Now, maybe  it’s the bits of Spring weather that are now confidently poking through the rainfall, maybe it’s the obsessive VVC II planning mode, maybe it was finally getting over my odd bouts of earache-induced vertigo recently and leaving the house, and definitely, some really inspiring Thai cuisine on SE Hawthorne and taking up a farmers market opening weekend countdown…..no matter what, it’s led me to smile, nod, snap pictures and share some recent Portlanding of my own.

“No one will ever believe us”

Baked beans with jalapeno soy curls, shoestring fries, perfect sauce and v. ranch at White Owl Social Club

Late frost in Ladd’s Addition (aka a Portland blizzard warning)

The last menu at Langano Lounge

Walking to Hawthorne

Within Forest Park

Impromptu wine tasting at the Southeast Wine Collective

Overlooking NW Industrial land

Leaving Forest Park

Lunch at Chiang Mai is so legit

An afternoon scene in Clinton

Behind the scenes for Vida Vegan Con II at PAM

No commentary necessary.

Awaiting Tofu Scramble Migas at Juniors

Steak & Cheese from D.C. Veg. A sandwich that comes with instructions.

Valentine’s Day display at the Central Library

This is grand.

An indication of almost-Spring around these parts

Inspiration for a now-complete young coconut caramel. More to come.

The first stop on my Stumptown Vegans pho chay tour: Emily’s on SE Division (a work in progress)

Pho tour, stop #2: Pho Van on SE Hawthorne

Wandering SE Powell

Chloe’s Cinnamon Mocha Cupcakes, inspired presentation by J. Legume

Sometimes presentation is about risk-taking

Adventure in SW: Barbur World Foods shopping

Pickled daikon and carrots for future banh mi chay-making

,

Cat life

More SE Portland Thai love: Pad Kee Mao at My Thai, another go-to

My first first bitters: the Mansion Jar elixir

Towards Division

Non-shockingly the most photographed part of Bazi Bierbrasserie

…in conclusion, for all my complaining about its bagels, there are countless reasons I have lived in Portland for a near decade.

Of course, my weekly happy hour group of native Portlanders (really) and long-timers would probably want you to know that the only people who talk about watching Portlandia are those who have recently moved here, or were encouraged by the show. And VooDoo Doughnuts. But, guilty pleasure or not, there’s real Portlandy (another one) life in there, trust me.

*In 2009, local businesses, restaurants and carts were *just* beginning to use Twitter, and a few friends and I enjoyed a ridiculous week of living on the edge and attempting to only dine at those businesses who were tweeting. How time flies.

A few years ago, when I first visited a Veggie Grill in Irvine, CA, I never imagined I’d one day see a location take over a prime Carl’s Jr location in downtown, Portland – just next door to my then office building. I suppose I thought of it as this crazy California-vegan bubble, which to be fair, was different from my own, in Portland. Fast forward, and here they are. As vegan living and dining enter the mainstream elsewhere, Veggie Grill has become it own vegan Portland mainstay, in a community whose awareness has certainly reached out and garnered attention on its own already. Bubble this, bubble that!

Like the Beaverton locale, the brand new Veggie Grill has opened up smack dab in the middle of another suburban hell, I mean, shopping center (Tanasbourne Village), and while it’s a commute for those of us in metro area – again, we do have one downtown – it’s a vegan fast casual restaurant that’s taken the place of another awful meat-dependent chain, and will certainly open the eyes of some curious sixteen year olds and their parents, alike. And more. With its familiar yet revolutinary menu, Veggie Grill makes room for even more plant-based options and success (and understanding) in family homes and restaurants, all over.

And now, the food:

The lights beckon…

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Behold, B-Wing Salad

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Chill Out Wings

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Booth-side

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Huzzah

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Tempeh-hey-hey

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Bali Bliss Burger with Blackened Tempeh

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Finale

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…with pudding so good, you can make it through a suburban parking lot.

Disclaimer: This Veggie Grill sneak peek was a complimentary, special invite dinner. I’ve come to like them a lot and wanted to share the experience, especially for those who live or work in the Hillsboro area.

Check out the full Veggie Grill menu here.

