did you know: not only does portland oregon have a billion rad vegan eateries, vegan options at almost every restaurant, and loads of vegan-friendly pubs—the city also has its very own vegan strip mall. sounds too good to be true, right?
from left to right: sweetpea baking company, herbivore clothing, food fight grocery, and scapegoat tattoo
southeast stark street in portland boasts the neat row of vegan businesses pictured above which from left to right include sweetpea baking company, herbivore clothing, food fight grocery and scapegoat tattoo. on our recent visit to portland, we hit up each one of these places (other than the tattoo parlor) and filled up on some hardcore veganocity for the journey home.
sweetpea baking company was our first stop. the 100% vegan bakery was (i believe) the first of its kind on the west coast, and the staff was super friendly and helpful. having already eaten lunch, and gearing up for our return to LA, we grabbed a dinner to eat on the go at the airport. it’s a good thing we did too, because our flight ended up being delayed!
we started with a pepperoni calzone, which came with thick spicy slices of seitan in a doughy pastry shell. meant to be enjoyed warm, this calzone was still delicious unheated.
we also shared a seitan sandwich, which was the perfect grab-n-go treat. fresh bread, creamy dressing, and fat chunks of savory wheat meat. perfection! next time i visit portland, i will definitely grab some actual baked treats from sweetpea. but i can tell you, if you don’t have a chance to try their cookies or muffins, the sandwiches and calzones are awesome as well.
next we hit up herbivore, an ultra rad vegan clothing company that sells a wide array of shirts, hoodies, and stickers. we bought some rags that would help us promote veganism everywhere, as well as a shirt to support bj and alex. the staff was polite, the clothes were great, and i felt extra good about spending money at this place.
lastly we hit up food fight, which is basically a small completely vegan convenience store. they had loads of vegan meats, vegan cheeses, canned goods, as well as steamed tofurky sausages. we bought some bacon cheezly, which turned out to be exceptional, and were on our way.
so let’s just say the vegan strip mall in portland is all around awesome. you can eat a fresh cupcake, buy a new vegan hoodie, stock up on faux meat, and get some vegan ink…without traveling more than 300 feet. i can’t wait to return.
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7:37 pm on August 9th, 2009
FIRST!!!! hahaha
i have to go to portland. this is incredible!!!
7:39 pm on August 9th, 2009
2nd bitches
7:47 pm on August 9th, 2009
Ah, I hope LA has something like this soon. :/
7:33 am on August 10th, 2009
Woohoo Portland! :c)
10:14 am on August 10th, 2009
Amazing, can’t wait to get myself to Portland.
10:51 am on August 10th, 2009
[...] together they’ve formed the obvious destination for any New Yorker wanting Indian food. Link. Spread the [...]
11:44 am on August 10th, 2009
i’ve never been to portland, but i’m pretty sure i should just move there.
12:18 pm on August 10th, 2009
did I not tell you Portland was cool? I LOVE that place!
10:48 am on August 17th, 2009
Food Fight sounds like what Locali should be, am I right?! I grabbed some Cheezly at the 3 story Whole Foods in Kensington the other day. It made it back to LA just fine (and was still only L2.00 a package!), and is now sitting in my fridge waiting for me to try it. They didn’t have the bacon kind! I got mature cheddar and the extra-melting mozzarella. I also got a tub of soft/spreadable Sheese, because I’ve only seen the hard kind in the US, and it was about L2.30, which is way cheaper than the $8 or so I usually see the hard Sheese for. I think I got mexican style. So it looks like I’ll be in vegan cheese overload this week. I’m concerned about them having a soy-ish aftertaste, like tofutti cream cheese, but we shall see. When you make stuff with it, tofutti cream cheese is just fine, I just don’t LOVE it plain.
1:01 am on March 15th, 2010
[...] Vegetarians might want to check out the Vita Cafe and the vegan strip mall that includes a grocery store, tattoo shop, bakery and more. [...]
7:29 pm on July 11th, 2010
[...] a couple months ago, i was hanging in out in norfolk virginia and scoping out the meatless options that the city had to offer. you wouldn’t think that such a small town would be so vegan-friendly, but i must say norfolk holds its own against other massive cities i’ve visited. the main stretch of restaurants i’d wanna visit runs along colley avenue, and within walking distance i found vegan sushi, vegan middle eastern food, 3 spots for vegan pizza, 2 vegan-friendly bars, and vegan tex mex. i can honestly say i’ve never seen so many options in such a small radius…it even rivaled the vegan strip mall. [...]
2:56 pm on July 27th, 2010
You forgot about the RED & BLACK Cafe around the corner… it completes the strip mall experience!!!