Stumptown Vegans

Date: May 11, 2007
Times Visited: 1

Personally, I’m not a fan of store-bought ‘meaty’ veggie burgers. I prefer patties that are chock full of vegetables, or just roasted or grilled veggies on my toasted bun.  It’s not often you come across a great housemade veggie burger that is actually vegan, and Bridgeport Ale House offers one more unique patty to the mix.

Located on SE Hawthorne Blvd, Bridgeport Ale House features much of what many people love about Portland - a ‘neighborhood’ vibe, historic building, veg*n options, affordable prices and microbrews! Note that their beers are also produced without isinglass, hence the beer sampler delight below. My dining partner and I both enjoyed the housemade vegan white bean burger, served with chips or a side salad, for dinner; as well as a rustic herbed potato appetizer. Although the patty itself is softer than it appears, overall it’s very good, wih the pleasing flavor of white beans.

Also on the burger is a mellow, almost sweet tomato spread, and sliced avocado. The tomato spread is an appreciated departure from flavorless tomatoes. While we were there, we noticed other vegan burgers being served elsewhere, so clearly they’ve got something right.  The potato appetizer is also a happy hour special, and although not originally vegan on the menu (aioli), we simply had to mention we were vegan for it to be altered. The beer sampler we shared featured 7 microbrews. From pale ales to porters, it was a range of delectable brews.

Although not somewhere I’d frequent, this place has regulars, and I would go back again, especially with omnivores. Their spring menu is currently available, and hopefully the summer will bring another vegan option or two.

White Bean burger and kettle chips

Rustic herbed potatoes

Beer sampler

Rating: 3 out of 5
Address: 3632 SE Hawthorne Blvd Portland, OR 97214
Mon-Thu 11:30am-11pm, Fri 11:30am-12am, Sat 9am-12am, Sun 9am-10pm

May 24, 2007
Times visited: 1

Bosnian Pita is nothing like the pita you may be thinking of. It’s a vegetable or other filling wrapped in a flaky pastry dough, rolled out almost like a pretzel. Luckily there was one vegan item on the menu, it was even marked “vegan,” so I could try my first Bosnian food.

Most of the pitas offered contained eggs, dairy and meats but the vegan pita was simple: chopped zucchini, maybe a light seasoning all rolled around thin dough, like phyllo. The pita was very greasy as if it was fried, but fried at an earlier time because it didn’t taste too fresh. There wasn’t much flavor to the pita, which can be nice to be able to taste the vegetable, but it wasn’t enough flavor for a $4.75 a la carte meal for me. I questioned if there was butter in it because of the saltiness. None the less, it was good, but not shockingly good. The meal was a nice change to my normal lunch spots but it won’t be a place I am rushing to get back to.

Zucchini Pita

Rating: 3/5
Location: Northwest corner of Southwest 9th Avenue and Southwest Alder Street
Hours: Monday- Saturday 10:30 am-4:30 pm

March 9, 2007
Times Visited: Too numerous to count.

One of my top three food carts downtown - No Fish Go Fish. At first I was hesitant about this place - being vegan and reading the title, I didn’t get it. Is it all vegetarian? Where do they prepare the sandwiches in that little cart? I still have no idea what the title means, but I love their soups and “sandwiches.”

Let me start with the soups. They create 3 soups for the day and always have at least one vegan soup available. Being a person with many food allergies I find it very refreshing that not only can I check to see what the soups are that day or week on their website, but they also provide a list of ingredients! And if for some reason I forgot to check before I head out the door, John always knows what’s in his soups and what’s vegan.

On to the sandwiches. Think: Palm sized corn bread with delecious fillings in the shape of a cute fish! You’ll need two of these with a cup of soup to get filled up properly. That works out well because that’s the lunch special - $5 for 16 oz. of hearty soup and two fish shaped sandwiches of your choice. To make the sandwiches John pours corn batter onto little fish forms on a large Korean cast iron cook, puts some fillings on top, them more batter, closes each container and cooks them over flame until golden brown. The fillings range from your choice from Curry Vegetable, Bean and Salsa, Black Olive with Basil & Garlic. The non vegan ones are: Spinach & Feta, Tomato & Mozzarella, Cheddar, Ham & Cheese, just to name a few. There store on Hawthorne has many more options, including dessert options with an apple cinnamon vegan option! The store menu is larger than the cart menu and will receive a proper review at a different time.