Somehow, someway, I didn’t make it out to A.N.D. Cafe, one of Portland’s newer vegetarian spots, until last month. When it comes to brunch, which is currently the main focus at the all-vegetarian and just-as-vegan-friendly spot on East Burnside & 54th, I like to have my options within a 10-minute walking radius. It’s a laid back affair that I’m not very likely to cross town for; I can barely remember the last time I brunched at Blossoming Lotus. I welcomely get stuck in the SE Portland Juniors and Jam vortex, for better and worse, with some Portobello thrown in for good measure (I’m going to forget Hungry Tiger Too, really, my last meal there was dismal).

Anywhoo, I had been meaning to check out A.N.D. Cafe, the sit-down, weekend spot from Off The Griddle’s owners, Ashley and Dan, since its opening, but with short hours, only so many brunch outings in my busy life and that whole not-in-my-neighborhood thing, it was put on delay until a wild day J. Legume and I were running massive, rent-a-car worthy errands, and it was at the top of our destination brunch list.

Photos from the very cozy eatery and our lovely meal at the windowsill bar are below – and I’m happy to share that those hours, the location, and both businesses are seemingly expanding with the potential success of the A.N.D./Off the Griddle special merger Kickstarter campaign.

The solar-powered veggie burger cart is now closed while plans commence, while the cafe remains open.You can check out the menu online and keep your eyes peeled for the daily specials while you’re there, which my friends rave about. My new-found treenut allergies limited my selections, but I am so looking forward to ordering whatever the waffle special is next time I’m there.

Crispy Tempeh Bacon

Half-order biscuits & gravy – I only wish there was even more kale

Jules’ hearty brunch, the Bella Vita Italian sandwich

Like I said, it was a lovely time.

I hope there’s a congrats in store soon!

Next stop, the Lents Farmers Market

The day also included a new chair find from Deseret Industries.

Mr. Huxley

Portlanding! is a weekly feature during VeganMoFo, October 2012, on Get Sconed! These posts are not official reviews, they are simply experiences and locales I’m enthusiastically sharing and documenting.

Photo credit: thestreet.com

Early last month, I just may have used two almost-birthdays as an excuse to finally experience Departure’s new (to us) Pan-Asian, vegan-friendly happy hour offerings. The real kicker was their bao-sampling during IFBC’s opening night, local restaurant exhibiting the week before. For all of the vegans attending, it was our first actual meal of the day, and Departure’s option were among the very best of the night. True story, years before, Janessa and I had attempted to hold an Exquisite dinner there and the proposal crumbled (and to my understanding, this was under different management), so I admit, I held some resentment…something to gladly be proven wrong, when I heard about the rise of swanky vegan options. This was all, however, before the debut of a specialty vegan menu and two years of upscale, Summer’s End vegan dinners from acclaimed chef Gregory Gourdet. And at this special happy hour, I was, certainly, without a doubt, and with several vegan and non-vegan friends in tow (both cheap and picky), proven fabulously otherwise. I’ve had plenty of vegan sushi in Portland and elsewhere, but the experience had never been so…chic.

Let’s continue onto the fifteenth floor of the Nines, and get our exquisite vegan sushi and BBQ tempeh-stuffed bun on….

Greens & Seeds Roll. This nooch-topped sushi was our table’s favorite.

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Savoury Grilled Shiitake Roll.

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Toothy dim sum alert: Korean BBQ Tempeh Buns

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Successful conning of friends to hold happy hour in a well lit location…

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New Arrival with Prosecco, Cassis, Veev Acai & Citrus

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Vegetable Udon Noodles.

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Mojito-style Mocktail, while Jeff looks on and Maeve instagrams

Consider me impressed.

The next time you have vegan-friendly, cocktail-appreciating guests in town you’d like to wow (and you know, Portobello’s booked or closed for the night) you know where to go.

It’s the growing chain that offers more than just novelty – Veggie Grill boasts the delicious normalization of vegan food in mainstream America.

