PETA has named Portland the second most vegetarian friendly city in the U.S. behind Washington DC. Yay for us! Seriously. As much as I bitch and moan about anarchist foie-protesting vegans, I’m very proud of the veg scene here. Diversity in dining, allowing for all types of diets and dietary creeds, can only be a good thing.
But read the press release further and it’s clear while PETA is right about the city’s top vegetarian billing, they’re right for the wrong reasons:
The showstopper at Papa G’s Vegan Organic Deli is the vegan lasagne, which features organic noodles, sunflower “cheese,” tofu, seasonal vegetables, and homemade marinara. Papa G’s also offers an array of vegan delights in its bakery. The Red and Black Café excels with its very own “TLP,” which includes tempeh bacon, herbed Vegenaise, lettuce, and roasted red peppers or tomatoes. And after one bite of the Blossoming Lotus’ barbecue tempeh platter, you’ll know that you’ll be back. The platter features tempeh and red onions sautéed in a rich, smoky barbecue sauce and comes with spicy black-bean chili, cornbread, and a mixed green salad.
I don’t want to take anything away from these fine eateries, but where the hell is Portabello? How about Los Gorditos? And vegetarian lasagna? Walk a block down from Papa G’s to Taste Unique and you can find one of the most transcendent veg lasagnas I’ve ever had the pleasure of stuffing in my face.
Here’s the thing: The city is great for having places like Papa G’s and Blossoming Lotus, sure. But what makes Portland so vegetarian friendly is the fact that you can go about anywhere in this town and find very good vegetarian fare. It’s not always necessary to go to a meat free establishment to do so. Now that’s what I call a vegetarian friendly city. DC ain’t got nothing on us.
So what do you think, Blogtownies? What other top notch veg, or veg friendly, restaurants did PETA miss?
I was really surprised to see that DC was #1.
I guess it shouldn’t be a shock, since the DC Vegetarian cart might be my favorite all veg place in Portland. Vita Cafe on Alberta does great veg comfort food, Hungry Tiger nails veggie junk food, and while Farm Cafe isn’t particularly veg friendly, it’s tofu dish is literally the best thing that can be done with tofu.
While Portland is leaps and bounds ahead of most other cities’ restaurants in veg friendliness, we still have room to improve when it comes to helpful menu labeling and having more than just 1 or 2 non-salad things to eat on otherwise all non-veg menus.
If you’ll excuse me now, I have bunnies to hug.
Ned Ludd always has generous amounts of veg starter dishes and at least one veg entree. The entree’s always been better than anything I’ve had at a veg-only restaurant. Acutally, the starters have been, too.
As a life-long vegetarian, I can safely say I’ve never been happy with an all-vegetarian restaurant (unless it was Indian).
American veg food seems universally bland and unimaginative. I don’t want or need tofu, meat substitutes, portabello burgers, or vegan cheese.
The Indians figured out vegetarian food centuries ago. Complete protein without reliance on soy, many vegan options, and, critically, loads of flavor. Imma go get me some right now.
@TSW That’s good to know. I really want to try Ned Ludd, but just assumed I’d be disappointed as a leaf eater.
I think you’re right on, PAC. I’ve never had a problem finding something to eat anywhere in town. I can’t say the same for DC.
@Steve R. You should try Portobello.
Ugh, I’m just sad PETA are mentioning Portland at all. Don’t they have some incredibly offensive campaigns to run?
@tiff: Yeah, right. PETA are the best trollz, totes doing it for the LULZ.
Agreed, their picks just feel outdated.
I’ve yet to find something I’m thrilled with at Papa G’s, for the record. Happy? sure.
Speaking of veg write ups, the Food Lovers Guide to Portland’s veg/vegan section mentions how the author is surprised not to see more veg options around town, which surprised me….
Bye and Bye does vegan southern food right. They come by it naturally, since they’re an offshoot of my favorite veg restaurant in the world, The Grit in Athens, GA.
Native Bowl on Mississippi is fantastic. And Bay Leaf vegetarian on Division is awesome, especially the hot and sour soup.
Don’t forget Veggie Thai on Hawthorne. I love their soup.
As a lifelong, meat-loving omnivore, I’m shouting a great big Amen to Steve R’s comment. Vegan versions of non-vegan food are often gross in execution, and, to my non-vegan tastes, always gross in concept.
So much of that stuff is heavily processed and loaded with ingredients I can only kinda pronounce and definitely can’t identify the source of. Vegan lasagne is not lasagne, because vegan cheese isn’t cheese. Hell, I bet someone offers vegan carbonara, which is just disgusting to even imagine, but it’s not going to even resemble actual carbonara.
I’m all for vegan cuisine that is made with vegetables, fungi, fruits, legumes and nuts, where those items retain their basic functions and characteristics. When they are abused and beaten into an unnatural state in order to satisfy a perceived vegan desire for a hotdog, it just doesn’t seem right.
I’m down with Bay Leaf, too. That food with drinks, some atmosphere and less sullen ownership would be the busiest veg place in town.
Is the PETA blog really called “The PETA Files”? It’s too easy to make fun of that, but it’s crazy they didn’t think about what that could mean before they went with it. Weirdos.
Proper Eats in St. John’s is ALWAYS delicious
I heartily second Proper Eats!
Also must agree that as a vegetarian I am growing very tired of meat-esque substitutes. If I want a friggin steak I will eat one. I will NOT eat an badly spiced weirdly textured pile of gluten.
@Andrew: HA HA!!!!! Go PETA.
I’m guessing that los gorditos and many other places with great veg fare in Portland are ruled out by PETA because they aren’t all vegetarian. The cart has meet burritos too so of course they aren’t going to even mention them even though they are obviously the tastiest veg mexican option in town. Honestly they are probably planning a Los Gorditos protest right now complete with naked women and red paint.
go Portland!!!This is fabulous!!These animal organizations are getting very smart. There is a new pro-animal site geared towards the press–totally free–that is massively distributing their pro-animal video. The video is showing up on MTV, NBC, etc. A CNN story that just aired is at http://freeanimalvideo.org/about