The food is priced right for lunch and after 10 lunch specials, the 11th is free. My favorite soup is the Dal and my favorite fish are the curry vegetable.

Lunch Special - Potato Spinach Coconut Soup with two Vegetable Curry Sandwiches

Rating: 4 out of 5
Address: The cart on 5th and Yamhill or check out their restaurant 3962 SE Hawthorne
Hours: 11:30-2pm

Date: April 13, 2007
Times Visited: 5

Vegan Gamers, Rejoice!

A few months back, I heard about a new vegan and vegetarian menu at Backspace Cafe, an internet cafe, art gallery and gaming spot downtown. It’s a bit of a long walk for me to go for lunch, and I already have a default coffeeshop, Red & Black cafe, so I didn’t prioritize my visit. However, once I had read the online menu after hearing a glowing review from a friend, I had to go. You see, the menu features multiple field roast sandwiches, a grilled tofu sandwich, vegan Hot Lips pizza, quesadillas and perhaps best of all - no substitution price for vegan cheez!

My dining partner and I both ordered the ‘Steak’ sandwich on my second visit. Served on baguette, it contains pepperocini, wild mushroom field roast, grilled onions & peppers with rosemary and basil vegenaise. First off, if you haven’t tried field roast yet, give it a go! It’s based out of Seattle, and is not meant to be a ‘bologna’ substitute, but a herb, vegetarian and grain based variation on seitan. It’s something that’s featured on many Seattle menus, but I can’t think of anywhere else in Portland that offers this.

Back to the sandwich: though I had mine without onions and my partner left the pepperocini off of his, we were both immensely satisfied by this meal. Every bite of this sandwich is flavorful - tangy, savoury, herby, and on great bread - even at $7, I could not ask for more. We also shared an order of the basic cheez quesadillas ($3.50). If you’re not one for soy cheese (Follow Your Heart, I think in this case), you may want to skip it, or at least upgrade to the black beans and spinach variation. However, if you’re into soy cheese, don’t pass these up. They’re cheap, melty, filling and the salsa is just spicy enough.

I think the food is top notch for a cafe, the atmosphere is nice and spacious, plus there are multiple boards games as well as computer stations, yet I have one issue with Backspace - I’ve gone 4 times now, and there is always quite a wait for food. At a cafe, you might not expect to wait 20+ minutes for your sandwich, so it’s something to keep in mind. -JD

The Hot Lips Pizza is “single serving” (though it was two pieces too many for me) pizza cooked on site. The pizza changes daily but I was lucky enough to have one packed full of roasted garlic (almost a full bulb) caramelized onions, fancy mushrooms and other wonderful flavors. The price of the single ingredients of the pizza were well worth the $9 price. On top of that we were in an entertaining cafe with Stumptown Coffee, Viso and other great Portland drinks.

My favorite sandwich by far is the sausage and pepper sandwich, minus peppers. They use Field Roast apple sage sausage, cut in half and cover with grilled onions (and peppers if you swing that way). It was so tasty that even my animal-sausage-loving dining companion was impressed by the taste. The sandwich alone was $7, a true deal for such expensive, tasty vegan sausage.

It’s important to note that Backspace neighbor, Someday Lounge, has similar choices in food options. -WB

EDIT:

The backspace menu is Seasonal and may change. The 2007 Summer menu includes The Grinder and the Club, plus many more.

Vegan Jack and Cheddar Cheez Quesidilla with salsa verde

Steak Sandwich with Pepperocini, minus the onions

Steak Sandwich minus the Pepperocini

Sausage and Pepper Sandwich, minus the peppers:

The Grinder

NEW - Club Vegan

NEW - The Caesar with Spinach

NEW - BBQ Setain Wrap

Rating: 4 out of 5
Address: 115 NW 5th St. Portland, OR
Food Served Daily, 11am - 11pm