Stumptown Vegans

Times Visited: 1

Another restaurant to take the omnivores, Dragonfish Asian Cafe is located in the Paramount Hotel near a slew of other omni-eateries, including another Pastini Pastaria. Honestly, Pastini has more vegan options than Dragonfish, but pasta can get old (Shh, I’m Italian) and sushi makes for a quick lunch.  The restaurant itself is slightly upscale but nothing special, with a lunch crowd that consists of tourists and local business people.

On a recent lunch with Veganfabulous, I was relieved to find that our waiter was extremely confident in regards to the vegan options. We stayed clear of the miso soup, no shock there, and onwards to the Veggie Ban Bento Box ($8.45) and a veganized Thai Coconut Curry. A small salad was served with our lunches instead of the standard soup. The salad had a spicy ginger dressing over lettuce and carrots. The spice was a pleasant and surprising change from sweeter ginger dressings you tend to experience. The bento box itself was large, adorable, and had the built-in feature of keeping my items separate. As a cilantro-hater, I subbed out the pre-made salad rolls for more sushi. My box also had peanut noodles with sorta grilled tofu cubes, peanut sauce, and a cucumber onion mixture.

The best part of the box was the peanut noodles.  With my normal suspicions about restaurant sauces, I was glad that my stomach felt fine throughout the day. The peanut sauce itself was a light and salty one, which coated the noodles well. I could have done without the tofu.   It was firm, plain, and there wasn’t much evidence of the ‘grilling’.  The cucumber in the side dish was cut into small, curved shapes.  It was refreshing, but as an onion-avoider, I found the red onion pairing too strong.  The sushi was simple vegetable rolls- cucumber, avocado & sprouts with the standard ginger, wasabi and soy sauce. If I had gotten the salad rolls, there would have been a decent amount of versatility in my box, not to mention more peanut sauce action.  I give Dragonfish credit for this.

I enjoy when sushi restaurants are willing to mix things up for vegans when it comes to sushi filling- and there weren’t many options for that here. The coconut curry was available vegan, with tofu subbed for chicken that happily made it cheaper than originally listed. It was described as being a coconut and green curry sauce over rice, but it was more stir fry than saucy entrée.

Both lunch items sent us home with leftovers for another meal, but neither completely satisfied.  Over $8 a piece, if I hadn’t had leftovers there would be a lot of more discontent in this review. No part of the bento box truly stands out besides the peanut noodles, which are just that.  If I find myself there again, it’ll be either for standard sushi, happy hour exploration, or a business lunch. The happy hour lists a ton of sakes, for those who are fans. If it’s during lunch, I would not order the entire bento box again; I’d opt for the peanut noodle salad minus the chicken, with hopefully some vegetables tossed in. Other vegan options include the basic edamame appetizer, salad rolls, vegetable sushi, veganizable salads and yakisoba noodles.

The only legitimate reason I would dine here again, or recommend it, is for omni-friendly, sushi-fan business, or social lunches, with heavier emphasis on the business side. Yes, it does have a pleasant environment, attentive staff, and will soon have a new park across the street, but there are so many more options for sushi, let alone a business lunch, available downtown. It was also a tad too busy to relax in, which you may or may not like to do at lunch. Talk your fellow diners into Habibi, or see if you do feel like pasta. I would not consider Dragonfish for dinner with what they offer vegans.  For sushi, check out Koji or Bush Gardens, and save yourself a few dollars.

Veggie Bento Box

Coconut Curry Tofu

Starter salad

Rating: 2.25 out of 5

Address: 909 SW Park Ave Portland, OR 97205
Hours: 6:30AM - 12:00AM Sun-Thur, 6:30AM - 1AM Fri-Sat

Times Visited: 3

Generally we shy away from reviewing burrito joints because:
1) burritos don’t differ too much from one another,
2) there are so many burrito options in Portland,
3) burritos really don’t photograph that well,
4) and, no other Portland burrito can be better than those offered at Los Gorditos.

So, why are we reviewing Mazatlan? Because they give the option of nopales (cactus) burritos!

That’s really the only thing to note about Mazatlan. It’s a different option from many of the other downtown burrito joints that also offer vegetarian beans. The restaurant is never a place I want to stay with the occasional sticky table and the temporary feeling of the white board menu.

Grab a quick, $5 burrito with some green, somewhat slimy, almost sour, soft bell pepper textured, roasted cactus, and take it to the park. Make sure to grab some hot sauce because the burrito can be on the mild side. I understand that’s not an attractive description of cooked cactus, but it is what it is and you might as well try it and see if you like this style of cactus. If you’re not feeling adventurous or are low on funds, grab $2 beans and chips or chips and salsa.

Nopales Burrito:

Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Address: 116 SW Pine St Portland, OR 97204-3521
Hours: Mon-Fri 9:30am-4pm

Times Visited: Many and many more to come!

