What I remember and love about Mao’s was how vegan-friendly they were. It wasn’t just that they had vegan options, but the vegan options were just as valid as the omni ones. Once we had company and called in an order for delivery. One of the soups was not vegan, and shortly after placing the order we got a call alerting us that we had ordered something nonvegan. You gotta love that. (Of course, all vegan would be better, but I can’t complain unless I’m willing to open my own restaurant.)

We went to the Melrose location, since it was right by our hotel, but if you’re in Venice, there’s one there too! Don’t worry, both have communist-themed décor.

The Specials Board! You probably can’t see it ’cause it’s written so tiny, but every dish can be made vegetarian or vegan. “Just ask!”

They’re just fried wontons, but damn, do they make me happy. When you first walk in, they take your drink orders then get you your chips. I guess there have been enough occasions when I was sooooo hungry that these felt life-saving. Not for nothin’, they’re perfect for scooping up fried rice.

The onion pancake. I always remember getting two layers, and it was simply fluffy, oniony perfection. This was one thick layer and was sadly a bit doughy.

The $1 spring roll! (They’ve also got a $1 salad.) It’s not going to knock your proverbial socks off, but it’s a little spicy and just feels right.

The People’s Potstickers. These are filled with smoked tofu, a couple varieties of mushroom, and bok choy.

My old stand-by, the fried rice. Like all the main dishes, this comes with your choice of soft, smoked, or fried tofu. Why do I stick with the plain ol’ fried rice? Because before this, I have already eaten chips, a spring roll, and at least one other starter. This leaves little room in the belly, and what makes for better leftovers than fried rice? Oh, and it’s seriously one-third tofu.

Long-life beans, anyone? Again, simple, classic, it’s just green beans in a black bean sauce with smoked tofu.

Hong Kong Chow Mein made vegan. Saucy vegetables and fried tofu over pan-fried noodles. Food for the people!

Don’t forget your homemade ginger ale!

Turns out, Veggie Grill’s plan wasn’t foolish at all. They’re opening some new locations up here (Beaverton at the end of January, Downtown in May-ish, another Portlandy one sometime after that, with a few Seattle locations thrown in there somewhere), so they wanted to give us a head start. Honestly, for the price of a couple of advertisements they got four vegan bloggers (and a couple of omni restaurant reviewers) to try their food and listen to their story. Of course we’re writing about it—we write about everything! And you know me, I’m going to be straight with you.

We’ll get to the food in a minute, but I want to talk about the company. These guys are on a mission. They’re smart—and now they’re vegan. What started out as a business venture to build a chain of healthy fast-casual restaurants has changed their lives and just might change a few more. In researching this concept—the founders are all seasoned businessmen—they learned that vegan food can be just as flavorful and enjoyable as any other convenience food. Sure, that may not surprise you and me, but it did surprise them. Hooking up with their foodie Ray White, formerly of Native Foods, they are out to spread accessible, affordable vegan food across the country in a way that hasn’t been seen before.

You can choose to be excited about or scoff at the mass-market aspect of that. I personally don’t have a problem with it. Much like my experience at Native, sitting in the L.A. Veggie Grills, I loved looking around at a packed dining room, full of all races and ages, all eating vegan food. It’s not likely all these customers were vegan, but every vegan meal eaten means fewer animals are suffering. If we can take that to the masses, awesome. It could very well lead some to experiment at home with vegan ingredients or encourage them to try other vegan restaurants.

All right, you’ve been good and listened to me think probably way too much about this than I should. Here’s some food porn…after this photo of the Sunset location, for which I was hassled by The Man.

That’s Jess walking with Ray, who was a great storyteller. I was really glad to have met him. He has a love of produce and animals and people alike; it was nice to see the heart behind the chain, you know?

Wanna talk accessible? Vegan nachos are a gimme. They use a house cheesy blend, chili, corn salsa, and the other usual suspects for some could-be-worse junk food.

Same goes for the Buffalo wings. These drippy, saucy strips are like a gateway vegan food. You’ll find this Buffalo chick-product in sandwiches and wraps too. I’m not even a fan of vinegar, but I ate two of ‘em.

The All Hail Kale salad, ladies and gentlemen. Kale, corn salsa, cabbage, carrots, papaya-ginger vinaigrette, and agave-roasted walnuts…guess who’s gotta try to make this at home! I cannot tell you how much I loved this salad. I’m not at all embarrassed that I was the one who flat-out asked that they box up the leftovers for us. And yes, I did eat it for breakfast the next day—it held up just grand.

