The Portland 100

Kinda couldn't resist. I'm bolding everything I have had. I'm technically supposed to cross anything out I would never try, but while there's certainly vegan foods I prefer over others, even though I'm not a huge fan of fake meats or cheeses or even tofu really, I've been known to eat them out, and there's virtually nothing vegan I won't try once.

Here's how it works:

1) Copy this list into your own blog, Facebook or website, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5) Pass it on!


1. Fries with spicy tofu sauce at Dots
2. $1 Corndog from Hungry Tiger Too
3. Chick-o-Stick doughnut from Voodoo Doughnuts
4. Tiramisu from Portobello
5. Vegan Mulita from Gorditos or Gorditos II
6. Nanotear Ham and Cheeze sandwich from Tube
7. Milkshake from Sip
8. Gnocchi from Portobello
9. Caramel Nut Bar from Sweetpea Baking Co. (I don't think so, but the danishes rock me.)
10. Soft serve from Blossoming Lotus
11. Local cherry tomatoes from a farmers market
12. Dong Po Tofu from Bay Leaf
13. Jerked chickun from Assase Ital
14. A Big Big Lunch Special from an Indian cart
15. Soy latte made with Stumptown espresso
16. A crappy tofu scramble
17. Cornmeal pizza from Dove Vivi
18. Weeping Tiger sandwich from Bye & Bye
19. Bye & Bye or Floor Punch from Bye & Bye
20. A Bowl meal from a cart
21. Vegan nutella from Freddy's hazelnuts
22. Soy curls in bulk from Food Fight or Proper Eats
23. Buffalo wings from Vita
24. The weekday vegan pancakes from Laurelthirst
25. Maple vegan sausage waffle from Flavourspot
26. Drunken noodles with pepper steak from Thai Food Cafe
27. Macnocheeto from Homegrown Smoker
28. Veggie platter from an Ethiopian restaurant
29. Blackberries picked from a public place
30. Baba Ganouj from Ya Hala
31. Coconut Mashed Yams from Papa G’s
32. Butternut Squash Wontons from Hungry Tiger Too
33. Vegan slice from Bella Faccia
34. Apple pie from Whiffies
35. Chili dog from Zach’s Shack
36. Vegan poutine from Potato Champion
37. Missionary Chocolate Truffle
38. Apron Activists 4-Course Dinner
39. Hot Wok at New Seasons
40. Che Guevara Burrito from Laughing Planet
41. Bryan’s Bowl from Por Que No?
42. Pad Thai from Pad Thai Kitchen
43. Cupcake from a stand at Last Thursday
44. The Giant Pancake at Hungry Tiger Too
45. TLP from Red & Black Cafe
46. Cornmeal tempeh plate from Proper Eats
47. Tofu Po Boy at Palm State Gumbo
48. Maple Walnut Scone from Back to Eden
49. Vegan Mezza platter from a Lebanese restaurant
50. Crispy eggplant from Fujin
51. Lemongrass Tofu Sticks from Van Hanh
52. Tofu Salad Bun at Pho PDX
53. Cocktail made with local liquor
54. Biscuits and Gravy from Paradox
55. Smoky soy curls from Homegrown Smoker
56. Field Roast sausage
57. Secret Aardvark Hot Sauce
58. Toddbot's Triangles
59. Local microbrew
60. Hot Lips soda
61. Herb Crusted Tofu with Mushroom Marsala from The Farm Cafe
62. Had a picnic in Laurelhurst Park
63. Burrito from Shelley's Honkin Huge Burritos
64. Eggplant tibs from Bete Lukas
65. Tator Tots before noon or after midnight
66. Lone Ranger from Chaos Cafe
67. Sunday brunch at Sweetpea!
68. Tofu at a BBQ place (for example Derby Mustard Sauce Tofu at Russel Street BBQ)
69. Mint Fava Falafel at Nightlight Lounge
70. An unexciting hummus plate at a bar.
71. Vegan meatball sub from Aalto Lounge
72. Koi Fusion spicy tofu tacos
73. Veggie dog from the Vegi dog stand
74. Sesame chicken from a vegetarian Chinese restaurant
75. Bagel with Bacun Scallion cream cheese from Sweetpea
76. Vegan savoury crepe
77. Veggie kibbeh
78. Club Vegan at Backspace
79. Ice cream sundae from Back to Eden
80. Raw fudge from Blossoming Lotus
81. Tempeh reuben
82. Pause vegan burger
83. Vegan ribs
84. Something baked with local marionberries
85. Veggie bento box
86. Dave's Killer Bread
87. Higher Taste Buzzitos
88. Thai food that the server swears is vegan, but you taste fish sauce
89. Elephant ear from the Saturday Market
90. Dovetail sticky bun
91. Savory pie from Nicholas restaurant
92. Salad rolls from the Just Thai cart
93. Vegan torta from Gorditos II
94. Nutritional yeast on your popcorn at a movie theater
95. Vegan grilled cheese from The Grilled Cheese Grill
96. Pasilla burrito from El Nutri
97. Something from the vegetarian menu at Andina
98. Vegan Steak and Cheese from D.C. Vegetarian
99. Dragon Noodles at Red & Black Cafe
100. Falafel from Wolf & Bears

