In my opinion, there are two titans of the vegan “fast/casual” restaurant market: Veggie Grill and Native Foods.
Fortunately for us vegans, they both take a different approach on their food so we truly get to enjoy the strengths of each.
Bright and light, the interiors of NFC are always inviting.
Veggie Grill uses purchased meat analogs where Native Foods makes all their own stuff. Both options are great, but with Native Foods you can enjoy food that you just can’t make at home. Another plus? Native Foods has ventured further inland than VG, with locations in places like Boulder, Washington D.C., and Chicago.
There was a study (er, an article I saw on the internet, so it MUST be true) that there is a certain color of red that instinctively makes humans hungry.
Think about one fast food brand that does not have this same red in it: McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Jack in the Box, Carl’s Jr., In ‘N Out, etc.
It just so happens that the vegan meatballs at Brass Tacks are the EXACT same red. That must be the reason I am drooling like a Pavlov dog each time I walk into the place.
Their meatballs bring all the boys to the yard. Damn right, they’re better than yours.
Brass Tacks is in a non-descript building facing Vancouver at Fremont. The interior is austere and a bit cold, attributed mostly to the huge glass windows along the front that make for great people watching.
Hmmm Dovetail must be operating under a secret bunker somewhere in Alberta. How are they still making cookies!?
While BT is very accommodating and knowledgeable about veganism, they do serve meat, so keep an eye out on the menu.
But what a menu.
What the menu lacks in quantity (there are 4 options + 1 special), Brass Tacks makes up for in quality. The white bean meatballs are housemade, and they are some of the best I have ever had. The housemade “ham” is also amazing.
4 vegan items and 4 meat!? WE TIE!
I have yet to try the Salamigeddon, as the word “spicy” scares off this New Englandah. Their new Curry Chicken Salad will be my next choice for sure. But those meatballs are just amazing and I find it hard to order anything else.
Melanie tried the Velveeta Underground along with the potato salad, claiming to love both. The sammy looked really good, but paled in the sloppy beauty of my meatball sub. I tried the potato salad and it was good, but I am not a huge potato salad fan, so take my criticism with a grain of salt. Or paprika, as there was a metric ton of it on the salad.
Velveeta Underground, sans Velveeta. Or ground.
Brass Tacks is an in-and-out place with not much in the way of comfort. But that is part of the allure of the joint. It’s utilitarian yet the kraft paper tray liners harken back to a 1940s lunch bell place, where lunch was scarfed and you went back to riveting the bridge together before your 20 mile uphill walk back home to milk the cows.
Not sure who Lou or Neil are, but how do you get your own cup at this place?
And that is why Brass Tacks will be on my fav lunch spot list along with the Veggie Grills, Homegrowns, and DC Veg’s of the world. They offer enough difference to make it awesome. In Portland, no two lunches are ever created equal.
I still make the choo-choo noise every time I eat.
Next time you are craving a great, hearty lunch that is relatively inexpensive and delicious, hit up Brass Tacks.
There is a small, obscure, sea-foam green food cart tucked into the corner of the Mississippi cart pod. To the untrained eye, it is yet another cart slinging hipster chow. To the vegans of Portland, it is a shining beacon of real-deal, home-smoked, vegan BBQ.
The little cart that can. And does.
And it is amazing.
I have been a fan of Homegrown Smoker (HGS) since they had a spot down in SW Portland. Ever since those early days, Homegrown has been a pinnacle of the vegan scene in Portland and is one of my Top 5 spots in the US.
My favorite used to be the Loafaroni, a “meat”loaf sandwich made up of a slathering of BBQ sauce, a heaping scoop of mac no cheese, meatloaf, and two buttered, crispy buns. It is still my favorite, but I accidentally read the fat content of the Field Roastmeat loaf they use, and well….the nutrition facts were a little startling. Even for vegan food, it was a little “rich.”
Slow Smo Mo Fo with a side of Mac.
HGS also revised their menu and the Loafaroni took a bit of a sabbatical. During that time I became pretty enamored with the SlowSmoMoFo, a BBQ sandwich of seasoned soy c urls, cole slaw and maple bourbon BBQ sauce. Order it with a side of Mac no Cheese and you have a winner.
The menu at HGS is a collection of southern-esque BBQ fare; with offerings such as the Carolina Chicken Sandwich (BBQ and Beyond Meat together in a sammy), Smoked Tempeh Burger, Sweet Potato Fries, and a Combo Platter.
