I'm a Stumptown Vegan.

Time to check off one of my MoFo Goals! Earlier today, a review of the Sonny Bowl cart in downtown PDX was published on Stumptown Vegans.

Restaurant review written? check! Daily post? double check!

The BBQ Soy Curls bowl

Today's MoFo post is part shameless plug for another project of mine. Hold on, tight.

My friend Webly and I co-author Stumptown Vegans, a resource of in-depth restaurant reviews for vegans, by vegans, based in Portland, OR. Stumptown = Portland!...because there were a lot of tree stumps in the 1800s, just ask Wikipedia why.

Since April 2007, we've been writing reviews, paying for our own meals, deciding where to go, and trying to keep up with the mania that is vegan-friendly Portland and the rest of our lives! We aim to try new dishes, step outside our comfort zones, and visit establishments twice. We also take things on the road when we travel:

I've written reviews for restaurants in San Francisco, Seattle and Phoenix.

One day, I'll tackle New York, Boston & more! (Only procrastination has stopped me before, I make regular annual trips! Doh)

Not to mention my recent trips to Laguna Beach, CA and Spokane, WA.

The next review I have coming is for the new all-vegan Ruby Dragon cart in North Portland.

The Jade Abbot : hello, deliciousness.

More from in progress reviews - oh, there's a TON of these constantly in the works.

Roasted garlic, caramelized onion, potato & greens flatbread from

Mizuna in Spokane, WA

This is my favorite recently discovered lunch meal in Portland:

Tofu Teriyaki Bento from Chef Naoko -

Portobello plate from Portobello Vegan Trattoria

Can I make an excuse to dine here once a week, please?

Can someone take me here this week, please?

reviews coming soon! really!

Recent Great Stuff.

Time to be straight forward. Here's some stuff, that happened recently, that I deem great:

Tomato Season. I ate a tricolor pint of cherry and grape tomatoes for lunch the other day.

The Wednesday downtown farmers market. Mere block from my office.

Hands down, my favorite farmar.

Crazy-gluing that hand down - the Cafe Velo cart.

It's a smaller set up (this one is a bike! Oh, Portland) than the Saturday markets', with 400 fewer people on line with cute crying babies in front of you. Individually dripped cups of Stumptown, you choose the roast! I went with an Indonesian roast this past week.

Soymilk on the counter!!!!

Holding on the farmers market theme for one more addition: Pimientos de Padron. I can't let these go this summer. These were sauteed classicly with olive oil, coarse sea salt and crushed red pepper.

I brought the above peppers to the Try Vegan Week Potluck & Trivia night, along with these cookies from the upcoming Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

Citrus Glitters

Heading back to test kitchen land, I've started testing for Isa's upcoming 'healthy' book. I am so freaking busy lately, but if I'm making a point to cook at home, odds are it will be her recipes. It's just how life is.

Summer Lovin' Curried Corn Chowder

Moving on from corn, to corn - the down home, smoked corn on the cob from Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ. If you've read my Stumptown Vegans review, you know I'm quite fond of them. They've recently labeled quite a few main items gluten free, and I swear, their home cooking style food is better every single time I go.

From corn to......pizza! Because sometimes Hot Lips puts corn on their pizza..... At this week's Yelp Portland Ballroom Bash. Here's Maeve with the vegan foccacia pie Don personally delivered to the table of awesome Yelpy vegans.

The Yelp Elite Hour & Ballroom Bash was super fun! I'm not a huge Hot Lips fan, and I despise their cilantro pesto, but how cool! I was able to get a tomato base slice a bit earlier, fortunately for my tastebuds and sanity, had I been induling in more of the complimentary beverages.

Oh hey, walking across the Morrison Bridge safely for once, thanks to construction, is pretty great. And random.

And really, really great - a veganized Vermecilli Bowl from Huong's Vietnamese cart downtown. He has other vegetarian options that are alright, but I've been wanting to request a vegan version of the pork or chicken bowl for too long! So, I finally did. He even volunteered a summer roll for the eggroll before I could even think to ask. I'm on a rice noodle kick.

It was tasty, and HUGE! And $6! It had fried tofu strips and this strange white gluten, which was good stuff.

All in all, Really Great Stuff.

Vegan Friendly Food Carts, Blowing my Mind.

I've returned home to Portland from a trip to Coeur D'Alene, ID hungry and to record breaking temperatures. My two cats and I are seriously considering camping out with the fridge door open ala Homer Simpson this evening.