Quick PDX Vegan Reuben News

I have a few more posts lined up, waiting for when I have time to fine-tune them, but I wanted to alert you all to that fact that, according to a photo text message from my former roommate, the Fuel Cafe in Portland now serves a Field Roast Reuben--only the second time I've heard of one being served in a restaurant, the first being that place in Seattle. However, it seems as though Grand Central has taken their tofuben (which I sadly never got to try my hand at veganizing) out of rotation as a winter seasonal special. All which makes me ask, what will be in store when I return to Portland for Christmas?

TRUEBEN: Vegan Reuben at the Remedy Diner (Raleigh, NC)

Veggie Reuben. Marinated tempeh grilled on buttered rye topped with avocado, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing, dill pickles, and melted swiss. 8.95 Make vegan for 2.50 extra.

They were out of vegan cheese, so I got it sans cheese, and paid 1.25 extra for vegan dressing. I didn't mind they were out of cheese---in fact, prior to ordering I was wondering why it cost so much to veganize, and was contemplating asking for no cheese if that was the only change. I found it surprising that they bother having a vegan and a non-vegan dressing, and that they charge so much for a vegan one. B. and I are not big fans of vegan cheese anyway, so if we were in charge of the menu, we'd eliminate non-vegan dressing (can you really tell the difference?) and the vegan cheese option.

Still, this is North Carolina, and it is very nice to have a restaurant with such extensive vegan options, and one which makes veganization so easy and worry-free, even if it comes with a high price tag. The Reuben was already one of the most expensive sandwiches on the menu; for example, the Vegan Chicken Salad was only 7.50 and about the same amount of food.

As for the sandwich itself, I was neither disappointed nor impressed. It was a familiar, flavorful sandwich. The dressing was mostly Veganaise, somewhat creamy, and the avocado, as always, was welcome. Though the Remedy Diner will add a pickle spear on the side upon request, no extra charge, the Reuben actually has sliced dill pickles on it, in addition to the kraut, which I liked. The tempeh was marinated. Though not overly flavorful, it was sliced into smaller pieces, which B. and I have come to prefer over the uniform slab. The bread was a light caraway rye, extremely thin and crispy, but still servicable. All in all, it reminded me of many sandwiches I've had in Portland, albeit with a heftier price tag.



The Remedy Diner is a restaurant I may return to, or would if I lived in Raleigh, if not for the sandwiches and make-your-own salads, then for the beer on tap and the vegan key lime and coconut cream pies. But I would be much more enticed if they revised their pricing structure. $1.25 for a single slice of vegan cheese, and another $1.25 for egg-free dressing, when sandwiches that appear to be mostly cheese (like the Cheese Foccacia sandwich) are only $1.25 extra to veganize, doesn't seem to make much sense.

All in all, B. and I give this a solid 3. For a vegan visiting Raleigh, it's worth a try, and I must promote any establishment where a vegan can order with peace of mind (though this restaurant also has extensive, traditional "omni" diner food for your pastrami-loving friends). The location right in downtown is convenient for museum-going, people-watching or a night out. Plus, the atmosphere was kind of hip and the service was nice, and they have $1.50 cans of PBR. Hell, it was almost as if we were dining in Portland (except for the nice service, of course).

The Remedy Diner
137 E. Hargett St.
Raleigh, NC
Marinated tempeh reuben, with corn chips and house Pico de Gallo on the side.
Rating: 3

Back to School Reuben Round-Up

I'm back in North Carolina, with a fast internet connection and quite a backlog of vegan reuben news.

Let's start with the restaurant reviews. Fort Collins vegans are encouraged to check out Tasty Harmony, which, in addition to tempeh reubens, is bringing jackfruit Mexican-style food to the people.

