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.

 

This sushi from Sushi Tree (fishless food cart at Skidmore & Mississippi in NE Portland), I think, is a perfect example of that. I know I’m gonna try a little something new next time I make sushi at home. Just look at these two rolls:

This is the Green Dragon Uramaki (rice on the outside). Inside are asparagus, avocado, sunflower seeds, clover sprouts, and cilantro. It’s a mighty big roll, taking me three bites per piece…so that means two bites for a normal, not freakishly tiny mouth. I used to get a green roll at Taiyo in L.A., but I think this one kinda kicked its ass.

From the Specialty Mega Uramaki section of the menu, here’s This B Stuffed. Here we’ve got asparagus, clover sprouts, red cabbage, sunflower seeds, carrot, spinach, cucumber, daikon radish, and cilantro, with panko breading joining the sesame seeds on the outside. Again, enormous and somewhat difficult to eat for the tiny-mouthed, but it’s worth the trouble.

I can absolutely make this at home. And it won’t cost $15 for two rolls, either. (For the record, I had leftovers.)

On a not-so-pleasant note, Tom and I had come here on his lunch hour and spent almost the entire time waiting for our two rolls apiece. There were no other customers; it just took almost 10 minutes a roll. She’d only been open for a week and said her helper wasn’t there that day so she was scrambling. And she gave us one of the rolls for free. I understand and it was a lovely gesture. It would have been fine if Tom hadn’t taken his rolls with him back to work to find cream cheese—the only nonvegan ingredient on the menu—in his cheeseless rolls. I e-mailed her to let her know and have yet to receive a reply. Strike two and a half.

UPDATE: I’ve heard back from Sushi Tree, and the stuff in the Smoky Tofu roll isn’t cream cheese; it’s a thick miso mayo. And she’s working on revamping her mobile kitchen and reliable employees. I’m more than willing to give it another go.

Let’s hope this was just an off day for her and that things have smoothed out a bit. It’s crazy awesome that there’s a fishless sushi place here. It’s one of the things Tom and I talk about doing once our benefactor makes him/herself known to us and opens that bottomless satchel o’ cash—that and Vizza, our fantasy vegan pizza joint.

So there’s Day 1 of VeganMoFo. That means every weekday for the whole of October—or Rocktober, if you’re so inclined—you’ll see new content here. I may have some special theme days, like Remedial Mondays, where I look at basic stuff, aimed at the newly veg or the veg-curious. Not sure yet. Early days.

Not the prettiest truck and not the prettiest location, here in the SE industrial neighborhood, at 8th and Ankeny, you’ll find this all-vegan Mexican wonderland. Follow Your Heart cheese, Tofutti sour cream, Soy Curls, and Soyrizo, plus tofu come together to create authentic taqueria favorites. And at these prices, you don’t have to feel guilty for forgetting to pack a lunch.

That sounded like copywriting, didn’t it? Sorry. Just have a lot of information and was really impressed with the place. Plus, I just wrote my blurb for VeggieThing. Anyway, on to the photos!

Tom got the Soyrizo Nachos. He’d never had Soyrizo before, but he liked it. It just tasted spicy and felt like meaty taco fillin’ meat. As you can see, compared to his beefy arm holding the plate, this is huge. He failed to finish it. Also, it was tough to hold in his lap…probably would have been better to get it boxed to go.

I got a couple of tacos…for $3.25 total. The one on the left is an onion taco, and it’s just grilled onion (a ton), cilantro (a ton), and lime. So simple and so good—and so hefty. I used the second tortilla to create a second taco, not just for support or as a little extender or whatever you’re supposed to do with it. The one on the right is a regular taco with Soy Curls. Again, so good and so hefty. I had to grab a fork to finish whatever wouldn’t fit in the tortillas. What you don’t see under the mountain of Soy Curls, lettuce, tomato, and avocado is a thin layer of pintos and rice.

Here’s a quick shot of the menu. I know it’s not the best, but it does the job.

Some are trailers and some are like sheds. Some even have tables and chairs in front of them. And you can do your homework before heading out to the cart clusters so you know who you can trust and what’s going to be awesome. Food Carts Portland covers everything, including 38 listings (as of today) for vegan options. Also, Stumptown Vegans and VeganFabulous both cover carts in their dining-out blogs. 

Tom and I took a funday on Friday, and on a 9-mile circuit bike ride of all four Portland quadrants, we stopped for a bite to eat at the SW 10th carts. (By the way, every time I take my bike out I love Portland a little more.) Tom comes here pretty regularly, riding his bike or taking the Max from his office, so he knew exactly what he wanted.

This is a red curry from DNA Thai. The vegetables were really fresh, and there was a surprising amount of tofu in there. Plus they give you a free bottle of water. I tried the salad rolls, since they were huge and $3, but they turned out to be lettuce-and-rice noodle-with-a-sliver-of-tofu rolls, so about halfway through the first I realized I couldn’t go on and had to find something else.

That brought me to Ziba’s Pitas. I asked the woman in the cart what else was in the Tikvenica (zucchini pita)—it was marked “vegan,” but who knows what else could be in there, ya know? It’s just zucchini. Big chunks of zucchini are baked into this flaky bread. It was crazy fresh, still a little warm, and after I stole some salt from a Mexican cart, it was a super yummy treat. I really wanted to finish it, but no dice. Too much food. I’d say this would be great to split with someone if you supplemented it with a little snacky treat. 

I didn’t even mind that it was so crowded we ended up sitting on asphalt in a parking lot and had to brush gravelly bits off my butt when we got up.