Red and Black Cafe

I always get confused by calling it Black and Red. The cafe is located right around the corner of the "mini-vegan" mall on SE 12th and SE Stark. It is in a large red house, with few patio sittings outside. Recently the owner planted vegetation on the sidewalk. I hope they don't serve the salad from that garden since there are constant coming traffic. Hm.... dust in my salad. Anyways, two things I had and always get is the Dragon Salad and the Dragon Noodle, both on the price range of $6-7. Which is cheap for enormous amount of food! I always share the noodle dish with a friend, the salad is probably bigger. Since I couldn't even finish half of it. The noodle bowl is simple yellow udon noodle with sesame oil, cilantro, peanut, peanut sauce, and some broccoli and tofu. Very simple and straight forward. A bit spicy. I wouldn't say its fantastic, it fills the stomach. The Dragon Salad is served on a giant plate, spread with cooked brown rice, greens, minced peanut, and olive oil/vinegar dressing. The dressing is very very thin, could use more! It tasted blend and boring. I keep stealing my boyfriend's peanut sauce from his noodle bowl to mix in with the salad. The people who works there are really nice and friendly. The cafe also serves up coffee and chai. I wish they have a juicer or smoothie or something!

Dragon Salad


Dragon Noodle


C
$
vegan/vegetarian, cafe, deli. Daily 8am-11pm
400 SE 12th Ave. Portland, OR 97214
www.redandblackcafe.com

Flavour Spot

So Flavor Spot is probably one of the best cheap brunch destination in Portland. Its a simple waffle food cart. $4-5 can get you a waffle with some sort of fantastic filling. The sweet fillings are like Nutella, banana, peanut butter, whip cream, lemon curd, maple butter, strawberry, jam, ...etc. The savory fillings are bacon, sausages, vegetarian and vegan sausages. SO GOOD! My favourite would be the vegan sausage with maple butter wrapped with a tasty vegan waffle, that's about $5.50 The waffle spot also serve coffee, water, juice, ...etc. So just sit back on the patio and enjoy your breakfast.

PS: Even though the line can be long, but it is really fast service.
PSS: There are two spots in North Portland.

Vegan Sausage and Maple Butter


B
$
vegan friendly, waffles, breakfast, weekday 7am-3pm, weekend 8am-3pm
NE Fremont St & N Mississippi Ave
or 2310 N Lombard St. Portland, OR.
www.flavourspot.com

Van Hanh

What do you get when you have a group of Buddhist nuns that can cook? A really really tasty cheap vegan restaurant. Everything here is very authentic peasant food. You will not find your typical Pho dish here. My friend who is Vietnamese, he claims that everything is very authentic, so are the dishes. The egg rolls are delicious. Its fried and filled with tofu, vermicelli, mushrooms, and vegetables. So delicious! $2.99 for four spring rolls. WOW! CHEAP! Moving on to the entrees. I highly recommend the bird nest chow mein with soy proteins and bok choy. YUM! I just love crispy noodles. Pretty much anything you get here is gonna be good. Everything is either vegetarian or vegan, just don't get anything that says "egg". My personal favourite is the fish tofu. Shredded tofu wrapped with seaweed, deep fried, how great is that??? The only downside I have with this place is the environment and the service. The nuns who are the cook and the waitress, are either neutral or unfriendly. They hardly ever smile at all or at anyone. The environment of the restaurant is in a house and smells really stale. If its a nice day I would sit outside and eat at the patio, facing the on coming traffic near the highway... not nice at all.

Vegan Fish Noodle Soup


Vegan Fish Tofu


B+
$
Vegan and vegetarian, Vietnamese, 11am-9pm
8446 SE Division St. Portland, OR 97255
www.vanhanhrestaurant.com

Julia's Russian Food Cart

Okay, everyone, Russian food, very meaty and tasty. But every once in a while Julia, who runs the fantastic Russian food cart, she cooks up some tasty vegetarian treat. The one thing she has always available is the Potato Pirogi. Its flour wrapped potato, cheese, and butter. Aside from the Pirogi she makes the vegetarian cabbage roll every once in a while. Its rice with mushroom and paprika wrapped with cabbage, boiled to perfection with some tomato sauce and sour cream. YUM! It goes really well with some spicy sauce on the side. I just love it. Before I turn vegetarian I love Russian food. I just wish there are more vegan or vegetarian options.

Vegetarian Cabbage Roll


C-
$
vegetarian friendly, Russian, 11am - 2pm
SW 10th and SW Alder St. Portland, OR 97205

Vita Cafe

Vita Cafe is one of the basic vegan only restaurants in the northeast Alberta district in Portland. Vita Cafe feels like a hippie run diner that serves your basic needs from vegan fried chicken to vegan mushroom strognoff. Though, nothing spectacular. The fried chicken is actually tempeh with golden crust that tasted alright. Its kinda missing the savory spicy kick. The mushroom strognoff is quite tasty, but still lack the herb or the spices. The fries are good, crispy! The vegan caesar salad tastes just like a real caesar salad. The dessert are also available from vegan fruit pies to vegan white cakes and chocolate mousse cake. I think they only bake the pies there. The cakes are from sweet pea and other local vegan pastry shops. All with a fair price from $4.50 to $5.50 I also have a problem with Vita... some of the waiters smell. Like they haven't taken a shower for two days. But this only happened once out of three trips. They also close early (10pm) for a diner based restaurant.

