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*
0 Responses to a day in the life…*
Featured Friends of nom!
It’s here!
Oooo, I’m SO glad you’re back (I’ve been away so I’ve only just found out)!! Your Damn Tasty Baking book is so worn out from all the use it gets here. I’ve never had a cookbook with so many successful and delicious recipes before.
Those buttons are totally gorgeous by the way
I’m out for the badges
but mmmmm I wish I had a bakery like that near me! (My waistline is glad that I don’t :P)
Well, no badges for me either – and they’re so cute! Drat! I am so craving a fajitas right now, and burritos!
Man, I NEED to visit Portland. now.
Love,
Lost in LA
Wow that looks awesome!! I wish a vegan place would open up here in my town (NJ suburb only 30 mins from NYC)…I feel like there would definitely be a market for it. It seems like there a lot of health conscious people in my town.
I’m so glad you’re blogging again! and I SO want to move to Portland, where they actually have vegan food in restaurants, and get out of this MN tundra …ugh…
I’ll Nom! Nom! In fact, if you want to save the postage, I’ll drop by and pick them up on my way home in August.
Can’t wait for Saturday food-feasting in Portland again!! Black Sheep here we come!!
Oh, you Portlanders are so very lucky! At least you all seem to realize how lucky you are so the rest of us can still like you!!
how thankful i am to live in portland!
Oooh, Portland. How I love thee. Sometimes it feels like the short end of the stick living in Olympia – right between Seattle and Portland… so close all the time to vegan gluttony, and yet so far.
The buttons are supercute.
oh lucky you ! Portland is like the Disney World of veganism. if the weather wasn’t so great in FL, i’d move there in a heartbeat.
“a day in the life” rocks so hard! i love that song, “when i’m sixty four”, and “i’m only sleeping” – easily three of my top 25 Beatles songs (i have so many favorites – it’s so hard to pick just 25!)! hooray for The Beatles!!!
there’s so much awesomeness in this post i don’t even know where to begin…..
we live in richmond & there are two veggie/veggie places to eat around here, actually – there’s one totally vegan chinese restaurant, too. i’m happy to have three rock’n places that i can easily order vegan yummies from, but i am soooooooooo superjealousfaced of all the awesomeness that portland has to offer. my heart hurts a little when i think of all the yumminess i’m missing out on. nom nom nom! i swear, dan & i will leave our dog with my parents one day for a weekend and fly out there just to feast on all the vegan gloriousness portland has to offer. fo ‘sho!
free tattoo saturdays sounds like pretty much the most bad ass thing ever! except for those rock’n buttons – they’re pretty bad ass, too – and i’d love to rock a set of them!
i feel like i’ve got a sugar rush just from looking at all the yummies Black Sheep has to offer. vegan chocolates to keep you on track with your resolution, too – hot damn! and all-vegan taqueria!?! how do they say this, “be still my heart!” you tell those all-vegan taqueria peeps that they rock because #1 – all vegan = the best & #2. they have paper plates instead of styrofoam or plastic and that makes me heart go squeeeeeee! biodegradable = the best!
oh how lucky you are! I miss portland and its goodies. Love the Beatles, that is one of my favorite songs.
How cute are those buttons??
So glad you’re back to blogging, by the way. I’m a long-time reader, not-so-regular commenter.
Those buttons are so cute! And, man, am I jealous of your vegan taco place–those look amazing! And now I am craving tacos…
Courtney
All vegan Mexican food! Wow. I’m not sure about in Portland, but everywhere else, vegan Mexican is really hard to come by. It must be nice to waltz in without worrying about lard! And something I’ve wondered about Portland: Are there just a lot of vegans there who like to open up new restaurants, or are the restaurant owners mostly omnis who realize they can make more bucks by catering exclusively to vegans? Either way, you guys are so lucky with all your vegan options!
Black Sheep’s chocolates do look tempting… My waistline is probably slightly glad that it doesn’t have those kind of treats so easily accessible!
I think it’s a fair mixture of veggie people who open restaurants and then omni’s who are hip to it. Like with Gorditos, their regular truck serves meat and cheese, but the family is vegetarian and then the vegans started pouring in, so their vegan menu is far longer than their omni offerings.
Meow meow meow…
I can’t believe I still haven’t tried that taco truck! what is wrong with me? Thanks for the tips about the seitan of greatness. Can’t wait to see you!
part of the reason i moved to portland was because of the amazing vegan options and what i thought would be an amazing vegan community. i feel like i’m missing out on it!
i only personally know two vegans (plenty of vegetarians though thankfully!)–but i know there are more out there! i read their blogs lol.
i have good feelings there are more…psu has a vegan group. i get really shy, so it’s hard for me to meet new people >.<
but it is amazing how open omni’s are to vegetarian/vegan cuisine!