So we’re reviewing Sweetpea’s all-you-can-eat-$10-brunch but we haven’t reviewed the bakery yet?!
What’s wrong with us? Well, we’ve been waiting for the dust to settle and the possible inclusion of a simple grab and go lunch menu. There’s also the problem that our current rating system only goes to 5 and Sweetpea Baking Company deserves its own rating system with the awesomeness of their sweets - cakes, cookies, doughnuts, danishes, and so on. Hell, Sweetpea sweets are on our Top 10 list in Herbivore Magazine, so you already know we dig ‘em.

The rumor of Sweetpea’s first $10 all you can eat brunch spread like wildfire across town and they sold out within a few hours! Never again - they are now prepared to take on the masses, and “mass” is definitely a word that goes well with “all you can eat buffet.”

All-you-can-eat buffets are unique dining experiences. They are often placed along the Interstate, near on and off ramps, and conjure up images of a stereo-typical American with the plate piled neck high with chicken wings. And even the food itself is stereo-typed - old, dry, and fatty.

Some people love them, and some people would rather visit the buffet line once and pay less. We happen to fall into the latter category, but love the idea none the less. Unlike our respective regular dining companions, we do not have hollow legs. We’re the type to take home leftovers (often for the companions), so any buffet isn’t going to be an everyday dining adventure - but finally, our partners have the chance to fill up on good vegan food at a reasonable price! With that, we welcome Sweetpea’s brunch with open arms, and mouths.

Sweetpea’s all-you-can-eat brunch offers a rotating menu which usually consists of: pancakes, biscuits, gravy, greens, tofu scramble, seitan, potatoes, an additional side, orange juice, and coffee. The bottomless juice and coffee make a good selling point for the price. The items in the bakery case are not part of the buffet, but can make a nice addition if you want a bagel smeared with bac-un and chive toffutti to accompany your meal.

The food is what you’d expect from a buffet - hit and miss. Depending on the time you visit the buffet, the pancakes you grab may be light and fluffy or a bit dry. The same holds true for biscuits. Both of these issues can be fixed by pouring on the delicious maple syrup or gravy. Either way, cover your food with the maple syrup and gravy! The maple syrup is real - no corn syrup here. The gravy is simple, creamy, and white, with a touch nutritional yeast for flavor. It was perfect for us with a touch more pepper added. Greens have been cooked perfectly and tossed with just the right amount of Braggs or left plain for your own sprinkling of nutritional yeast, hot sauce and salt. The collards and kale have been such a pleasant addition to the heavy items, thank you for thinking of our gut!

The scrambles have been simple: sans vegetables and with various special spices and turmeric, for color. The seitan has been inconsistent in texture but flavorful. Sometimes chewy, sometimes a bit lighter, but always a great addition. It is one of our favorite pieces of the buffet. The potatoes have been diced small and are nice and salty, but can be dry. Thankfully, there’s organic ketchup available for smothering. The grits have been simply seasoned with Earth Balance and salt. The texture has been much more like polenta because of the texture, which is fine, but our grit-loving friends couldn’t bear to hear them identified as such. We found ourselves using forks as opposed to spoons with these. Such is the life of buffet food.

The thing is, Sweetpea offers a simple savory brunch that tasted good and has something for everyone with their rotating operations. We love that we have the option of a set price, all-you-can-eat, vegan buffet. It has a great feel to it with the partial community seating and music on a Sunday morning. All-you-can-eat does lead to people sitting at their table a bit longer than normal, wondering if they can put more food in their face - we know we did our own first visits. Consider taking your plate outside as the weather gets nicer. We do wish we could pay $7 for a single plate of food to avoid over-stuffing ourselves again, and again. Good thing we have the options of a cinnamon roll, bagel with blended cream cheese, or even cake.

Compared to other vegan buffets in town, it’s at the top of the list. No question about it, there’s a ton of potential that’s already been untapped with a recent addition of peach crisp. Peach crisp! You should know that the highest quality offerings have been eaten before 10am, but that’s to be expected. Don’t be silly and expect the freshest food right before closing! Though, psst, we do hear the buffet sometimes goes half price right at the end!

This weekend brings Breakfast Tacos - including jackfruit! Also, look forward to new donuts coming soon featuring Jelly Doughnuts and Maple Bars!

Buffet:

Plate from week #2:

More Brunch:

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Address: 1205 SE Stark St. Portland, OR 97214
Hours: M-F 7am-8pm, Sat. & Sun. 9am-8pm

Wednesday and Saturdays are doughnut days!

Hello! We’d like to interrupt this string of Portland restaurant reviews to bring you some breaking news:

We’ve started new adventures in life with podcasts! Join us as we talk about food. Let us know what you think, but be nice - we’re shy and trying to get used to the mic.

Check the new podcast link at the top of the page, as we will be adding new podcasts once a month (or two).