Vegan Fried Chicken


Vegan Caesar Salad


B+
$
vegan friendly, brunch/breakfast, 9am-10pm
3024 NE Alberta St. Portland, OR 97211
www.vita-cafe.com

Juniors Cafe

Juniors Cafe probably has one of the best potato hash in town. The vegan potato hash is probably the best in the world for a vegan hash. Delicious! Crazy delicious. The spicy tofu sauce is just what you want on a weekend morning after a late night party. Along on top with mushroom, scallion, tomatoes, and delicious vegetables. Of course, I love egg so I asked eggs to go on top along with a side of toast (only $2 extra, wow!) The vegan hash dish is $7.99 A giant dish! I barely finished it. Also, try their vegan french toast, it is better than a real french toast.

Vegan Potato Hash


B+
$
vegan friendly, brunch/breakfast, 8am-2pm
1742 SE 12th Ave. Portland, OR 97214

The Farm Cafe

I'll have to say, after a day hanging out at Mount Hood, this is a great place to dine to end the day. The Farm Cafe is located in a small house on the East Burnside. A tucked away romantic restaurant serves organic meat dishes and fantastic vegetarian and vegan dishes. A perfect place for a parent visit or a special date. Though the wait at The Farm is about 1 hour, but I think its totally worth it. Get the mushroom appetizer and the roasted garlic with bread, both delicious basic vegan dishes. The entrees are even better. The salads are mostly vegetarian and can be made vegan. There is always a vegan or vegetarian soup. The main dishes are where the action is. The vegetarian risotto is so good. Baked with vegetables from tomatoes to two types of cheese. The tofu marsala is fantastic, the only constant vegan dish. Soft fried tofu with marsala sauce and roasted mushrooms with herbs. The menu changes all the time, so keep an eye out for that dish of the week.

Vegetarian Risotto (special)

Goat Cheese Salad with caper dressing


A
$$
Vegan friendly, European, American, 5pm-11pm
10 SE 7th Ave. Portland, Oregon
www.thefarmcafe.net

PAPA G's

The previous owner of Daily Grind organic grocery recently closed down his large vegan friendly market. Now he's moved to the SE Division area and opened up a small deli called PAPA G's. PAPA G's is setup like Veganopolis. Cafeteria styled salad bar with food by the pound or portion package. Everything is vegan! I would say the best thing of PAPA G's is the mushroom strongnoff and the mushroom gravy on spelt biscuit. They change the hot food all the time. Everything goes by pound unless you order the small and large meal. Small meal go with $5.99 for an entree with a side. Large meal go for $7.99 for two entree with a side. So get your BBQ tofu or curried kale and a side of rice or ginger gravy with biscuit. YUM!

Curried vegetables with mushroom strongnoff and mushroom gravy on spelt biscuit


A-
$
Vegan deli, salad bar, 11am-11pm
2314 SE Division in Portland, Oregon
www.pappags.com

The Sugar Cube

The Sugar Cube just opened up two weeks ago and its been thriving as the new hip pastry cart stop in Portland. I personally love it. Its new, great baked goods, very cute looking, and a growing menu of cafe items. I've only tried two cupcakes so far. If you feel manly and macho, get the Guiness Stout Ginger Cupcake. Yeah, doesn't it sound great? 'cause it is! if you feel fruity, I suggest either the Rhubarb Coffee Cake or the yum yum Almond with lemon curd cupcake. Now, I don't think there's anything vegan yet... the cafe is new so maybe vegan stuff will start showing up if more people demand it. The owner Kristen Jensen is very nice and friendly. She won't bite you.

Cupcake in the making


Almond Cupcake with Lemon Curd & Cherry on top


A-
$
Dessert, Smoothie, Bakery, weekly 10am-3pm (not set yet)
901 SW Alder St. Portland, OR 97205
www.thesugarcubepdx.com

Samurai Bento

As much as you would like to believe that vegetarianism and veganism is well accepted in asia because of Buddhism... well, that's a very different case in Japanese cuisine. I don't know how Japanese are all skinny. They eat so much fried meat with fried eggs on white rice. It might be the fact they eat moderately with tofu, soy based miso soup, and plenty of mushrooms. Anyways, Samurai Bento is a good cheap Japanese bento food cart located amongst the forest of other food carts on SW Alder St. There only two vegan dishes, Dogashi Tofu, Tofu Yakisoba, and the vegetarian corquette. I've only gotten the tofu yakisoba. It is stirfry on grill with vegetables, tofu, soy sauce, and topped with a fried egg and pink pickled ginger. It was only $6 ($5.50 a month ago!) Most of the Bento come with a fried egg on top. They also provide free hot tea. I wish they serve more vegetarian items than just grilled tofu.

Tofu Yakisoba


C
$
few vegan options, Japanese, weekday 11am-3pm
940 SW Alder St. Portland, OR 97205