The VG team all had words about the mac-n-cheese. They’re apparently still tinkering with it. It’s a quinoa pasta with their gluten-free cheese sauce, so without the breadcrumbs it’s completely gluten-free. If you’re not into quinoa pasta or a very mild cheesy taste, skip it. Kids dig it and can’t tell the difference.

In addition to burgers (you know what those look like), the menu has a bunch of steaky options. The top one there is the All-American Stack, with veggie steak, dressing, the usual fixin’s, and an onion ring. (Note: Onion rings are not an option as a side, and I for one am outraged. Hear my outrage, Veggie Grill, hear meeeee!) The next is the Carne Asada, with a spicy veggie steak. I still can’t bring myself to eat vegan steak—so dumb, I know, totally psychological—but others were into it.

The sandwich I did try (and was super impressed with) was the Bayou Chicken. Here it is wrap-style, bundled up for me to take to the airport. It’s spicy and grilled, and totally satisfying. It was my top pick along with the kale salad.

It’s 2012. Your menu has to have sweet potato fries or people just aren’t going to bother with you. (Maybe 2013 will be the year of the vegan onion ring—a girl can hope.)

Dessert sampler, yes! I had three of these chocolate chip cookies over the course of the weekend and I wouldn’t mind another. The pudding has a dark chocolate base, and it’s the standard tofu pudding we’ve all made. Then the carrot cake: I loved it. It was pretty moist and mild. The frosting wasn’t übersweet, again going for the accessible, comfortable, you-could-have-made-it-at-home-but-you’re-running-errands-so-here-you-go vibe.

And that’s that. Unfortuately, I had to get on the early plane to make it back in time for work while the others stuck around for the new menu items, including full-meal, fork-n-knife plates, so check out their sites. I guess the Beaverton location won’t get the new menu just yet—baby steps—but you’ve seen the old one and they’re doing pretty OK with it. See you there!

Last week we went all the way out to the suburbs to check out the first Native Foods in the Portland area. Rumors are they’ll eventually get to us here in the city, but until then, it’s a roadtrip out to the bling-ass outdoor mall. It’s worth it. Aside from the food it was fun to just look around and see a packed fast food joint in the suburbs…and they’re all eating vegan!

Take a look at what we got (and do notice notebooks in most of the photos—it really was a business meeting).

We started with the Native Chicken Wings. That’s right, no cute alternative spellings of these meat-alikes. They came with a bunch of sauces that I didn’t eat. The others seemed to like ‘em just fine. The texture of these is pretty soft, more like Gardein than seitan. To our delight, we got six pieces, very easily shared among three people!

I got the Chicken Run Ranch Burger…hold the ranch. Look at all that stuff; why would you need dressing? I totally didn’t care that my sandwich was the same as our appetizer. It was great and I was hungry. The fries were decently spiced. Next time I’ll try the sweet potato fries.

Behold Janessa’s Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger! The bacon is tofu, and those are fried pickles up top. This was so intimidating…and messy…and impossible to finish, but she sure as hell enjoyed herself.

Jess’s Chicago Dip Au Jus: peppered seitan, giardiniera, and au jus. I might try this one; it seems simple enough. Sorry for the schmer photo, but when you’re sitting down to dinner with other bloggers, by the time you get to the last plate you’re shooting pretty quick just so you can start eating.

We had to try dessert. These little lovelies are the Cardamom Rose Cupcake and Peanut Butter Parfait. Both were pretty good. Not pictured is the cheesecake. My photo was crap, and I didn’t really love it. It seemed sour-creamy, and when I ate cheesecake, it was the crazy cold, crazy firm kind, not squishy. So you may love it—cheesecake’s personal like that.

Yup, this is how I’m starting my Las Vegas post. Because this was the single most amazing moment of my stay. It’d been a few years since I’d been to Vegas, and we had just learned of a death in the family, so we were both incredibly depressed and worried that we wouldn’t make it home to Portland in time to fly to Chicago for the funeral. Needless to say there was no gambling, no naked nightclubbing, just a lot of walking off nervous energy and making plane reservations poolside (with orders from my mother to have a Mai Tai on her behalf, which we dutifully obeyed). As down in the friggin’ dumps as we were, when we stumbled upon this series of tram stations completely covered in Doze Green murals, we were just beaming. I love this man so much and I’m absolutely thrilled so many are exposed to his art. A single painting is worth more than my car, so to be so close to his work was a lovely surprise.

