeganFabulous

the lowdown: Grand Central | 839 SE Morrison St., Portland, OR 97214 | 503.236.BOWL | Website | Lunch, Dinner | Entrees $8.25 - $21.95 | ***

A little bit of grub and a lot of bowling!

Fresh off spring break I’ve been trying to kick back into my normal routine but am having difficulty focusing. I feel like I have been hibernating for six months and am wide awake and ready to start little projects around the house, fine tune wedding details, and shop for spring/summer clothes. It seems only appropriate I’d be taking a Marketing Management course this term as I am knee deep in consumerism.

Speaking of money, what better way to spend $42/hour than on a bowling lane for a group of amateurs! That’s right, close out your savings account because bowling these days is not cheap! The once dilapidated bowling alley is now a bridge and tunnel mecca! On weekends the restaurant is packed and expect a 2 hour wait for a lane! Don’t be afraid to join in the fun though, the Portobello Sandwich ($9.25) is easily vegan without the cheese, aioli, OR fries and it is pretty good. In addition, the bowling shoes were renewed with the building renovation so you won’t be trapped sticking your feet in 30 year old slogs. Phew! I think we did our part to stimulate the economy yesterday!

the lowdown: East End | 203 SE Grand Ave, Portland, OR 97214 | 503.232.0056 | Website | Dinner, Late Night, Happy Hour | ****

Super cheap eats!

Just when I was about to swear off local businesses for their lack of business sense and overall bitchy attitude, I spent a couple hours at East End and feel better about Portland. It is amazing to me in this economy how difficult it is to correspond with restaurants, bakeries, venues and wine bars. Either all of them are insanely busy (doubtful) or none of them understand the first thing about customer service (likely). Nonetheless, I threw back a tall glass of lemon water and good grub last night and feel much better!

The East End, formerly The Rabbit Hole, is a low key bar with a cheap as hell happy hour menu, photo booth, and a restroom at the end of a long dark scary hallway. If it wasn’t for my friend always keeping me up on the food scene, I would have never guessed this place would have been an option for my finicky ass. Everything on the dinner menu is <$10 and includes a vegan burrito ($7), tacos ($6), and BBQ Tofu sandwich ($7). More importantly, Happy Hour is from 4-7 and offers the burrito and BBQ Tofu sandwich for $4! No need to bust the piggy bank on this one folks, eat your heart out!

the lowdown: I Wanna Be Your Dog | NE 18th & Alberta | Dinner/Late Night (Tues-Sun 6pm-2:30am) | Dogs $2 - $5 | *****

One dark cold Sun nite I visited the hole in the wall hot dog shop. Super good veg dogs. Don’t go if from grshm, owners like hoodsters only.

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post dedicated to the clumsy kid

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: Vendetta | 4306 N. Williams Ave, Portland, OR 97217 | 503.288.1085 | Website | Dinner, Late Night | Items $2 - $7 | ***

Vegan friendly bar with a few cheap eats!

With 50 days left in the campaign my anxiety ridden friends and I can’t stop obsessing over what is happening on the campaign trail. What talking points did Palin babble about today, how often did McCain mention he is a POW and how badly did the Republicans try to smear Obama? I’ve never in my life felt so strongly about politics, even after Bush won two elections. Anyway, you didn’t come here to talk politics but admittedly that is all that is on my mind, even while dining at Vendetta. While catching up with a girlfriend we only broke from the politics for air and a brief discussion of my trip to Burning Man. Phew!

Vendetta is a chill unmarked bar that is difficult to find due to its lack of signage. It comes equipped with shuffle board, interesting artwork, a larger than life outdoor seating area, and a smattering of hip clientel. It reduced its vegan offerings to two down from three, leaving the tofu sandwich and sloppy jane. The tofu sandwich ($7) was lacking substantial spice making me long for the Weeping Tiger at Bye and Bye. All entrees come with aloof service and a choice of tortilla chips or side salad. If you are looking for an afterwork haunt or place to hang on Friday night, Vendetta is a great choice, just know you are going for the fantastic conversations you will have with your friends and not the food.

the lowdown: Nightlight | 2100 SE Clinton St., Portland, OR 97202 | 503.731.6500 | Website |Dinner, Happy Hour | Entrees $7 - $11 | ***

Hip SE scene with ample booze and some vegan choices.