Amazingly, some dedicated Portlanders have opened up even MORE vegan friendly carts while I've been gone. What does cooking at home mean again? New Seasons wok, right? Eating hand picked berries from the freezer?

Portland does not fail to blow my mind. People live their dreams! There are carts for everyone! Even ones clean enough for most cart haters/scaredy cats.

Back to my story.

So, earlier today, I was walking in a zombie like state, my freckles melting off, towards DC Vegetarian for lunch, and noticed a new cart. Like with all new carts, I stopped to see if there was anything vegan, and see what they were all about. The new sign read "Sonny Bowl" and a

white board menu listed three meal options. I processed them, and noticed no meat, no dairy, veggies, veggies, veggies and sauce!

I inquired and with my internal mental fireworks going off, learned that the cart was all vegan, as was its proprietor, and it just happened to be opening day. Again, here I was, walking to a new vegetarian cart for lunch, considering the very vegan friendly Just Thai cart next door and whether I'd pass out if I ordered hot noodles, and I stumble onto a new vegan cart on the same strip.

Behold, the Sonny Bowl.

I ordered option #2, with veggies, rice, coconut curry sauce and chickpeas. Hello, cabbage! Hello, summer squash! Hello, saucy. $6. Can you get anything at a cart or what? I ate fresh vegetables for lunch from a cart!

So...Portland. Food carts. The best. Always something new! Oh, and tonight? heading down to the self-described cartopia for the first ever FoodKartaroke at Whiffies. If Maeve gets there early enough, Hold On will be happening.

Speaking of DC Vegetarian, here's the vegan TLP (add $1 for Lightlife Tempeh Bacon) my friend Tiffany and I shared on their grand opening day. I had already been a couple times before during their soft opening week, they're really sweet. They gave away Tofutti Cuties on their opening day! I hear they have them now (for sale), too.

Vegan TLP

DC Vegetarian and Just Thai

I really like the Pad See Ew at Just Thai. Yep.

Another row of carts in downtown Portland.

The SW 3rd and Stark strip

And earlier in this photo essay, I mentioned MORE NEW VEG*N FRIENDLY CARTS.

• I've yet to go Lickety Split in the Pearl - vegan meatballs, polenta and grain bowls! cucumber basil freaking lemonade! Going soon.
• Wolf and Bears - on SE 20th and Morrison, Lebanese style vegetarian/vegan cart
• Vahalla Sandwich cart, behind the Dollar Scholar on SE Hawthorne
• and Asaase Ital cart by PSU - more on that coming soon on Stumptown Vegans! I love that place.

Asaase Ital Palace

Jerk Chickun. Say yes.

Unless you hate black pepper, like a certain friend of mine <3

You want more? Check out my list of Vegan Friendly Food Carts in Portland, with MORE additions soon! I'm seriously overwhelmed by all these new carts and have to catch up.

Veggie Thing, lately

Being obsessed with vegan food and the internet, and parked in front of a computer for most of my work day, I've kept up with regularly posting submissions to Veggie Thing by Citysearch.

Check out some of my recent favorite - many tried and true - around Portland and beyond! If you actually want to know why I like each dish besides it being tempting food with an assumed tempting aroma, then you should click on the link. It won't trap you or steal your credit card information so I can buy a new pair of colorful Earth Intrigues.

Vegan Potatoes Plate from Juniors

Ham and Cheese english muffin from Tube bar

Kettleman's Bagel with Chipotle Cream Cheese from Sweetpea

Cookies and Creme milkshake from Sip

Earl Grey Teanychino from Teany's in NYC.

I have more in the works- submitted one for Koi Fusion PDX earlier today!, and as usual, I post brief reviews on Yelp and extensive reviews on Stumptown Vegans.

Coming Soon: Ridiculously Great Twitter Dining Week! (Dittering)

Next week, Strawberryrock and myself are cleverly, and ridiculously, aiming to dine only at businesses that have a Twitter account. We will purchase all meals outside of our own kitchens, at, or to go, from these businesses, or if it comes down to it, at least exist on food and drink from companies that have a twitter, like Dave Killer's Bread, New Deal Vodka Luna and Larry's, and Turtle Mountain. Bread, vodka and soy and coconut based ice creams! Again, we're aiming to do this, because we can, and there's no denying that twitter can be a wonderful tool for local businesses.

It's called: Dittering. Or the Ridiculously Great Twitter Dining Week, if you can't stomach that first name.

When: Monday, June 22nd- Saturday, June 27th, 2009*

*coinciding with the start of the Let Live Northwest Animal Rights Conference, which of course, you should check out.

