Portland: still awesome

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I both had separate work things going on in Portland, so we got an extra field trip there.

Seattle’s my city, but Portland is pretty fabulous. It contains elements of my two favorite towns – Seattle and Olympia – in one. Some of the sleekness, bigger-city advantages and pop culture influence of Seattle, with more of the hominess and hippie-ness of Oly.

I continued to find fabulous plant-based food there. Probably my favorite thing about Portland. We herbies are truly at home there.

Take a look at some highlights:

My first lunch took place at Proper Eats in the St. Johns neighborhood. Market and eat-in cafe in one!

So adorable. Reminded me of Olympia.

Look at all the fresh noms!

I love an expansive menu where I can have EVERYTHING. And affordably!

Stone fruit lemonade that day. Nectar of the gods, let me tell you. So fresh and tart.

I have a really hard time turning down a burrito.

It was good.

Mike and I went to Verde Cocina in the Pearl District for dinner that night. So many vegan options! I wanted one of everything.

Margarita with blueberry-inflused tequila. Sooooo delicious.

I had the tofu mole with fresh corn tortillas. Bomb.com.

Lunch the next day was at Sizzle Pie in Burnside. They sell by the slice for omnis, vegetarians and vegans.

They have BRUNCH SLICES (as seen on the left). That’s a Drugs Benedict with white bean and shallot spread, hash browns, tofu scramble and baco bits. At right is the Spiral Tap with caramelized onion spread, marinara and nooch. Washed down with a glass of local Laurelhurst brew.

Breakfast next day was at Vita Cafe in the Alberta hood. Somewhat long wait to get a seat, but so worth it! Here’s a vegan huevos rancheros piled with tofu.

Such friendly service. I also took home a slice of key lime pie, but it was smashed and not-so-pretty when I got home. But wonderfully creamy and delicious!

Not pictured is the wonderful beer I had at Burnside Brewing Company. Plant-based grub AND excellent beer make Portland heaven.

What does it matter?

I kept my vegan-ness unknown around my workplace until I ordered the “vegan wrap” for a work lunch and my cover was blown.

I was still pretty new. I wanted to be known for my work and my personality, not as “the vegan one.”

But my boss has been super-de-duper nice about it since she learned about my leanings. Whereas pizza is the go-to working meal for journalists normally, last election night she opted to order us Thai food, which made it possible for me to order something without imposing on anyone else. She thinks of me any time there’s a meal on the company dime.

Same for when this representative for a web video distributor came to Seattle last week and brought us lunch. My boss told him ahead of time there’s a vegan in the newsroom and though he planned on getting pizza, he’d bring me a salad.

I don’t expect people to go out of their way to accommodate me. But I’m grateful for every thoughtful gesture.

The guy came with boxes of pizza and a bag containing my salad. My boss peeked inside, came to my desk and whispered, fretfully, “I think there was a mistake. The salad is covered in cheese.”

“No big deal,” I assured her, “I’ll pick it off.”

Didn’t want to bite the hand that fed me. I hate waste as much as I love free food.

But as I furtively flicked blue cheese bits from my salad into a trash can with a fork, I wondered why I was taking such pains. I used to love blue cheese. And it’s not like I’m saving a cow by throwing out the cheese, already made, distributed and sold. Can’t unring that bell, as one might say.

And in order to remove most of the cheese presence, I had to sacrifice the tomatoes and cucumbers with them, leaving mostly just greens. And there were still itty bits of cheese here and there that I was not anal enough to pick through. So basically I chucked nearly half my salad just for my choice – not an allergy or life-threatening condition, but a choice and a stance.

As I picked through greens and walnuts while the rest of my colleagues piled up on cheese, pepperoni, Canadian bacon and sausage pizza – and oh, it smelled so good – I felt a mix of pride and a strange guilt. Why can’t I just eat the cheese if it’s served to me? I just wasted perfectly good food, didn’t I?

Portland!

After some tough weeks at work for the both of us, my boyfriend and I went to Portland for the weekend.

My main experience with Portland is my mom taking my brother and me to the Clackamas Mall (quite outside of Portland) for sales tax-free back-to-school shopping. Of course I’ve been to Portland proper, the metropolitan neighbor to the south, but I hadn’t explored it on my own.

Seattle is an easy city in which to be vegan, but in Portland they totally cater to you. I had a waiter volunteer to check on the veganness of a salad, went to places with special vegan menus and you can just say “make it vegan, please” and they know what to do (too many people don’t know what that means, so I always have to specify no mayo/sour cream/cheese/aioli, etc.). Portland is particularly vegan-savvy.

Now eating out with the man friend means seeking out omni restaurants that have something I can eat. Homeboy doesn’t quite get that it’s possible to have a meal without meat.

But it was so easy!

Oh and we drank lots of craft beer. So happy beer is vegan.

Fantastic rice bowl from Laughing Planet. Brown rice, green beans, broccoli, tofu, carrots and red cabbage, topped with peanut sauce. I added sriracha.

Boyfriend enjoying the chips and salsa and his burrito at Laughing Planet. He raved about his braised beef burrito.

Quinoa cashew burger at Deschutes Brewery and Pub. Boyfriend and I are Deschutes conoisseurs. Quinoa and cashew patty was dry by itself, but together with all the sandwich fixins and sauce it was so, so good. Salad dressed with Mirror Pond vinaigrette.

Austin scramble made vegan at Byways Cafe. Boyfriend and I loved this place. They replace eggs with tofu for any scramble. And the toast, of all things, was divine, sourced from Fleur de Lis in Portland.

Yes we went to Powell’s. I set out to buy a new vegan cookbook. I wanted to try something from an author I don’t have like Brian L. Patton’s The Sexy Vegan or Angela Liddon’s new Oh She Glows. But I had to get the modern day vegan Bible, Veganomicon by Isa and Terry. Because by now I should own the vegan Bible.

Scrambled tofu with olive oil and parsley at Bijou Cafe. I seriously thought these were eggs when I tried them. Pretty tasty. This was the only vegan option on the menu.

Regular vegan burrito from Las Gorditas. They had a meat, vegetarian and vegan menu. Much appreciated! The burrito was a little bland, but huge and filling.

Boyfriend waiting for the train home wearing my shades.

Now I’m kind of lightening up post-vacation with Happy Herbivore Light and Lean. But this skinny mac and cheese is no joke.

Not pictured: a grilled PB and J from the famous Bunk Sandwiches. Yeah I’m gonna make those at home now.

Recommended brewery: Pints.

Maybe next time I’ll go to Portland with girlfriends who will eat at the vegan joints with me.

I need to try all of the places

My boss has kind of anointed me the unofficial food blogger at the Seattle P-I as of late, so of course I had to insert my own interests into my work.

A couple weeks ago I posted a Seattle guide to vegan and vegetarian restaurants. It was fun. And actually attracted lots of traffic. I think it surpassed my superiors’ expectations. We veggies crave to know where to go!

Anyway, if you’re in the know, let me know what I’ve missed. For the sake of limiting the scope of the piece, I stuck to places that are veggie-only. There are infinitely more places that are veggie friendly, of course.