Most importantly, the Veggie Grill in legitimate downtown Portland is NOW OPEN. The sneak peaks were held last week, and the very grand opening just happens to be today, June 6th, 2012. As usual, the location is shiny and new and sending countless people home with bellies full of soy chicken burgers and kale every single day. That’s what you really need to know.

Mac-N-Cheese and much more ahead…

I would say I became a Veggie Grill fanatic back in January, when sure, they invited myself and a few other Portland area food bloggers for a weekend tasting event down in Los Angeles. I had stopped by for a meal here and there on past visits to the area, and I enjoyed it, but the devotion was official while sampling nearly every thing they offered, including knife & fork items that were recently developed, while meeting the founders and head chefs. I had returned from a month-long escapade to Southeast Asia mere days before, and looking back, I realize their American vegan cuisine could not have come into my life at a better time. I remember people asking me if there was anything I had missed, vegan wise, while spending a month expanding my life and culinary horizons, and the only thing that came to mind was nooch sauce and seitan tenders. Cue nachos. Cue tenders.

Most recently, I’ve had the pleasure – the tasty, tasty pleasure, of attending two Veggie Grill events in the past couple of weeks.

Let’s start with the most recent, the sneak peek of the much-awaited downtown Portland locale on SW Taylor & 5th.

finally.

Janessa’s Thai Chickin’ Salad

Without a doubt, my new favorite item is the B-Wing Salad, with Buffalo glazed wings and creamy ranch dressing.

All Hail Kale Salad, Bayou Chickin’ Sandwich. All Veggie Grill chickin’ is a Gardein-ish substance, which trust me, tastes way better than that sounds.

Near definitive Veggie Grill Feasting ™

The gluten-free Urban Plate, featuring an entire portobello mushroom on top of tempeh and caramelized onions.

Uptown Nachos: an easy favorite

Veggie Grill offers both beer and root beer

A week or two before the downtown opening, Michele, Janessa and myself traveled all the way to Beaverton for a new menu items tasting. The things we do for Veggie Grill access! We were joined by Kristin, from Beaverton-based blog Our Ordinary Life, for a family style debut of B-wing Salad, VG Rollers, the Blackened Chickin’ Plate, “Crab” Cakes and a couple of other dishes we’d been fortunate enough to have a sneak peek of back in January. Bring it on.

Behold, a sign of great hope in the suburbs. How much better is this than a TGI Friday’s or a Subway?!? At least 200x.

On-wards.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Serious preparation

Once again, more glorious Veggie Grill Feasting ™ lays ahead…

My adorable VVC cohorts and fellow Veggie Grill enthusiasts, Michele & Janessa. Appropriately hiding behind a menu.

Another brand new item: VG Roller, spicy tortilla bites with blackened chickin’, cabbage & zesty Santa Fe spread.

Also new, the “Crab” Cake with tartar sauce. Intriguingly chickin’ of the sea-like.

Time to bring on the kale – the Blackened Chickin’ Plate, one of the newer homestyle, fork & knife  plates on the menu.

Instant classic?  The Crispy Chickin’ Plate with cauliflower mashed potatoes and porcini gravy. Don’t you just want to cover it in nooch?

Another encore: The Urban Plate

I can’t get enough! This was first time trying the B-Wing Salad. I even brought one home for my girlfriend. She’s had it twice new, and declares it “the best thing on the menu. Obviously”. I concur.

Ed Casey insisted we try their staff-inspired Mac-N-Cheese paired with the bonus spoonfuls of basil & garlic pomodoro and pesto. I’m glad that Michele was there to remind me about my silly little nut allergy and I stuck to the pomodoro with my mac – delish!

VGF™ in progress

Michele liked the crab cake so much she went for a full order. Nice.

Ah, dessert. The new chocolate pudding parfait awaits.

Tah dah! Digesting with Janessa.

Hold up, carrot cake.

Til we meet again, Veggie Grill!

As in…tonight, for dinner.

Full disclaimer: All dishes featured in this post were courtesy of Veggie Grill.

Communal breakfast caffeination at Wandering Goat. Photo by J. Legume

It looks me nine years of dwelling in the Pacific Northwest, one quick train ride, and the encouragement of two sisters, but I finally made it to Eugene for the weekend recently. The break included sunshine, strolls, Lane County farmers market, vegan food, frolicking at the top of Skinner Butte, soy lattes, TMNT: The Secret of the Ooze, and the charming company of the Sisters Legume.