I've no doubt spent a week where the majority of my meals I have not cooked have come from a cart, keeping in mind leftovers and that I do actually enjoy cooking many of my meals, so I don't think the reality of this is very difficult.

So who's up for it? If you actually are, please leave a comment or contact me on twitter. I'll feature any vegan grub you photograph and mention and so should you, perhaps throughout the week, and definitely on a final posting afterwards. This isn't a vegan specific thing, but my site is. I'm sure this idea won't change the world yet, but it amuses me, of course, and serves some type of attempt of a purpose...

Supporting local business! Spending your dollars wisely! Score! Fun!

Dear friends who don't tweet, see you afterwards! I'll be mentioning that dreaded application and dropping usernames more than usual. Much more. You can feel free to bet if we keep with this.

For my readers in and out of Portland, here's some food porn from businesses who tweet:

Korean tofu taco from Koi Fusion PDX

If you know me at all, you know I frequent the food carts on SE 12th and Hawthorne, a short walk from my apartment, and regularly on my walk home from social engagements. You've probably run into me there. My latest favorite there is Whiffies Deep Fried Pies, of which I have a submission on Veggie Thing posted.

Blueberry:

BBQ Tofu:

Whiffies photos by Lucas DeShazer.

Cauliflower Red Lentil from Savor Soup House

Black Currant Cider from Green Dragon Brewery during BeerandBlog

Toasted bagel with Chipotle and Black Olive vegan cream cheezes, from Sweetpea Baking Co.

Pad Kee Mow from the Just Thai cart

Check out New Deal's blog with an extensive listing of Portland Food and Drink related twitters.

Follow my account, Get Sconed!, for the usual nonsense, vegan tidbits, where I'm dining and what's going to happen next. As usual, but with even more PDX enthusiasm!

Look for a full write up the following week, and more on Stumptown Vegans in the future.

Back from Boston: Being Fancy & Raw at Grezzo

I've been trying to write this happy post the past three days I've been back from vacation. Already, I've hit up a new vegan-friendly food cart (Just Thai - the return of the I Love Thai Food cart owners) and this afternoon I stopped by the first Wednesday downtown farmers market for sweet choi, asparagus and red anjou pears.

There's simply too damn much I want to talk about, so where the hell do I start?  I'm going to take the lead from The Urban Housewife and break things up like she does on her grand travel posts.  

Let's begin with the first part of my trip in Boston, MA where I went to college.  The city was vegetarian friendly, for sure, when I lived there, and has gotten vegan-friendlier since the nearly five years I've been gone.  This includes vegan ice cream, the transition of the pizza shop next to Grasshopper that introduced a small vegan menu into the all-vegan TJ Scallywagles, my old favorite Buddha's Delight which is now My Thai Vegan Cafe, the classic Veggie Planet(I swear their oven wasn't working every third time I went there and I'd order 'pizza' over rice), and the all-raw, upscale Grezzo in the North End.

I stopped by the raw restaurant for lunch with my friend Emily, who I studied abroad with in the Netherlands back in 2002.  While neither lunch or dinner menu entirely terrified me with its prices, I wisely decided on lunch to save some cash.  

Cemented in front of the entrance:

Creamy, nutty gnocchi with fresh peas, pea shoots and fabulous eggplant bacon.

Sliders and Cassava chips

Emily and her virgin Bloody Mary

The dining room

Exterior

Around the corner from an Italian bakery - aw, North End.

And desserts!

Brownie Sundae

Cheezecake with Lavender infused Agave and Chocolate Ice Cream

The waitress/chef (she was in a chef's uniform) told me this would be the best cheezecake I would ever taste.  I have to admit, for a raw cheezecake, it's definitely the best, and quite likely the creamiest I've had in years.  

A full review will be coming on Stumptown Vegans.  I would definitely return and try more items.

Feeling fancy....

Going to Grezzo makes me yearn for a fancier vegan restaurant in Portland.  I take the vegan culinary arts seriously, and get excited when anything from a smoothie stand to a sushi restaurant to a fancy restaurant purposely offer vegan options.  When you're not reliant on animal products, you learn to taste the flavors in actual, fresh vegetables!  You can do fancy things with vegetables and tofu, whoa.  Despite the controversy over the formerly all vegan Nutshell that closed last year in Portland, I was a fan and was proud the level of esteem it achieved as a restaurant (formerly) solely serving vegan food.  I'm proud to see the new Portobello class things up with their vegan trattoria, and I am confident that Portland will have additional restaurants to pair with the likes of Candle 79,Vegiterranean and Millenium. 

