Since they only take reservations for groups of six or more, the wait can be waity, but it’s worth it. Or you can be a smartypants and show up right when they open. One reason I love them is that even though the tables are packed, they don’t push you out. You leave when you’re ready. Now, if you’re an a-hole, you could sit and chat after the coffee and dessert dishes are cleared, but none of us are a-holes, are we?

Chances are your food won’t look exactly like mine, as they change the menu constantly. Instead of an apple tart, they may have apricot. Whatever, just order it. It’s all good.

 
Artichoke-tomato crostini, albeit a crappy photo. I’ve also had a corona bean-artichoke version. If you’re in a group of four this one will disappear super fast…but that’s all right because you’ve got to save some room for dessert.

Little T Slab with fleur de sel and olive oil. It’s a super simple and cheap way to stop your tummy from grumbling once you score yourself a table. And when it tastes this good you can’t consider it “filling up on bread.” 

Red pepper linguine with zucchini, corona beans, olive oil, and fried garlic. It’s no secret that I don’t care so much for most beans, but these are so good. When I got home after my first visit (I’ve had three different versions of the corona bean pasta so far), I jumped online to research corona beans. They’re fleshy and hold their body instead of getting mushy. The light flavor works so perfectly in a delicate sauce like this. Note: Get the half portion. I have yet to attempt a full portion but I can’t even imagine—remember, you’re saving room for dessert.

Pizza with sausage, fennel-tomato sauce, Daiya cheese, spicy cherry peppers. Tom orders this every freakin’ time we’re there. And when we’ve ordered pizza to go. He’s simply a fool for fennel, and the crust is fabulously chewy. I can’t go for the fakey sausage, but the straight-up Daiya one is tops.

Strawberry cheesecake with a shortbread crust and strawberry sauce. Anyone who claims vegan cheesecake can’t be as rich and creamy as the dairy version should be made to eat this then just try to repeat this claim without crossing their fingers. Can’t be done. I’ve also had the blueberry cheesecake—and it was good—but this one is perfect.

Apple tart with streusel topping and vanilla Coconut Bliss ice cream. Rich and buttery and flakey and rich and buttery and rich and flakey…yeah.

The Harper. This has to be enjoyed all by itself. Don’t try sipping along with your meal; you’ll only waste it. It’s black pepper-ginger vodka, strawberry puree, ginger, and prosecco. The flavor is so complex that you can’t even talk after your first sip. It keeps your mouth busy, picking out the layers of awesome, and your mouth has a nice, peppery buzz before your head does. Gorgeous. Oh, and $1 is donated to the SHAC7. (Look it up, fool.)

The ones I’ve had are in red, and since I’m a super picky plain Jane, I’ve made the ones Tom’s had green. What have you tried? Didja like it? Get yourself a clean list over on Jess’s original post (linked up there) and post your link in her comments.