The menu at HGS.
The menu has a decent variety of food for the regulars, but the specials are really where the tough decisions need to be made.
With specials like “Another Good Burrito” (A grilled wheat tortilla filled with psstrami, sweet potato fries, Daiya, Mac No Cheese, Broccoli, Grilled Peppers, onions and mellow yellow sauce) and the “Buff Burrito” (Tempeh Facon, smoked Beyond Meat, Buff Sauce, Mac no Cheese, french fries, tomato, raw greens, and creamy ranch), it can often be hard to choose your lunch.
Today’s special: The Buff Burrito.
There really aren’t any complaints with HGS. Their food is top notch, vegan BBQ comfort food. Their hours can be a bit flimsy, but that is to be expected with a food cart operation. If you are traveling in from a distance, be sure they are open (the cart life seems to be plagued with closures for many issues).
My personal goal is to try more of their options, and not the same ol’ slow smo mo fo. Honestly, though it is really hard when you have an absolute favorite!
Homegrown Smoker is a pillar of the vegan food scene in Portland. I hope one day to see them mature out of the cart and into something more permanent…so I can sleep better at night.
Portland is just like B-Town, except we have mass transit. And more people. And more bikes. And, sadly, much more vegan stuff.
I have been so frustrated when visiting my old mother land, as the vegan options are so, so hard to find.
But there, on the horizon, Stone Soup shines for all the wayward vegans searching for something deelish to eat.
Looking out into Burlington’s snowy, frosty streets from the warmth of Stone Soup.
Stone Soup is my personal Mecca when it comes to chowing down in this small city, and on this visit I could not wait to get my grub on.
The ambiance is always warm and inviting. While lunch seating can be a real challenge, later meals offer a lot more room to stretch out. While their menu is not all vegan (they even serve meat), they are VERY accommodating and everything is well marked. The staff is intelligent about veganism and always aims to please.
They have a series of pre-baked goodies from cookies and scones, to muffins and crisps. Most everything has a vegan option, but the selection for us egg and milk free folks is much smaller. Plus, I would LOVE a vegan blueberry muffin here, they always seem to have odd, complex vegan muffin choices.
A nice selection of vegan baked goods. I am still waiting for an amazing blueberry muffin!
You have two primary options when it comes to your meal – choose and build you own plate from the hot bar (which seems to always change based on seasonal offerings) or an old time standard from the chalkboard menu behind the counter.
Vegan and non-vegan options united!
Last time, I built my own plate but the price was pretty steep. As it goes by weight ($10+ per pound) you may want to skip the rice and other staples, and focus on the new and exciting offerings.
Salad bar is fresh and clean.
When it comes to ordering off the board, I can never afford to deviate from one of the best vegan reubens I have ever had. Their “Seitan Reuben” is made of thinly sliced (and ever so slightly crispy-on-the-edges) seitan that is perfectly seasoned. The vegan cheese offeres a nice creaminess to the whole sammy, but it can get messy. So grab a stack of napkins.
Quite possibly, one of the best vegan reubens. #notkidding
What good is an amazing vegan meal without some dessert? I opted for the Strawberry-peach crisp on this cold 15 degree day. It was warmed in the oven and tasted absolutely brilliant. The oat topping really gives it some heft, as my sister wasn’t able to finish her helping (easy enough for me to lend assistance).
“I wonder how much for the whole bowl” I thought to myself. But only ate a cup.
We ended our meal with a cup of coffee and some great conversation.
If in Burlington, be sure to make Stone Soup a stop. Leave yourself enough time to try a bunch of their goodies, and take some for the road. And just maybe they will have a vegan blueberry muffin waiting at the counter.
Bellevue has a surprising number of vegan-friendly places, and when all goes South you can always count on Whole Foods.
But there is a certain “must go” spot on the map that beckons from afar: Araya’s Vegetarian Place.
This sign beckons people all the way from Portland!
I have only been there for lunch (but on many occasions) and the lunch buffet is absolutely amazing.
One of the most beautiful things at Araya’s (besides the awesome decor) is the massive, always-full tub o’ Pad Thai. It is piping hot, perfectly flavored, and you NEVER have to worry about fish sauce!
The Pad Thai is deelish.
The egg(free) rolls are the bomb, their rices are always fresh and deelish. The salad bar, while I never tried it, looks awesome as well.
Endless supply of Egg Rolls!
The service there is mild (it is a buffet after all) but super friendly and accommodating.