Coming next - More Boston grub, sights and the tackling of NYC.

bad photo, great news. Voodoo Yeasted Vegan Donuts.

Portland vegans have been buzzing with anticipation since the start of the new year - word leaked out that Voodoo Doughnuts, Portland's world famous donut shop - where you can get married, learn Swahili, see shows and eat donuts any time of the day, was working on vegan yeasted donuts. Every now and then I'd hear about someone being treated to one of these sweet experiments....alas, they weren't for sale to the public yet.  

They totally do.

With the fall of the brief Rise Up yeasted donuts a couple years ago, us poor, deprived Portland vegans were left with Mighty-O imports (at Whole Foods) and Voodoo's cake donuts.  Voodoo's cake donuts have come a long way since their banana-y inception, and now come in (much lighter) banana and new pumpkin based cake with an utterly fun mix of toppings.  I tried a pumpkin based, vanilla iced, chic-o-stick topped one recently and it was great! As for Mighty-O, they're obviously at their awesomest when eaten fresh at the north Seattle location.  The variety there kicks the ass of the hours old glazed that Whole Foods sells here.  Check out this dozen I picked up last year!  Local favorite and wonder Sweetpea Baking Co. has great yeasted donuts on Saturdays, made with love you can taste.  I'm always excited to see what the special donut offering is, in addition to the classic Boston Creme and Glazed.

Onto the bad photo portion of the post: the yeasted donuts are OFFICIALLY AT BOTH VOODOO LOCATIONS.  The entire top shelf of donuts in the glass displays are vegan.  It was raining and I was hurrying to catch an arriving bus and the last of daylight - my apologies on the rushed photo!

A dozen donuts: mostly yeasted.  $10.

Introductory Verdict: 

These donuts were procured late in the day.  While the experience of eating a vegan maple bar was amazing, my friends and I realized that the donuts were seemingly fried much earlier in the day, understandably.  The actual donut part was admittedly a bit tough and chewy. They reminded me of a day old Vegan Treats donut I had in NYC last winter.  Being topped with wonderful things like chocolate cookies and peanut butter distracted, and I'm hoping to try a fresh one soon and be blown away.  We'll see how these develop!  It can only get better and better, it's Voodoo! Apparently they even have vegan cock and balls donuts! If they bring out a vegan version of the maple bacon subbed with tempeh bacon, I'll tear with vegan friendly pride.

P.S. I was raised with Dunkin' Donuts (my favorites were the Dunkin Q, blueberry muffin donut and powdered cruller) and to me it's DONUT, not doughnut.  Just so you now.

Signs of Veganism in SE Portland

Literally, this post is about signs regarding vegan options in SE Portland.  Noticed a pattern in my flickr stream from this past weekend....

First up, posted a couple blocks away from Junior's Cafe on SE 12th:

I think seeing this touched my heart.  I haven't been to Junior's in months and am planning on changing that awful truth pronto.  Their Superhero Scramble is possibly my favorite* in town, and their Vegan Potatoes plate with creamy tofu sauce and fresh sage sorta rocks my mouth with yum.  Add sauteed tofu to that and you won't be sorry.

SE 12th and Hawthorne Food Carts

Snowpocalypse, December 2008 

Moving north on on SE 12th, you come to a food cart dominated parking lot at SE Hawthorne. Home to Potato Champion and vegan poutine, a vegan-friendly pasta cart and where I truly wished Gorditos II had opened (but it's okay, I can easily go to the original or vegan Ankeny location).

Looks like El Brasero Mexican cart has clearly gotten wind that vegan-friendliness can = increased business in this town.  Anyone been?

The vegan options are written at the bottom of this board.  I can't say a $6.50 vegan burrito has much pull for me, I just love Gorditos' so much, but I'm sure I'll stop by at some point and give it a go and support this vegan effort.  Let me know if you do and if there's something great!

I noticed these menu updates at Q BBQ a couple months ago - Tofu Nuggets and a Veggie Dog. Haven't stopped by when they're open or heard if they're actually vegan, but here's hoping (and that they don't taste like bbq chicken in a bad way).

These are simply some signs I photographed this past weekend.  I am well aware of many, possibly most?, of the ever-expanding actual instances of vegan-friendliness in SE Portland.

*included as one of the Top Ten Best Things the Stumptown Vegans have eaten for 2007 in the Travel Edition of Herbivore Magazine.