In school, if I didn’t see my friends a least twice a week something was wrong! Now, it is nearly impossible to meet up on a semi-regular basis. In some cases it can take up to 3 months before we all can find time in our schedules. When we do find the time the next challenge is determining the most central, yet fun place to meet. Earlier this week the stars aligned, nobody canceled, and we settled on Nightlight. Phew! Now for next time.

Clinton St. offers several dining options including Dots, Vinhalho, Clinton St. Cafe, and more! Additionally, you can grab coffee at Press Club or watch a poorly projected, sub par sound quality showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show or some other 70’s extravaganza at Clinton St. Theater. When you are through with all of that you can wrap up your night at Nightlight, a shadowy bar with sunken booths and stiff bevys. Scattered through the menu are a few options for us, making this joint a a place to meet for Happy Hour or anytime you are making a conscious effort to compromise on a gathering spot (except you’ll have to live without HH options). Choices include the Falafel Deluxe ($7.5), Cottage Fries ($4), and my choice, the Vegetable Stir Fry ($7). The best part about the stir fry was the rice and chili sauce, everything else was overcooked and only had the appearance of fresh. I heard reports that the Falafel has about the same impression factor. Nothing exciting. Don’t get me wrong, it was edible and sustaintainable while I caught up with my girlfriends, but you won’t be seeing me burning the midnight oil. Well, I don’t really do that anyway, but you know what I mean.

the lowdown: Bye and Bye | 1011 NE Alberta, Portland, OR 97211 | 503.281.0537 | Lunch, Dinner, Happy Hour | Food Items $5 - $8 | *****

Alberta Street bar with stiff bevys and righteous vegan food!

The Alberta hood is known for their restaurants, boutiques, art galleries, and most definitely Last Thursday. This is the part of town where you can dine on vegan biscuits and gravy, gaze at countless varieties of art, buy a rain barrel then grab a beer before heading home. I visit quite regularly and most recently rallied to my next door neighborhood to hang with a pal at the notorious Bye and Bye. We ate, we laughed, we people watched, but this was after feeling completely out of place with only two tats.

Want to know what happens when 6 guys open up shop on lower Alberta street offering stiff drinks, vegan grub, and an atmosphere derived from their bare hands? Nothing other then legions of folks lined up just to get inside! Nevermind the vegan food, these cats go because it is the place to be! We were there to eat and damn do they have a great menu! Previously I have had the BBQ Veggie “Chicken” which was a plate of grilled tofu, beans, and collard greens. During my last visit I ordered the Meatball Sub and my dining partner had the Weepying Tiger sandwhich.With each menu item you have the choice of a side, tofu, greens, tortilla chips, black-eyed peas, and broccili. I choose the tofu because it is crusted with nutrtional yeast and tastes better then french fries!  Be aware that the food is spicy, messy (meatball sub anyway), and damn good. I need to start going more often, despite my shortage of hipster traits!

SW 3rd Ave Location

NE 15th & Davis Location

the lowdown: Voodoo Doughnuts | 22 SW 3rd Ave., Portland, OR 97204 & 1501 NE Davis, Portland, OR 97232 | 503.241.4704 | Website | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Late Night | Items $1.5 - $4 | ****

Vegan doughnuts. Nuff said.

UPDATE: From Arctic Circle, to car dealership, to donut shop, Voodoo now has a NE Portland location so us Eastsiders can get our fix. Enjoy the covered bike parking, the classroom style dining room, and the vintage trash decor while munching on a variety of vegan donuts!

There are many treasures to be found while making your way through the crawl space of downtown Portland’s underbelly, and Voodoo Doughnuts is one such gem. I have made it tradition to bear pink boxes full of doughnuts on Christmas morning with my family. Truthfully, none of them seem terribly excited about the doughnuts but I find enjoyment picking them up late on Christmas eve.