The inside is cozy and clean.
The only down side is the parking situation. At lunch time, the tiny parking lots on each side of the building will be full, which leaves you parking across the way and crossing a very busy street. But that is my only qualm.
The Salad Bar
Next time you are in Bellevue, be sure to hit up Araya’s!
In the meantime, how about more food porn!?
Rice and veggies on the bar.More veggies and food!
Lunch one day at A.N.D. in Portland and Dinner at Wayward in Seattle!? It’s a vegan race up I-5 in this week’s restaurant review double header!
This was my second visit to Wayward Vegan Cafe, located in Seattle’s vegan mecca of University Way.
When you first pull up, the outside leaves a little to be desired, looking pretty run down and sandwiched between a couple of sketchy bars. And, honestly the inside, while clean, is not much better.
But, once you are over the austere decor, you are in for some truly delicious vegan chow!
Wayward Vegan offers more healthy choices, but each time I go, I find myself opting for a more “junk” food experience. It is also really cool that you can order breakfast or lunch all day.
The first time I visited, I ordered the “Mac Daddy” which is essentially a vegan Big Mac. Their menu describes it as “Two no beef patties, reuben sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun.” It was pretty awesome to eat something so vegan and so bad for you.
The Mac Daddy
I also ordered the peach cobbler which quite honestly was not really that good. The nuclear fuel rod temperature it came out at might have had something to do with it, as it was waaaay over warmed. After letting it cool for a long time, I had a couple of bites and left the rest for the compost.
The super hot peach cobbler.
On my second visit I was starving. I had just raced the clock, trying to make it by 9:00PM (closing time). I asked the person taking my order what their most popular thing was, and ordered it. I waited in eagerness while my food was delivered.
It was a beautiful vegan club sammy!
This puppy was huge. Full of tempeh bacon, ham and turkey, on buttered bread, it was also really filling and probably not that good for me.
The Vegan Club Sandwich
The Club was pretty good. The tempeh was not very bacony (which may or may not be a good thing for some) and I found it overall just lacking some flavor. It was still yummy, but surprisingly missing something.
For dessert I ordered the Oreo Cheesecake and it was really good. Not as firm as some of the better cheesecakes I have had, but still tasty and fresh.
Oreo Cheesecake!!
The Wayward Vegan Cafe is a good place to stop for some really “good” junk food. I will most likely check it out once a year or so on my visits to Seattle, but not more than that.
As many people know, brunching in Portland is something of an olympic sport. It is part of our heritage, much like good espresso, grey Winter days, and cold craft beer. And, just like never owning an umbrella, people have come to look at standing in a long line as something that actually defines a true Portlander.
So, when you can find an amazing vegan brunchery (not a word until just now) with not much of a wait, it is like the heavens have opened up and a thousand angels are singing.
This sign beckons me in my dreams. Is that creepy?
A.N.D. Cafe rarely has a long line of hungry souls, but that is not due to the food, atmosphere, or service. I tend to think it is due to being “farther out” on Burnside than most fixie riders are willing to go.
Let them have the Screen Doors and Tin Sheds of the World. We’ll fill up the Jeep and barrel her down Burnside for some of the best vegan food Portland has to offer.
A.N.D. Cafe is, by default vegan. However, upon request, vegetarians and omnis can elect to have eggs and dairy cheese subbed.
Let’s talk food.
I cannot recommend enough, anything with their walnut meat loaf. My personal fav is the Meatloaf Benedict, but the sammy is great also. On their menu, the MB is defined as “herb tofu or two poached eggs, walnut meatloaf, hollandaise, toast.”
Meatloaf Benedict
The Florentine waffle is an amazing choice, with chicken (Beyond Meat), gravy, scrambled tofu, hollandaise, and tomatoes. It also is stuffed with cheese (I’m thinking Daiya) and spinach.
The Waffle Florentine
Just today I tried the Buffalo Blue Hoagie, a buffalo chicken (ala Beyond Meat) sandwich with homemade blue cheese and spinach. The soft, velvety bread makes this easy to eat. It is a top contender for possibly being one of my favorite all-time vegan sandwiches. And I don’t just throw that around all willy-nilly.
The best vegan sammy in ALL of Portland? The Buffalo Bleu Hoagie.
Melanie ordered their special today, which was a fried tofu cutlet with gravy, kale and cheddar jalapeno corn bread. She liked it, but made the mistake of trying my chicken sammy first. Once she had that, the bar was set too high for the tofu cutlet to keep up.