I sooooooo wish I could have a decently lit, beautifully focused shot of this for you. It’s Kung Pao Gardein! And it was great! Not on the menu, it was a suggestion made by our incredibly helpful server. We told her we were looking for something vegan but without mushrooms or nuts (Tom’s allergic!), and she made a couple of suggestions. Here’s the vegan section of the main menu; there’s also a vegan section in the dim sum menu. Just ask questions—they’re used to them! Side note: I wish this plain Gardein was available in stores. I’ve seen the beefy and heat-n-serve stuff, but I’d love this for adding to recipes.

In Fact, the Wynn is really your best bet for vegan-friendly dining. Both upscale and casual, every place I popped my head in had a vegan menu. This one here’s for The Pizza Place, and I also checked the Terrace Pointe Cafe, which was lovely but also closed between meals. Not that I expect everywhere I go to know the word “vegan” and what it means, it’s pretty sweet when it happens. The first night we got in, we were just exhausted (and again, super depressed), so I did some quick checking and trusted the claims that The Cheesecake Factory was vegan-friendly. Ugh, was that a nightmare. The server had no idea and was not helpful at all. I ended up with the crappy salad and Tom had the edible pasta—can’t remember if those were the exact names on the menu but it sounds right.

It may not be exciting, but there are probably 50 Starbucks locations on or around The Strip. And as chains are wont to do, they will have a totally boring and totally overpriced yet totally reliable cup of oatmeal for you.

It was time to head out for the 17-hour drive back home. Vegan or not, you’re going to want to pack your own food for this trip. With the exception of Reno, there is NOTHING along the way. When you see a gas station, fill up, and if you’re among the weak-bladdered, get a bottle or Ziploc so you can pee in the car. (I myself have an elitist bladder, but luckily it is also the bladder of steel.)

You’ll see a lot of this

…and this

…and this.

Because we knew to be prepared, we stopped at the Whole Foods just south of The Strip. And lookee what we found! We picked up some focaccia, pesto, and Tofurky (for fancy roadside grub), OJ, more water, and these little fancy-ass chocolate-n-peanut butter tarts:

Again, not bad for roughin’ it on the road. (Disclaimer: This photo was taken once we got home. We did not carry pretty dishes with us in the car.)

Tom had an event down there and he was going with or without me—and we were in desperate need of a vacation—so we decided to make a road trip of it. We’d spend a night in San Francisco (staying with a friend), two nights in L.A. (also staying with a friend), two nights in Vegas (a suite at the Monte Carlo for ONE THIRD of what we paid for a last-minute Saturday night in a tiny room), then a night in Reno (also super nice room for the same price as a freeway-side motel). Cheapest vacation ever.

Before I get into the L.A. part, a few words on road-tripping. We’ve done a bunch of it and have had our fair share of crappy black coffee and crackers due to poor planning, but especially if you’re stopping at hotels or friends’ homes along the way you can bring most of your food. If you’re camping, a tiny camp stove like this one makes any rest area your own little kitchen. We pack one small cooler no matter where we’re going; you can fit big water bottles in it but you’re not trying to cool a giant space. You know you’re going to go through a lot of water on the road, so why not freeze most of it? That’s your ice pack right there—heavy-duty zippy plastic bags can be your ice packs wherever you stop. Then pack whatever you can slather on a bagel: hummus, make-your-own veggie cream cheese, pesto. Fruit’s a tricky one, depending on where you’re traveling and what kind of checkpoints you have to go through, but dried’s always OK. And chocolate! Go Max Go bars are a must-have in our car. Oh, and this has nothing to do with food, but a good old-fashioned road atlas could save your GPS-addicted ass.

All right, now for L.A. We didn’t have time to go to my favorite vegan-friendly Chinese place, Mao’s, but please check it out if you’re around Hollywood or Venice. We did manage to hit our old sushi haunt, Taiyo, and even though it was under new management it was still good. Their vegan roll selection had dwindled, but we chatted a bit with our server and message received. Perhaps future diners will be able to have the sun-dried tomato or super-green (spinach, asparagus, avocado, and cucumber) rolls we used to love. She did, however, suggest that they make us an off-the-menu veggie tempura roll. Sold!

That’s what you get for being nice and not just getting mad and storming out of the place.

The other night, we were so tired that we needed a quick somethin’ to quiet our bellies before the hanging out and the making each other laugh. Our one-bag, impulse-buy meal was this:

A pound of pasta, a chunk of broccoli, sun-dried tomato, a package of baked tofu, and a container of no-nuts vegan pesto (and some olive oil and garlic they already had) came together in maybe 15 minutes, start to finish. I super dug this pesto and was lucky enough to find it again in Vegas.

