I heard this the other day, but neglected to put it up on the blog. Pardon me. I know you all want to weigh in.

So, Nutshell on N. Williams has had some serious turnover and made changes to the menu. What was once a North Portland vegan mecca now includes menu items with cheese, cream and eggs. From a recent menu:

Flatbreads
Vegetable flatbread. Pureed yellow squash, roasted squash, charred red peppers & onions. 13
Cracked olive pizza with rocket, Cypress Grove chevre & fennel. 14
Fresh mozzarella pizza with spicy tomato sauce, Bellweather farms ricotta & a farm egg baked on top. 14 *

So what’s a vegan to do? With Veganopolis closing shop, it’s looking a bit bleak out there. Though I did receive word from a prominent figure in the vegan community that hope is on the horizon (I’ll keep you updated). But in the interim, where are you going to get your vegan love these days?

13 replies on “Nutshell: Nut So Vegan Anymore”

  1. bleak? we live in the most veg-friendly city in the US.
    vegans have dozens and dozens of options all over this city.

    i’d also venture to say that a good chunk of the vegan community never really gave two shits about veganopolis or nutshell… for a variety of reasons.

    if anyone thinks that options are more limited now, they’re obviously painfully misinformed with what this city has to offer.

    http://www.vegportland.com/restaurants/

    http://stumptownvegans.com/

    http://foodfightgrocery.com/pdxguide.html

  4. I’m sorry but why is this a problem? why can’t there be non-vegan option on the menu? i love vegan food though i’m not a vegan myself. But all the complaining i’ve heard about this just pisses me off.

    why can’t vegan restaurants be tolerant of non-vegans?

  5. It’s too bad about Nutshell, and losing Veganopolis is a minor tragedy, but things are still great for vegans in PDX. The vegan minimall is thriving, we’re about to get a 100% vegan taco truck, and an examination of stumptownvegans.com will show that there’s a huge variety of vegan/friendly restaurants in the area.

    Personally, I’ve pretty much fallen in love with Blossoming Lotus. And no other city in the world has the kind of access to vegan baked goods that we have thanks to Sweetpea.

  6. Did you actually read that menu, Patrick? I don’t know any vegans that would be nonplussed to live near that sort of restaurant.

    Would you like to explain your “what’s a vegan to do?” question a little better, because it doesn’t really make any sense as it stands.

  8. That menu actually looks fantastic. I was initially disappointed when I heard about this—one of the best meals I’ve ever had in Portland, vegan or no, was at Nutshell—but it looks like their menu is still characterized by inventive fruit, veggie, and grain-based cooking. Which is why I loved them so much in the first place. As a way to appeal to a broader constituency, this seems like a decent move—the best thing about the place has always been that it shifted the focus of vegan food away from meat/dairy substitutions, and that hasn’t changed. (I’d rather see cheese than fake meat on their menu.) Has anyone eaten there recently? How’s the food?

  10. The Red and Black cafe actually just went 100% vegan, and we’re having our eighth birthday party on October fourth. Some people say we have the best vegan reuben in town, and we’re expanding our menu to include a whole “$5 or less” section. And you know we’re good to our employees, because we’re worker-owned. Hella.

  12. “why can’t vegan restaurants be tolerant of non-vegans?”

    Being tolerant is all well and fine until one tolerates cruelty and suffering. These are things that are, and should be, intolerable. Why don’t non-cannibalistic restaurants tolerate cannibals and start serving baby back ribs, literally? Because it would, and should, offend their morals to do so.

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