All souls who crave vegan doughnuts are not new to what is available at Voodoo but every time I tell someone who has difficulty understanding my dietary choices that Voodoo has said doughnuts, they look at me with complete disbelief. “What are they made of then?” is what commonly comes next after the perplexing look. Nonetheless, Voodoo is a small crack in the side of the building that houses Shanghi Tunnel, Bar XV and Berbati’s Pan. It is open 24 Hours and tattoo covered employees make creme filled, penis shaped, fruit loops covered, bacon decorated delights all night long. Although the vegans are left out of the phallic fun, the selection consists of 5 cake doughnut varieties with sprinkles. All are damn good.

the lowdown: Montage | 301 SE Morrison St., Portland, OR 97214 | 503.234.1342 | Website | Entrees $6.50 - $16.95 | Dinner, Late Night

Timeless underground hip.

Today is VeganFabulous.com’s 1st birthday! This also marks my first anniversary as having eaten no meat, cheese, or diary! I celebrated today by going to work and getting my haircut; but this weekend we celebrated two birthdays at the Montage. A late night spot whose coolness transcends time and social class, but not climate. Cajun food, no A/C and a sweltering 97 degrees outside is a recipe for heat stroke! Alas, we survived, and rounded out the night with a nice 2+ mile walk home due to a severe bike flat.

As a minor, Montage was a mecca for my friends and I. We could hang out until midnight, eat exotic foods and hobnob with the scenesters. After so many years, it’s fantastic to know that Montage still has something to offer. Amongst the frog legs and gator bites you will find that the “Spicy Mac” is vegan if you ask them to hold the parmesean, the “Vegetarian Jumbalaya” veggie “Famous Linguinie”, and “Vegetable Gumbo” are all natively vegan. I ordered the “Hoppin’ Jon Salade” ($4.75) and jumbalaya ($7.95). The salad is by far a meal in itself and the jumbalaya is about three meals. Both were loaded with beans and the jumbalaya was covered in a cajun gravy. Luckily the spice wasn’t too overwhelming, however, the portions were because I just couldnt’ finish it all. A few things to note:

Stand clear of the bread because it is brushed with egg yoke.

If you show up after 7:30 you will be waiting in line.

If you are afraid or otherwise uncomfortable with communal dining you better just stay home.

the lowdown: XV | 15 SW 2nd Ave, Portland, OR 97204 | 503.790.9090 | Website | Entrees $6-$9 | Dinner, Happy Hour | ***

Happy Hour and late night hotspot that doesn’t leave the vegans out.

Thirty is the age where it seems you have to start owning up to the fact that you are an adult. Sure, I’m not quite thirty (< 6 months), but I am already feeling my age when I look around and notice that I am not the young kid I used to be. My dentist is my age, the hipsters look 10 years younger than I, and I’m no longer than youngest at work. As a result, I avoid bars whenever possible. Primarily because I don’t drink, secondarily because I hate feeling like an old hag. Last week I was shocked when I dropped into XV for Happy Hour and noticed the average age was 32! Perhaps happy hour is the only time of day when you will find a majority of thirty somethings at XV, but hey, at least you now know where to go to avoid the kids and order vegan goods on the cheap.

With any bar the food service is secondary to the drink service. Although XV has a large menu offering sizable vegetarian options (indicated by a red *), many of which can be vegan. Don’t expect the servers to know anything about the vegan options (be very clear with them so they can communicate that to the chef), or to service your table within a reasonable interval. I suppose this is just one of the compromises you make to save $2 off food and suck down cheap well drinks and PBR. The vegan crowd can choose from several appetizers, tacos, sandwiches, pizza and burgers. I went for the “Dakota Burger” ($8) and added the yam fries ($2). The burger included fresh veggie condiments and the fries where off the charts (I could not confirm if the aoili was vegan so I had them hold it). Thankfully we had another order of these fries gifted to us by the bartender (he was crushing on one of the girls at our table) because the side order just isn’t enough. I’m just happy some of us are still getting hit on!