On our way out, we swung by Whole Foods and picked up sandwiches for the road. Tom got a hummusy one and this one (mine!) is a roasted vegetable with pesto. They actually had a decent little vegan sandwich menu—the guy making the sandwiches kept checking the ingredient listing, so it seemed like he didn’t make many of them, but whatever.

And that was eatin’ in L.A. I’ll leave you with a photo of the Getty Villa, which we had no knowledge of while we were living there. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. If you’re in the area, you must go. Plan ahead, though, and go online to get your parking pass—it’s a reservation to prevent overcrowding.

So here’s some stuff to eat (or not), should you find yourself in Seattle:

This is a NOT. Pizza Pi, however mildly cleverly named, was a sad, sad time indeed. My friend warned me against it long ago, but since then PP’s started offering Daiya so I had to check it out. I heart pizza so I feel it’s my duty to try them all. This one was barely cooked (deceptive browning and bubbling of the crust, but look at the Daiya), there was maybe as much garlic (an added topping) as I use in my sauce alone, and the sauce was almost a very one-dimensional barbecue sauce. Boo. Oh, and it was over $20.  

My favorite, a breakfast built from side dishes! This is from Wayward Cafe, just across the street from Pizza Pi and Sidecar for Pigs Peace. The hash browns were hash-browny, the herby biscuit was super with jam (who’dathunkit?), and the tempeh was simple but crispy and filling.

Also from Wayward, the French toast. I wanted to like this much more than I did. The flavor was right, but it was a bit doughy.

Sorry for the blur, but it’s an action shot, baby! This is how Mighty-O Donuts are born!

Here’s what they look like at full maturity, ready to go in my belly. I always splurge for one of their fancy offerings because they really are fancier. This time it’s the one pictured in the lower left corner, orangy and delightful.

Wouldn’t you know it, our hotel was right across the street from Araya’s Place. We just got a bunch of fantastic appetizers as take-out, since the restaurant looked like your typical stripmall Thai joint, but it was super pretty inside! Next time. I didn’t want to bombard you with bad hotel-lit photos, but here’s the tofu satay.

So when’s the next visit? How about Sunday, May 15, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm for The Great Seattle Vegan Chili Cook-off?! No, I don’t eat chili, but Vegan Iron Chef’s gonna head up there to table. This is a fundraiser for Seattle’s first Vegan Iron Chef event. (Can’t wait for Regionals!)

One of the many perks of working with the other Vida Vegan Con ladies is that they’ve lived here a heck of a lot longer than I have. In my three years in Portland (happy anniversary, Portland Michele) I’ve eaten at more restaurants than I ever thought I would have, given my super special vegan diet, but I’ve barely scratched the surface. (I love Portland!)

Today we had a little lunch meeting, grabbing take-out from Pho PDX. A new restaurant and a new dish! I’d always wanted to try phở but I didn’t know who to trust, since it’s traditionally a beef broth, and I’ve had so-so luck with Asian restaurants of all sorts here. My trusty guides Jess and Janessa wouldn’t steer me wrong.

The restaurant itself is tucked away in this international food court of tiny restaurants that would probably otherwise be carts. There’s an Indian joint and some other kind of something I walked past to get to my phở. The menu up on the wall had a “vegan” section—insert dose of confidence here.

For $6.50 I got the phở vegan, a bowl of broth with rice noodles, red bell pepper, asparagus, green beans, onion, cilantro, mushrooms, and tofu cubes. Then on the side comes the audience participation portion (see below): bean sprouts, jalepeños, Thai basil, and a lime wedge.

Well, yay for new things that don’t suck. Never a fan of soup, I was surprisingly in love with this, since it’s really just vegetables in broth. No goopy, creamy, soupy mess. I really wanted to be a champion and eat all my tofu, but it looked pretty soft so it was a no go. I did, however, have enough leftovers to justify bringing it home, so the tofu will be used somehow—it’s already marinated and ready to be made unsquishy!

I’ve never seen a new business open up to such instant success. The location’s an A-, it is but one of a hundred pizza joints in the area, and the website didn’t even have prices (it does now)…so why was everyone so crazy about Sizzle Pie? Maybe because it’s awesome.

Originality: You can’t win the pizza game in this town with naught but red sauce. One of the pizzas we got (the Eat the Rich) was a pairing of onion spread and cilantro pepitas pesto, dusted with nutritional yeast. Other sauces (all vegan save one) include Oregon Pinot Noir Marinara and Creamy Basil Cashew Spread. Toppings include Daiya, a wide range of vegetables, and vegan pepperoni and seasoned Soy Curls.