1. Fries with spicy tofu sauce at Dots
2. $1.25 Corndog from Hungry Tiger Too (Wednesday special) *can be tough gettin’ in the door some nights, for it is also cheap-ass PBR night.
3. McMinnville Cream donut from Voodoo Doughnuts
4. Tiramisu from Portobello
5. Vegan Soyrizo Burrito from Los Gorditos
6. Professor Nanotear Ham and Cheeze sandwich from Tube *will never try this. The idea is too gross to entertain.
7. Milkshake from Sip
8. Gnocchi from Portobello *just tried this. Holy fillintheblank.
9. Boston Cream Pie donut from Sweetpea Baking Co. (Saturdays only)
10. Soft serve from Blossoming Lotus
11. Local cherry tomatoes from a farmers market
12. Sesame Tofu from Bay Leaf
13. Jerked chickun from Assase Ital
14. A Big Big Lunch Special from an Indian chaat house
15. Soy latte made with Stumptown espresso *I’m a cappuccino girl.
16. A crappy tofu scramble *I’ve heard about too many of these to even attempt one.
17. Cornmeal pizza from Dovi Vive *we hated it, but folks seem to really dig it.
18. Weeping Tiger sandwich from Bye & Bye *Tom orders this every time.
19. Bye & Bye or Floor Punch from Bye & Bye *tastes innocent enough, but you get bit quick.
20. A Bowl meal from a cart
21. Vegan nutella from Freddy Guy’s hazelnuts
22. Soy curls in bulk *I’m an idiot for not doing this yet. I eat a lot of soy curls.
23. 40-cent Tofuffalo at Hungry Tiger Too (Thursdays)
24. The weekday vegan pancakes from Laurelthirst
25. Maple vegan sausage waffle from Flavourspot *maybe it was the company and the weather, but my Flavourspot experience was just delightful.
26. Drunken noodles with pepper steak from Thai Food Cafe
27. Macnocheeto from Homegrown Smoker *perfect street food for a messy eater!
28. Veggie platter from an Ethiopian restaurant
29. Blackberries picked from a public place *I barely trust the ones in the store.
30. Baba Ganouj from Ya Hala
31. Coconut Smashed Yams from Papa G’s
32. Vegan slice from Bella Faccia
33. A Whiffies fried pie after midnight *not after midnight. Someday.
34. Chili dog from Zach’s Shack
35. Vegan poutine from Potato Champion! *sauce = gross.
36. Missionary Chocolate Truffle *seek these out and eat them now!
37. Apron Activists 4-Course Dinner *someday. I’ve been mad broke lately.
38. Hot Wok at New Seasons
39. Che Guevara Burrito from Laughing Planet
40. Pad Thai from Pad Thai Kitchen
41. Random vegan dessert from a stand at Last Thursday on Alberta
42. The Giant Pancake at Hungry Tiger Too *seriously, it’s giant. Don’t be a fool and try to order two. You have no idea.
43. TLP from Red & Black Cafe
44. Cornmeal tempeh plate from Proper Eats
45. Maple Walnut Scone from Back to Eden
46. Vegan Mezza platter from a Lebanese restaurant
47. Crispy eggplant from Fujin
48. Lemongrass Tofu Sticks from Van Hanh
49. Tofu Salad Bun at Pho PDX
50. Cocktail made with local liquor
51. Biscuits and Gravy from Paradox or Vita
52. Coconut fried Oreos from Homegrown Smoker *eat one and give the rest away. You’ll want more but you’ll regret it.
53. Field Roast sausage
54. Secret Aardvark Hot Sauce *Tom puts this on everything.
55. Toddbot’s Triangles
56. Local microbrew
57. Hot Lips soda
58. Herb Crusted Tofu with Mushroom Marsala from The Farm Cafe
59. Picnic in Laurelhurst Park
60. Burrito eaten in Pioneer Square from Shelley’s Honkin Huge Burritos
61. Eggplant tibs from Bete Lukas
62. Tator tots before noon or after midnight *anytime is a good time for tots.
63. Lone Ranger from Chaos Cafe
64. Hand-crafted mocktail at Portobello
65. Tofu at a BBQ place
66. Mint Fava Falafel at Nightlight Lounge
67. An unexciting hummus plate at a bar
68. Koi Fusion spicy tofu tacos
69. Tofurkey dog with grilled onions from the Veggi Dog Stand
70. Sesame chicken from a vegetarian Chinese restaurant
71. Bagel with scallion cream cheese from Sweetpea Baking Co.
72. Vegan savoury crepe
73. Club Vegan at Backspace
74. Ice cream sundae from Back to Eden
75. Raw fudge from Blossoming Lotus
76. Tempeh reuben
77. Pause vegan burger
78. Something baked with local marionberries
79. Sunday Brunch at Sweetpea Baking Co.
80. Dave’s Killer Bread
81. Higher Taste Burritos
82. Thai food that the server swears is vegan, but you taste fish sauce.
83. Elephant ear from the Saturday Market
84. Sticky bun from Dovetail Baking Co.
85. Savoury pie from Nicholas
86. Giant salad rolls from the Just Thai cart
87. Vegan torta from Los Gorditos (cart or taqueria)
88. Nutritional yeast on your popcorn at a movie theater
89. Vegan grilled cheese from The Grilled Cheese Grill
90. Vegan Nachos at El Nutri (2 carts)
91. Something from the by-request vegetarian menu at Andina
92. Vegan Steak and Cheese from D.C. Vegetarian
93. Dragon Noodles at Red & Black Cafe *good, honest, cheap food. Get it with the ginger tofu!
94. Falafel from Wolf & Bears
95. Vegan apple fritter from Voodoo Doughnuts
96. Four-Cheese Lasgana from Blossoming Lotus
97. Vegetarian Chinese lunch buffet
98. Chicken Salad Sandwich at D.C. Vegetarian
99. Cinnamon Roll from Dovetail Baking Co.
100. Personal Pizza from a cart with a wood-fired stove *I’ll be writing about this soon. It didn’t go as I’d hoped.