Everything I’d heard about Eugene seemed to be true: it was scenic, it was cozy, it was much closer than I thought, there were lots of bikes, interesting pizza, cute vegetarian carts and the breeze often carried a delightful combination of nutritional yeast and pot. It reminded me of weekend trips to Northampton, MA during my college years.

After a late night arrival, we started the weekend bright and early at the Wandering Goat coffeeshop. We quickly moved on to the second order of business: picking up treats for later at Sweet Life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard friends who’ve been to Eugene debate Sweet Life vs. Sweetpea, it’s ridiculous. Just bring on the pastries!

Inside the box: cinnamon roll, salted caramel cupcake and blueberry fritter

The verdict on the box from Sweet Life Patisserie:  I appreciated the dark (perhaps, black cocoa powder?) chocolate cake of the cupcake with bites of the rich, coconut & brown sugar-tinged salted caramel frosting. It made me realize how many bakeries must use cheap cocoa powder – the difference here was apparent. The blueberry fritter was more like a soft scone, which wasn’t up my alley, and while I didn’t try the cinnamon roll, J. Legume found it to be  a “fine cinnamon roll”, but ” a struggle” to devour. So darling.

Once we had consumed and breathed in enough sugar for the morning, we stopped at the downtown farmers market to take in some greens.

Raab perusal break at the farmers market

It would be another week before I had a chance to visit the Portland Farmers Market since it’d reopened for the Spring, and my local green-seeking-radar was going crazy. It had been so long since I could purchase raab without a plastic tag. So, so long.

Choi samplin'. This booth has tasty sesame seed-based mixes for sale.

In addition to a beautiful bunch of gai lan for a Bryant Terry recipe, I picked up sun-dried tomatoes, buckwheat pancake flour, Dakota black kernel popcorn and garlic.

Spotted on our stroll along the river: this is how we do it.

For a legitimate lunch, we stopped by vegan food cart-turned-adorable dinerette, Cornbread Cafe.

Since moving to Oregon in 2004, I've sipped from many a mason jar. It took a year to get over the nonsensical horror.

Counter-style seating at Cornbread Cafe

Why does one go to Cornbread Cafe? Why, vegan comfort food. Shout it out style: VEGAN COMFORT FOOD.

Just look at this menu, full of cruelty free country classics.

My new, bizarro cashew allergies withheld the gravy and cheese sauce options (and the d-cheese does not appeal to me), but I was incredibly satisfied with my plate, so who cares?

I don’t, and will continue to tell myself this (alright, again and again), return, and chomp into more crunchy-coated Southern Fried and Buffalo style tofu, after which, I will one day try the Shredded BBQ Seitan and Chicken Fried Tempeh.

Basically, I’m already penciling in a second visit on my next trip to Eugene, unless the Garbanzo Grill cart catches my attention first. We can share.

Such vegan wonders from such a small-ish city! That’s the Northwest for ya.

Pictured: Southern Fried Tofu, jalapeno cornbread with Earth Balance, Uncle Todd's sauteed baby spinach, BBQ sauce and mashed potatoes - hold the gravy.

Sisters A. Legume & J. Legume

For dinner, we picked up a pizza from a place I’d heard both raves & a few whines about through the years, PRI: the Pizza Research Institute.

Admittedly, I decided to bypass the famous peach and pear topped ‘zas once I heard they were canned fruit, which is silly, since the pineapple and jalapeno party below was the same case, and it was March.  We built our own pie, and while the tangy, miso cheese sauce took some time to set, it was a welcome change from processed shreds. The toppings, however, overloaded the chewy crust. That being said, I’d return to try out a peach slice and a pint of ale. There’s no way around it. Plus, any pizza is better pizza when paired with costumed turtles.

Pizza with red sauce, vegan cheese sauce, spinach, jalapeno, pineapple and herbs.

Cowabunga, Eugene – til we meet again.

The view from Skinner Butte