Vegan options: They know where they’re at. Not only is there a huge vegetarian section of the menu, but the vegan pies get their own space. You’re not just left to build your own and hope they remember you said “no cheese.” And you can easily swap the cheese for Daiya if one of the non-vegan pizzas catches your eye.

Tasteriffic: Just because it’s vegan and not cookie-cutter doesn’t mean it’s good. I’m happy to report this tastes good too! And that includes cold leftovers. I didn’t care for the vegan pepperoni, but I never ate the meaty kind so that’s just me. Tom liked it just fine. The crust was good and chewy—with some flavor of its own. I hate when pizza crust is lazy and just sits there while the sauces and toppings do all the work. Not the case here. I won’t be able to report on the cashew spread, with this being a nut-free zone (lest we accidentally kill Tom), but I want to try everything else.

Comfortable interior: If you’re a Top 40 radio type, get yours to go, but if you can handle some unapologetic metal, have a seat. While we haven’t eaten there yet, the space is comfortable. It kinda feels like you’re sitting outside, on surprisingly comf wooden benches, with super neat slabs of concrete for tables and not-too-obnoxious, streetlamp-looking lights. Rather than walling off the kitchen, they’ve built an airy Jenga-esque structure of wooden planks that tidies things up while still letting light peek through. I dig it.

It’s just genuine: You can feel when someone’s doing it the way they want to. This isn’t a boring chain. True, I could be totally off, but I am apt to believe this place is the manifestation of a dream. “If I had my own pizza place, this is how I’d do it…” That’s where I want to spend my money. I want to support that. This is the type of place I’d be really sad for if it closed. Luckily, based on the initial reaction, at least, I don’t think that’ll happen anytime soon.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Sizzle Pie.

Tom and I were able to carve out a moment in our crazy schedules to meet me for lunch at Portobello. Lunch? Yes, lunch. They recently started serving lunch 11:30–2:30 Tuesday through Friday! It’s a smaller menu, mainly soups, salads, sandwiches, and pizzas—and that’s A-OK with me.

Tom got the sausage sandwich and a side salad, because he’s a smart boy and smart boys eat their greens. On the sandwich is Daiya mozzarella, marinara and some spicy peppers. He said it was excellent and he could eat double.

It was my turn to get the arrabiata pizza. It’s slightly smaller than the dinner portion, but I still couldn’t finish it, donating a quarter of it to Tom’s “fill my belly” fund. It’s good and spicy, and the sausage is creepily sausagy. I had to take it off the pizza and eat it alone because the textures coming together weirded me out. I never did eat sausage pizza, even as a kid, so don’t blame the pizza for my neurotic behavior.

And if you’ve imagined Portobello too fancy for a lunch run-in, don’t be silly! Our waiter was wearing a Food Fight! t-shirt and our total (before tip) came to $15. Not bad for an absolutely delightful lunch.

Tom got the Field Roast Italian sausage, with peppers and onions, and a side of not-fries (they’re baked). After I reminded him that he likes cole slaw, we were lookin’ at a clean plate. He said he’d absolutely order it again.

I went with the tempeh burger, hold the BBQ sauce. It was the first tempeh sandwich I’d tried since living in L.A., where I was served a tough, flavorless slab. What a difference! This was tender and marinated, and the potato bun just added to the delicacy of the sandwhich. So good.

And to finish it all off, a chocolate shake made with Coconut Bliss ice cream! It allowed us the opportunity to make $6 shake jokes, a la the Pulp Fiction $5 shake, so that was a bonus, but it was totally worth the money. My first words: “Yeah, that’s Coconut Bliss, all right.” Tom’s: “Oh goddamn…that’s fuckin’ good.” You could add malt for 50 cents, but I’m pretty sure that’s a milk product, so it’s weird to have it as an option for a vegan shake. I guess you don’t have to be vegan to enjoy an incredibly delicious coconut-milk-based shake.

How many burger joints have Bigfoot decorate their restrooms?

UPDATE: After an B+ experience last time and an incredibly disappointing visit today, we shall not be back to Dick’s Kitchen. They got my order wrong, the server tried to deflect her mistake on me, I had to get a remade sandwich to go since we were then running out of time, then they brought it to me plated (this time remembering the cole slaw they failed bring us to begin with) so they went and wrapped it up (again sans cole slaw), and handed us the $22 check. I understand mistakes, but they had two servers, three guys in the kitchen, and four tables seated. Too bad, ’cause I really appreciated having a place where I could grab a tempeh burger and fries, ya know?