 

My first attempt at homemade ravioli. I found a vegan pasta dough here and added a bit of salt, ’cause I just don’t trust a recipe that doesn’t list salt. And for the filling I used a head of roasted garlic, a handful of squeezed-out frozen spinach, and enough Daiya to hold it all together, like so:

The sauce is half a can of tomato sauce, half a can of tomato paste, a thinly sliced shallot, and spice, spice, spice. The pasta was a bit thick, but it worked. We used a little more than half of the dough and were stuffed to the gills.

Somehow we defied the laws of physics and made room for dessert. This is VCTOTW chocolate cake. The middle layer is the solid part of a chilled can of coconut milk, a handful of frozen berries, and just a bit of powdered sugar, whizzed up with my stick blender. I smashed some sliced banana in there before slappin’ on the top half of the cake, which I topped with some plain solidified coconut milk. I say damn, baby.

And throughout the night we sipped away at this sparkly berryrific punchy drink—between the lighting and the composition, it looks like I caught them doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. Or like they’re in an American Apparel ad. Annnnyway, this was inspired by a story Tom’s mom told about her birthdays as a child in post-WWII Germany. As tough as life was, they always had strawberry punch on their birthdays. Sounded good so we took a crack at it:

• 1 bottle sparkling wine
• 2 cans ginger ale
• 1½ c frozen berries (blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries)

As the berries melt, they soak up the punch. Summer, meet your mate.

It took a visitor from Europe to point out how insanely close I live to Canada. Less than a six-hour drive gets me to Vancouver, the city you may have heard of if you’ve seen any of those Best Places to Live or Most Beautiful, Wonderful, Whateverful Cities on the Planet lists. And everything you’ve heard is true. They give you three wishes when you cross the border and the sidewalks are made of candy and all the beds are giant animatronic teddy bears that hold you close and rock you to sleep, lulling you with their gruffy song of lull.

Even though it was cloudy most of the time (pretty much exactly how I left Portland), we still managed to have a glorious couple of days. That photo up there is me taking photos of mossy rocks, with the color manipulated so it could serve as a Verve album cover.

Not so glorious was how we spent each morning, at the Whole Foods cafe, because our hotel charged something like $20 for a day of wifi. What year is this? And the Starbucks up there didn’t have it either. I was beginning to question the whole Best Place to Live thing, but an honest cup of coffee and two varieties of vegan muffin (carrot maple!), decent lighting, and free wifi and plug-in made it all better. And not for nothin’, but I love Kati’s little netbook.

Our first stop was Granville Island Public Market. It reeked of tourist trap, but it served its purpose: lunch. Yes, I bought a pretty stone bear necklace, but we also hooked ourselves up with the makings of a lovely picnic. Check these out.

And here’s what we ended up with. Gooseberries (still a little on the way-too-tart side), rosemary baguette, green olive baguette, hummus, and a sun-dried tomato & olive spread. I’m working on a recipe to replicate this because I haven’t found one around these parts. I mean, come on, look at this!

The highlight of the trip was the only thing we had written down, UBC’s Museum of Anthropology, where we immediately became members because we’ll be back but soon. Tom took the photo and it’s now our desktop image. If you click on it you’ll get a bigger version. Holy crap, the magic that can happen with a camera. After just a few hours in the museum (we got a late start) we were dizzy. Kati and I both ended up a bit weepy—it’s a powerful collection, absolutely a must-see if you can manage it.

