I’m sorry to do this. I know that vegans in Portland always talk about all of the food and restaurants that we have here and I’m sure it gets old, but I just have to.
When I first started at my job there wasn’t much of anything in the immediate area for a quick lunch or snack. Well, there is Old Wives Tales, but you couldn’t pay me to eat there. A few months ago Los Gorditos, the lovely Mexican taqueria on 50th and Division in SE Portland, opened up an all-vegan taqueria about a 1/2 mile from my work! Horray! Today I went with the friend to enjoy the goodness of the truck.

Los Gorditos es muy bueno
This is the tostada, a toasted tortilla piled high with beans, rice, lettuce, tomato, avocado, onion and cilantro.

Fajita Burrito
The fajita burrito. The picture does not do this justice. Beans, rice, sauteed onions, green bell peppers, cilantro and soy curls. It looks like a lot of beige, I know, but it’s una fiesta en la boca. Every individual ingredient at Gorditos tastes intoxicatingly good, from the rice to the soy curls (what do they do to them? they are so good!). Combined together, it’s a force to be reckoned with!
A co-worker and friend of mine often goes on walks during her lunch. A couple of weeks ago she came back from a walk and said, “You never told me about that vegan bakery down the street.”
“Uh, what vegan bakery?”
“Black Sheep.”
My eyes about fell out of my head. Black Sheep is a local vegan bakery that wholesales their goods around town. About 1 1/2- 2 years ago they opened up a little retail shop in SE that has a sandwich of the day, bagels, coffee and baked goods. Well, unbeknowst to me about 6 months ago they renovated some space in their actual kitchen space and opened up a larger location with more food. About 2 blocks from my work. And I didn’t know about it for 6 months.
Needless to say, they now know me. I am in there more than I want to admit, especially with all of the baking I’ve been doing. I can’t help it, they are my favorite local bakery and at this location they also have chocolates! They have biscuits and gravy, a build-you-own sandwich option, salads and soups, vegan vegan vegan! They do offer some omni options, as this location is in a business district, but I’d say it’s 90% vegan.

Black Sheep Cuppers

Black Sheep Chocolates
This friend that I had lunch with, Ximena, has her own tattoo shop in Portland. She’s vegetarian and all of the supplies that she uses are vegan. This weekend they are doing a special at their shop. Free tattoos on Saturday- but it’s showing your Oregon pride, of course.

If you want to have Oregon become a part of your anatomy, head down to Skeleton Key Tattoo this Saturday, the 17th, from 11-8. First come, first serve!
In addition to being a bad-ass ink-slinging artist, she cranks out some 1″ buttons in her spare time.
Behold, the nomnomnom cat trio in 1″ form!

Sorry the pic’s not so great, it was hard to get them with the least amount of glare possible.
I am going to give away 5 sets of these nomnomnom buttons to 5 random commenters! So leave your comments between now and Friday night and I will randomly select 5 names. US residents only, sorry folks.
Happy noming!
* A Day in the Life is one of the ultimate Beatles songs and is easily in my top 5 if I could only pick five. Just thinking of it makes my heart happy. *sigh*