VeganFabulous

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: 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: 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.

Red and Black Cafe | 400 SE 12th Ave., Portland, OR 97214 | 503.231.3899 | Website |Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Coffee |Items $2 - $6.75 | ****

Coffee shop, sandwich shop, internet cafe, hard core.

There is something to be said about having just been under the knife, in a percecet induced state, and asking my mom to take me to Red and Black Cafe. Maybe on some level I has a sense that I would not be judged based on my appearance, or perhaps I was looking for some vegan love to wipe the pain of my operation away? Regardless, I am still embarrassed for being in public but excited at having found my new favorite coffee shop.

Honestly, I remember very little about the Red and Black Cafe except that it occupies an old home with a huge flag draped outside. The menu is entirely vegan with a variety of sandwiches and baked goods including a TLT (tempeh lettuce and tomato), TLP (tempeh lettuce and pepper), Reuben, and Tuna named “Chicken of the Soy”. I feasted on the TLT accompanied by blue corn chips for $6.25. The last thing I remember is thinking it was excellent before passing out.

the lowdown: Tube | 18 NW 3rd Ave., Portland, OR 97209 | 503.241.8823 | Dinner, Late Night, Happy Hour | Items $2 - $7 | ***

Cheapest vegan grub in town!

I remember back in the day when Tube was a swanky modern bar with LCD screens in the front window and a wait to get in. Over time it slowly deteriorated into a smoky dive bar with neon beer signs in the window and graffiti covered restrooms. Although I don’t understand the transition, I’m not complaining because they serve a sizable vegan menu.

If you are broke and want to go out, make sure you do it between 5-10pm when Tube hosts the world’s longest happy hour. Well drinks are $2 as are three vegan food items. If you are going for broke you can break your ten for a variety of vegan options including tacos, veggie ham and cheese, meatball sandwich, spaghetti and meatballs, and more! I was feeling frisky and ordered the $2 “Professor McGonickle Muffin”, fake ham and cheese on an english muffin, the $2 taco, and split the “Meatball Sammy” with my friend. I rather enjoyed the food, especially the Professor because the muffin tastes very similar to an Australian Toaster Biscuit. The taco was a tad spicy, so beware, and the “Meatball Sammy” was small but was accompanied with a great pasta salad. I loved the cheap price but the service left something to be desired. Truthfully I’d go back if it wasn’t for the fact that I feel I’m getting too old for that scene.

the lowdown: Imbibe Restaurant & Lounge | 2229 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR 97210 | 503.239.4002 | Website | Dinner, Late Night | Items $5.50 - $12.50 | ****

A much needed combination of laid back music and food.

After a long day of receiving an offer on my condo and immediately realizing that we only had 2 months to find a new place and move, I needed to celebrate and de-stress. I had scoped the Imbibe menu out a few weeks prior while waiting in line at Jam on Hawthorne and spotted a few menu items that looked tasty. Imbibe seemed like the perfect combination of food, relaxation, and entertainment I was looking for.

From the street it is hard to get a good read on Imbibe, but once you peek through the window it is immediately apparent that they offer a chill hangout that is several steps beyond your normal neighborhood joint. We started with the veggie wontons, deep fried to perfection served with a spicy plum sauce. There are four with a single order and next time I will order two. For my main course I had to choose between the “Forbidden Tofu” or “Marinated Tofu Sandwich”. I was craving something very simple and American so I went with the sandwich. It is served with fresh vegetables on como bread, and of course, fries. The food was just what I had in mind but was disappointed that the live music didn’t start until nearly ten. They did sing while setting up and it sounded like breathy versions of popular songs, so I was sad to leave. I have never been a supporter of “rock ‘n roll” time.

the lowdown: Laurelthirst Public House | 2958 NE Glisan St., Portland, OR 97232 | 503.232.1504 | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Late Night | Items $6 - $8.50 | ***

French toast, breakfast burritos, and beer!

How does anyone keep the Portland pubs straight when you have Laurelwood, Laurelhurst, and Laurelthrist?! I honestly thought Laurelthirst was a nickname for either Laurelwood or Laurelhurst until my friend sent me a link exclaiming their vegan menu items!

By night Laurelthirst is a popular pub and music venue, by day a happening breakfast joint that serves up vegan French toast with a side of beer! The dining room’s busted booths are unsurprisingly filled with hungry North Easters still wearing the clothes they partied in while at the ‘thirst the night before. Being the non-drinker that I am, I passed on the beer but compensated for it by ordering French toast and a breakfast burrito. The burrito came with side of potatoes and included beans, vegan sausage and veggies. The toast was huge slices of bakery bread. As expected I ate too much and had too much left over. I liked it, but since I don’t frequent bars in the evening, they don’t get any more appealing to me in the daylight.

the lowdown: BlackStone American Grill | 3200 SE 164th Ave, Portland, OR 98683 | 360.253.0253 | Website | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Happy Hour | Entrees $7.95 - $26.95 | ***

I went to BlackStone
For my early birthday gift
Not my choice but fine

Suburbia eats
Usually boring joints
With inflated bill

I experienced
Novel appetizer plate
Of deep fried palm hearts

It was very good
This hearts of palm tree delight
Although meaty like

The entree was bland
Over-stuffed peppers with beans
You must hold the cream

Overall not bad
For fine dining in the Couv
I don’t expect much

the lowdown: 23Hoyt | 529 NW 23rd Ave., Portland, OR 97210 | 503.445.7400 | Website | Dinner, Happy Hour | Entrees $19 - $30 | *

“Prior to making reservations for December 22nd at 7:30p I asked the hostess if there were any vegan options. She said the vegetarian dish can sometimes be modified but to call earlier on the day of the reservation to verify. I received a call midday on 12/22 and as recommended, asked if there were any vegan options that evening. I was told the pecorino could be withheld thus making it a vegan entree, so I kept the reservation. Once we arrived I asked the server about the menu items and she returned from the kitchen to inform me that no entrees were modifiable aside from the salads. While determining if we should stay I asked about the persimmon salad and was told it could be modified and was “pretty large”. Not only was the salad laughably small, the server seemed terribly unconcerned with the situation and proceeded to reduce her service to a level ill-suited for an establishment that asks you to seat yourself. I feel that I did my due diligence by calling and was misinformed and further disregarded. I respect your choice not to offer vegan items but I am disheartened by your lack of respect for my dining experience and time.”