Both nights we ended up at The Foundation Lounge, which we just happened to walk by and get sucked into while trying to find another place we saw on Happy Cow. It’s vegetarian, but almost everything can be vegan. The photos aren’t awesome so I’ll just give you a little peek:

I got the OPPP, “our peanut pesto pasta, onion, brokly & tofu. twisted pasta.” Kati got the Rogue Grain, “army of veg in coco-chili-lime sauce. served on quinoa & spinach.” And Tom went with the Final Option, “crazy veg curry off the heezee. served on rice.” We all friggin’ loved our food. Oddly enough, mine had pears in it too, which I though would be weird but it was not. It was perfect. Kati’s plate also had a ton of chickpeas and black beans. And Tom uttered the most surprising of words: “I think with the garlic and the heat I actually like cauliflower.” (Insert angels singing here.) I was the only one who failed to clean her plate. When we went back the next night (the light was even crappier so no photos for you!), I got the same thing and tried to finish, making myself feel super sick for the next few hours. If you’re there, stop by. The atmosphere is chill, the waitstaff is just the right degree of pretentious for the first five minutes, and the food is great.

And I saw this little guy on a door. Apparently, Pan’s a caterer in Canada, kind of like serious actors doing shitty commercials in other countries. Gotta pay the rent, I suppose.

I first saw Try Vegan PDX’s Vegan Iron Chef when a friend of mine fan’d it on Facebook. When I saw the call for planning committee members back in March I was in. How could I not be? From my first meeting—walking in pretty much a total stranger (aside from comment exchanges here and there with the event director Jess Scone, I’d never met anyone)—I joined this amazing group of people in putting together an amazing event.

Word spread. Ideas grew. Each week problems were solved while new ones sprang up. Sponsors signed on while others realized they’d overextended themselves and had to back out. As a tiny unit without its own official 501(c)(3) status we relied on our cousin NW Veg to help us with some of the larger sponsors. Then our bake sale came up against a nasty storm and a health inspector. We went from buying equipment to renting and borrowing equipment.

Then we put tickets on sale. Then they were gone. In three days we filled up our little Ecotrust space. We’re talking paid-for tickets, not just Facebook fans saying, “That sounds fun. I’ll totally go to that…maybe.” Then our posters came out and everyone saw that Portland has some of the coolest, sexiest chefs around. And everyone wanted in. You can’t imagine how hard it was to say no to some of the folks we had to say no to. Really, it hurt. 

About a week before the event we met with our volunteers. We had a list of people and a list of jobs (totally guessing what had to be done by how many people), and everyone was great about signing on for responsibilities. Of course we knew some of those people wouldn’t show up so we had a batch of friends and latecomers in our pocket. (In hindsight we were totally off on volunteer roles, but everyone was great about pitching in where they could.)

Meanwhile, we were postering the city’s veg-friendly restaurants and stores, gathering equipment…and I was trying to sew everything I swore I would get sewn: table skirts, napkins, presentation fabric for the secret ingredient unveiling, and napkin rings. We had a pantry-packing party, still brainstorming ingredients to be procured. Extra microphones (which didn’t end up working with the system anyway) were picked up that morning. And cars were loaded and unloaded on one of the rainiest days of the year! With every bit of work we just had to remind ourselves that unless you pay it in you can’t get it out. DIY may not be easy but it’s rewarding.

Honestly, once we got into our space, after stuffing our programs with donated coupons and rounding up volunteers, the whirlwind of activity—with just a hint of chaos—didn’t allow time for thinking or feeling. The clock was ticking ’til “doors open,” and we had three chef stations, the raffle/apron table, and all the extra ingredients, equipment, and dishes. Oh and then there was the challenge of setting up the still-secret ingredient while still keeping it a secret, although I managed to say it out loud three times while talking to our food guru Isa Moskowitz about the unveiling. Our judges and contestants were briefed; our host, Herbivore’s Michelle Schwegmann, and I came up with a raffle strategy; Jess ran around, puttin’ out fires like a pro; and the DJs and videographer got in place and hooked up.

Doors open!

Isa filled time while the room filled in with trivia questions, rewarded with Go Max Go candy bars and other prizes. Our vendors outside spread the word and sampled their wares. And excitement grew.

Welcome…introductions…rules…

CHOCOLATE!