A somewhat perplexingly named article ("Southwest" does not refer to an arid region of the United States, but maybe a neighborhood in the Twin Cities?), points Minnesotans and visitors towards some good vegetarian eats, including our ubiquitous friend, the tempeh reuben.

And yet another news item from Detroit. The Russell Street Deli doesn't have a TRUEBEN, but the article alone seems like a resource worth sharing.

If you're one of the lucky and have tried the Radical Reuben from the Chicago Diner, and are hankering to reproduce it at home, The Urban Housewife reveals the company behind their seitan, Upton Naturals.

In the blogs, aside from the attempted veganization of a vegetarian reuben in Tampa, Chicago and California get all the attention. Happy Herbivore joins the ranks of Radical Reuben samplers. Portland has a lot of vegan reubens, but Los Angeles has actual reuben wars! Meanwhile, Green LA Girl also opines about Chicago eats, and C'est La Vegan checks out Follow Your Heart. In case you were wondering, Sick of Lettuce confirms that the new Daiya cheese goes great on a reuben. Clearly, Portland Vegan Reubens needs to take some fact-finding missions to Chicago and L.A.

Finally, this article wins my heart for multiple reasons---not only does it reveal that a vegan reuben exists not all that far from where I currently live, but touts public transit as well! Oh, Indy. Good for so many reasons. Look for a review of the Remedy's TRUEBEN in the near future. Here's another review of the Remedy Diner, for good measure.

Veganization: Vegetarian Reuben at Cup and Saucer

Sometimes, you just have to take one for the team.

I enjoy the fact that this blog is very specific. And I have a goal that it be very comprehensive as well -- meaning that I not only review every vegan reuben in Portland, but do my best to veganize every vegetarian reuben in Portland. This goal sent me to such unlikely places as the Goose Hollow, where I ingested a very dry vegetable and sauerkraut sandwich. Obviously, you draw the line somewhere. I would never blog about a sandwich that was basically just sauerkraut on rye. But when you hear that a place like the Cup and Saucer offers a tofu reuben, this being an establishment that is pretty vegan-friendly and well-loved by many brunching stumptownie, you feel compelled to go forth and document. It makes me a little jealous of sites like Stumptown Vegans, who probably only feel compelled to go out and review vegan food that is potentially good. But I console myself by thinking that I am still doing a service for the vegans and vegetarians out there by investigating even the less promising possibilities.

But I was certainly not excited. You won't even hear B.'s take on this sandwich, as I didn't force him to sample it (he doesn't like tofu much to begin with). I heard about the reuben when I led the vegan pub crawl ride for Pedalpalooza about a year ago. Someone on the ride heard about this blog and told me about a really bad tofu reuben they'd had. "I think the tofu was like, steamed or something." I think my response was, "Nooo! Why did you tell me? Now I have to go eat it and review it." Back in Portland for perhaps the last time in awhile, I made it over to the Cup and Saucer's northeast location.



The vegetarian reuben is described as a vegetarian version of their classic reuben, with the meat replaced by tofu. I already knew the dressing was not vegan, so when the waitress said, "So you are basically getting a tofu and sauerkraut sandwich on toasted rye," I didn't bat an eye. To her credit, she was nice about it. Note that she clarified about buttering the bread or not -- something to keep in mind if you are ordering at hot sandwich at this joint. I was already eying the various hot sauces on the table as candidates to doctor this bland meal. I also asked for stoneground mustard on the side, and she brought me a whole squeeze bottle. The sandwich is $8.50, and I do respect that you can have soup, salad or fries on the side, though the soup of the day is not always vegan. I asked for sherry vinaigrette on my salad, expecting it to come out in a little cup so I could maybe drizzle a little on the sandwich and see if subbing a vegan dressing for the Thousand Islands might work -- unfortunately the salad came already dressed and the dressing was either really bland or of a small quantity, because I could barely taste it.





To be honest, after my first bite, my initial impression was that it was not as bad I was expecting. The bread and kraut were fine. Unfortunately, the tofu was essentially a thin slab that had apparently just been lightly browned on the grill. This is a good example of the failing of many a vegetarian reuben (less so TRUEBENS, I think): YOU CANNOT JUST REPLACE THE CORNED BEEF WITH SOME RANDOM PROTEIN. Many vegetarian reubens rely on the cheese and dressing to essentially mask the lack of flavor. This is a cop-out and not respectable at all. I'm not saying all vegetarian reubens must be just as good vegan -- they are, after all, vegetarian reubens, not vegan reubens. But it's really lazy to just slap a random bland vegetable or protein on there (for example, the tomato vegetarian reuben at the Widmer pub in North Portland), and call it good. No wonder so many meat-eaters scorn vegetarian food.