Today’s special: The Lucky Plate
Service is short, brisk, and very pleasant which is really what you want in a place like this. I don’t have time for clingy waiters and waitresses – get my order right, bring me my food, check on me from time to time, and let me free up that table for the next hungry group.
The people at A.N.D. Cafe are always great.
Let’s talk about the BAD parts of A.N.D. Cafe:
….
(there are none)
In conclusion, this place is a pillar of the vegan scene in PDX and should never be missed. If you are a vegan in town and have not been here yet, GO THERE. Make it a regular stop. If you have out of town guests, take them here and blow their minds.
Waaay back in the day when I used to live in Alaska, the thought of surviving as a vegan was faint. This is, after all the place we decided to be at least vegetarian and that was hard enough.
Middleway has a ton of pre-packaged vegan goodies.
When I returned to Los Anchorage a few months ago (and as a vegan this time), I was really impressed with just how much easier it was.
I mean, the Mooses’ Tooth lets you bring your own Daiya!
One of my friends suggested I check out the Middle Way Cafe, located in a strip mall sandwiched between anchor stores REI and Title Wave Books.
I was blown away by how vegan friendly they really were.
And, of course I ate there every day for a week.
One morning for breakfast I had the Huevos Rancheros with the vegan sub for blackened tofu and vegan sour cream. It was a great meal, but needed something. Maybe some soyrizo?
Veganized huevos rancheros.
Another morning I raced over there in the sub zero temps for some VEGAN PANCAKES. Yep. They are in caps because they are awesome. Real maple syrup, vegan butter and fruit. A perfect normal breakfast.
Vegan Multigrain Pancakes.
They had a ton of other vegan options including a breakfast burrito and “Colours Tofu Snack” which is described on the menu as “A crunchy patty of beets, carrots, zucchinis, and leeks on a bed of home fries and ranchero sauce topped with blackened tofu, scallions and vegan sour cream.” Never had it, but will be next on my list.
I am so happy to see a place like this in Anchorage – and the fact it was been there for so long, and that the vegan options continue to grow.
Tonight we wanted something new. Not the same burrito run to El Nutri, or a quick bowl at the B&B. Melanie rolled the random dice on Yelp and we pointed the car at Harlow on SE Hawthorne.
The bright, spacious area was warm and somewhat cozy.
Walking in, I was surprised with the bright, slightly sterile atmosphere. The heavy influence of wood and twang of vintage in the space’s design plays well with the open, bright layout. They have a nice section of vegan odds and ends, and some branded clothing on one side of the restaurant. Continue reading Restaurant Review: Harlow [Portland]→
One of my favorite things to do when traveling internationally, is to open the Happy Cow app on my phone and go find an awesome vegan place off the tourist radar.
When I first went to Dublin in 2011, I was leery that I would have any luck at all even finding a vegan restaurant, let alone one I would love, and return to again and again.
Every day, Cornucopia gets fresh. local produce delivered to make the meals for the day.
Cornucopia is a local legend, in that it started in the mid 70’s, during a time of political and economic upheaval. Yet, in the midst of this, two people were able to start and grow a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in the city centre. Continue reading Restaurant Review: Cornucopia [Dublin]→
![Restaurant Review: Native Foods Cafe [Portland]](https://offroadvegan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2012-07-10-20-14-05.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Restaurant Review: Brass Tacks [Portland]](https://offroadvegan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2014-02-28-11-25-01.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Restaurant Review: Homegrown Smoker [Portland]](https://offroadvegan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-01-17-12-29-05.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Restaurant Review: Zabby & Elf’s Stone Soup [Burlington]](https://offroadvegan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/20140211_160234.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Restaurant Review: Araya’s Vegetarian Place [Bellevue]](https://offroadvegan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2014-01-09-11-44-35.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Restaurant Review: Wayward Vegan Cafe [Seattle]](https://offroadvegan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2014-01-02-20-23-25.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Restaurant Review: A.N.D. Cafe [Portland]](https://offroadvegan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2014-01-02-11-54-26.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Restaurant Review: Middle Way Cafe [Anchorage]](https://offroadvegan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-02-23-09-08-54.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Restaurant Review: Harlow [Portland]](https://offroadvegan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2013-12-03-06-54-06-1.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Restaurant Review: Cornucopia [Dublin]](https://offroadvegan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2012-09-13-13-05-45.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
Off-road Vegan 