   
Cooking, cooking, cooking. Left to right, that’s Qausu Asaase of Asaase Ital Palace, Aaron Adams of Portobello Vegan Trattoria, and Wes Hannah of Blossoming Lotus. Click on thumbnails to see full-size images. Like most of the photos in this post, these were taken by Lucas DeShazer.

Tasting, tasting, tasting.

And the winner is Qausu!

Again, this was all less than three weeks ago but we’ve already had one meeting to discuss next steps and are planning another soon. And to fill the time between Vegan Iron Chefs we’ve got a trivia night, Try Vegan Week, Vegan Prom, and as many bake sales as we can squeeze in. Plus there’s the Let Live Conference. And NW Veg has Race for the Animals coming up—and don’t forget VegFest!

Oh yeah, if you want to help support what we do—all this fun stuff is ultimately to spread vegan love—or to keep your clothes clean and look awesome while cooking, you should get yourself an apron. We’ll ship it to you USPS for $17. Click that link there to Paypal us some cash and I’ll get the apron out to you right away.

Can one man/woman make a difference? Of course, but it helps if you’ve got some dedicated friends. The photo above is from this Daily Tidings story—it’s my friend Yoko serving up some totally free vegan vittles to high school kids in Ashland, Oregon. And the orange catering truck is Taran’s. Why have an orange catering truck if you’re not going to use it, right? The ingredients were all donated by farmer’s market folk and with contributions from the rest of the community.

The plain truth is that this community, like many, many, many others, has cut school funding to the bone. Extra programs—you know, the life-building ones—gone. The food—building blocks of quickly growing and morphing bodies—crap. One Ashland is out to change that one free meal at a time.

They set up right outside the school and met with a bit of resistance…not from the students, mind you. The school official came out to make them leave. These are minors, you know, so the school is responsible for them . What’s that? It’s open campus? So kids can go to the fast food joints down the street? They just can’t eat this free, healthy food? Long story short, the truck was sent away (to avoid “federal issues”) but they parked just a bit away and continued to give away healthy meals.

The kids were very appreciative. Yoko joked that in some places, if you give away food you’re still gonna get robbed. These students were polite and genuine. That makes the hard work so much more worth it. I just think it’s funny that schools defend their greasy, processed fare with claims that it’s the only thing kids will eat. Beg to differ.

So check it out. You can donate to One Ashland on its website…or you can start your own community group. I’m sure kids around your neck of the woods could use some clean eats.

Where have I been? Well, preparing for Vegan Iron Chef, attending Vegan Iron Chef, then recovering from Vegan Iron Chef. But I’m back in action, baby. Not with a Vegan Iron Chef recap—I want to wait until the video is available and I can get some decent photos ready for you—but this post does feature one of our raffle donors, Homegrown Smoker.

In their new location in SW, down in PSU territory, Homegrown Smoker is a sweet little shack in a pod of food carts at 4th and College. I’d never been to the other location, and since I’m not in this area, um, ever, I probably wouldn’t have gone to this one anytime soon if it weren’t to pick up gift certificates. So glad I did. I got a Smoker Sandwich with smoked soycurls, hold the sauce—rude, right? To go to any BBQ-type joint and not get the sauce, which is their signature? Well, I’m Michele and I hate sauces. (Hi, Michele.) Anyway, the sandwich didn’t need any. So big I could barely manage it, what with my teensy mouth, but the soycurls weren’t too squishy and the flavor was amazing. The smokey hits you right away, then there’s the pepper on the back end. Big thumbs up.

I’ve since been back, dragging along Tom and Kati, the German lass from Spain who’s spending a month in Portland. That’s right, two months in the U.S. and half of that is in Portland, where she’s eatin’ vegan the whole time. Well, both of them loved Homegrown, Kati getting the Macnocheeto (a burrito with mac ‘n’ cheese and soycurls), and Tom getting the SloSmoMoFo (basically my sandwich with sauce and slaw on it, in addition to another side—a hefty meal). We split one of the specials for the day, fried coconut-battered Oreos. Oh, hell yes. The creamy middle sort of melts into the cookie, which gets soft and cakelike. One was enough for each of us—splitting that last one put us over the top. 