But anyway, yes, the first bite was not as bad as expected. Of course, I had already slathered that portion of the sandwich with mustard. The pure tofu and kraut and rye bite was pretty horrible. I ended up employing both Aardvark and Chipotle Tabasco hot sauce to make it edible. The salad was generous, and fine, aside from the bland dressing.

So the lesson...if you are vegan, never order this sandwich. If you are vegetarian, you should probably never order this sandwich was well. Go for a tofu scramble or a vegan cornmeal pancake or even the veggie burger, which is cheaper and sounds a lot more appetizing, even if it is a Boca patty or something. And if you think you would like to try your hand at your own vegan or vegetarian reuben, learn from the mistakes of the Cup and Saucer. Be thoughtful about your meat replacement. Marinate!

Cup and Saucer
Locations in NE and SE Portland
$8.50 for a tofu reuben with side salad, soup or fries, leave off dressing and cheese.
Rating: 1

TRUEBEN: Darth Reuben at the Georgetown Liquor Company, Seattle, WA

I first heard about the Georgetown Liquor Company, a bar in South Seattle with many vegan and vegetarian options, through a review in The Stranger, Seattle's alternative weekly. The sandwich sounded awesome -- the first time I'd heard of someone utilizing the "artisan" fake meat Field Roast in a reuben (but of course, not the first time the combo had occurred to me). The review praised the vegetarian version, and noted that it was available with vegan cheese. B. and I dropped in on the place on our way up to Canada -- it reminded me of a smaller, dive-ier Backspace. They had a few arcade games, a pin ball machine, and three or four game systems hooked up to TVs for patrons to use. It's essentially a dark, hip bar with a pretty large food menu. We split the Darth Reuben and the house vegan burger over a couple of Pabst.



The Darth Reuben (all the sandwiches reference sci-fi movies or TV shows) is Roasted Tomato Field Roast and kraut on marble rye with "remoulade" and cheese (sub vegan). It's 10 bucks, kinda pricey in my book, but probably normal for Seattle. You can choose a cup of soup, salad or chips and salsa as a side -- a cup of soup alone runs 4.50, chips 3, so maybe this justifies the price. And the sandwich is large. I certainly wasn't disappointed with the portions. (The veggie burger was smaller -- maybe this is why they felt compelled to add a pickle spear on the side. No pickle with the reuben, though.).

The sandwich looked fantastic, and with the extremely dark lighting in the bar, I'm surprised the pictures turned out as well as they did. Though it took the bartender a few moments to take our order and then bring us our beers, the sandwiches came out very quickly. In my mind, the bread was probably the best aspect of the sandwich. It was a square marble rye yet thick cut and crusty -- an artisan marble rye? It was thick and crispy with hints of caraway. I was as pleased with the Field Roast, as I expected I would be. Flavorful with a dense, meaty texture, it's a great stand in for corned beef -- maybe a little too dense and chewy. The only thing about the sandwich I wasn't so sure of was the dressing. It was plentiful and not bad, but much sweeter and tangier than I am used to. It reminded me of Kraft's California dressing. B. also was iffy on the dressing. He liked the bread, but he wanted more kraut to balance the Field Roast. I didn't expect to complain about too much Field Roast, as many places will skimp on stuff like this, but I found myself agreeing. More kraut would have balanced the sandwich a bit more. B. also thought this vegan cheese here was not as good as that at Liquid Earth -- so far we haven't been too excited about vegan cheese on reubens, as usually it is barely detectable and completely bland. Liquid Earth somehow managed to offer a melty vegan cheese that really added to the sandwich.



Though B. seemed less than impressed -- truthfully, I think the Liquid Earth tofu reuben is the only sandwich that trumps tempeh in his book -- I thought this was a hearty, flavorful and creative sandwich, and so I give it at least a 3. In any case, Georgetown Liquor Company is worth a stop for any vegan on their way north from Portland -- the enticing menu, with truly a wealth of vegan options, is excuse enough, if not the booze.

June Reuben Round-Up

June rolls around and despite being in India, and thus half a day ahead of the U.S., I'm still posting a bit late. Blame slow internet and infuriating internet cafe keyboards. There's a lot going on this month in the vegan reuben arena. Unfortunately, what I've got is mostly a bunch of links-- reviews from other cities, blog posts, the usual, and the "broadband" here is just not up to snuff. So I'll have to postpone until I can get a faster connection.

Check back in a week or two---I've got a couple reviews and recipe stashed away.