So back to our foreign friend. In her first week she’s been to Bye & Bye, Hungry Tiger Too, Vita Cafe, Laughing Planet, and (the now famous) Red & Black. Annnd she just happened to be here for Vegan Iron Chef, where she won two raffle prizes at the After Party. Not a bad start to a U.S. tour.

It’s interesting to have her perspective on our city and its veg-friendliness. We soooo take this for granted now. And as for Americans who don’t live in Portland (or any other growing veg-friendly city) we have mail order, which is pricey but possible. She’s scrambling in Barcelona for the simplest of ingredients, like gluten flour to make seitan with. When she visited family in Germany she stocked up on shelf-stable tofu because it’s so hard to get. Every day she’s floored by how fantastic Portland is, unseasonable rain or not, and keeps brainstorming ways she could stay here. So you Portland boys out there, if you think a blond with a German accent is flirting with you, she probably is, but it’s only for the Green Card.

Pretty bad-ass, right? Those are but two of the three competing chefs for our just-around-the-corner Vegan Iron Chef. The third chef should have been photographed this weekend, so I imagine we’ll see the poster in the next day or so—I’ll put it up as soon as I get it (from our very, very busy designer)…and here it is!

The event has blown the blow up! After selling out in three days (and filling all our volunteer positions almost immediately), we just got confirmation that Backspace Cafe, where the official, open & free After Party is, is going to let us in early and livestream the event. So if you’re in the area, you can go hang out, have a sandwich and a drink and watch the show live.

Here’s the real updated update: If you’re anywhere in the world—hey, that’s you!—you can watch online too.

Of course, this event supports Try Vegan PDX, a local, all-volunteer nonprofit that serves as a resource and community-building center for Portland. New vegans can sign on with a mentor, which can make the difference between trying vegan and staying vegan. All year round there are benefits, workshops…working on putting together a pub-quizzy trivia night. And then there are the events of Try Vegan Week: workshops, lectures, a bar crawl, and Vegan Prom—check out last year’s schedule here.

So it’s not about sitting in a park, making flower wreaths for your hair and sharing a lentil loaf.

Haven’t tried garlic spears yet? Ha! I thought I was the last one, but I guess it’s you, you big loser.

I saw them at the store and without knowing anything about them I had to have them. “Garlic” was all I needed. When I got home I checked online, and apparently, everyone blogged about them last year. They all said the same stuff, and so will I:

• The flower of the elephant garlic plant
• A cross between asparagus and garlic
• Spicy when raw, mild when cooked

So I went two ways with it. First I cut off a couple inches of stem on each of them, slicing them up super thin and adding them to my mashed red potatoes. Success! They retained the bite, which is not as strong as raw garlic, and added a bit of crunch.

Then I tossed the rest in a bit of olive oil and threw them on a hot, hot griddle for just a few minutes, turning once. Warning: They spit! Had to don the apron for this one. But another success! The stems do have a bit of an asparagus feel, and the flower tops, because they’re bigger, don’t cook as thoroughly so they hold more of the original spicy bite.  

(To round out my rather American-looking dinner of green veg and potatoes is baked B-B-Q tempeh, recipe here.) Start to finish, this took maybe a half hour. Pretty dern healthy, incredibly satisfying, and tasty to boot.

Watermelon juice. So pretty…and surprisingly good for you. Watermelon is a delicious summertime source of potassium and Vitamins A, B6, and C. Also, most of the fiber makes its way through the juicer—I was left with but a handful of pulp. I don’t know what you could use it for; unlike apple pulp it wouldn’t really make for a great cake.

Ever bought watermelon juice before? How much did you pay for it? Yeah, I thought so. I’ve done it too. But for about $4 I made 86 ounces, thanks to my Juiceman. I got it as a wedding gift and sure, it’s spent a year here and there sitting in the cabinet, but when I pull it out…magic!

I’m determined to keep it at the front of the appliance cabinet so I remember to stock up on goodies at the farmers market over the next several months. Really. No, this time I’m serious. This year it’s Michele’s Summer of Juice.

(And yes, I’m well aware of the fact that summer doesn’t start for a month—I need a running start.)