Portland

So it was my best friend's 30th birthday last weekend so we met up in Portland, Oregon with a couple of her other friends as well.  We stayed at the Downtown Waterfront Marriott, which was conveniently located to the shopping area, which my bestie was most interested in.  However, it turns out to only be a hop, skip and a bridge from the Vegan Strip Mall I've read so much about on Quarry Girl.  Granted, it took about two days longer than expected but I finally convinced my bff to go before dropping me back at the airport.

First off, I think it's amazing that four vegan businesses have gotten together.  I will say that I was a tad disappointed with Herbivore Clothing.  While I love message t-shirts, sometimes a girl just wants a plain vegan outfit, ya know. There wasn't anything in store that you can't get online, though there is no sales tax in P-town.  Food Fight Grocery was adorable!  I stocked up on Health Valley Graham Crackers (gonna make more of Alicia's peanut butter cups!).  However, the shining winner was of course Sweetpea Baking Company.

So Kelli and I walked into the quaint adorable shop and took a look at the menu. Everything looked so good (and I have to admit that I was half starved for organic, vegan food after spending most of my weekend eating Boca burgers and french fries at heavily meaty restaurants chosen by Kelli and co) that I couldn't make up my mind.  I asked the pregnant woman behind the counter (turned out to be owner Lisa Higgins) and she recommended her namesake sandwich The Higgins.  I was sold in a minute.  Kelli ordered the hummus sandwich with lots of veggies because she's still not sold on fake meat.  I also got some potato salad and Kelli ordered a hazelnut latte.  My only minor criticism is that Lisa was a little rude, I'm not gonna lie. I wanted the whole experience to be sublime for Kelli's sake because I want her to see that I'm not deprived of anything and that vegans are not judgemental.  However, from the moment we walked in, we sorta got the cold shoulder.  Could it be my (over)enthusiam?  More likely the culprit being Kelli's leather boots and belt, or maybe she was just having an off day?  No matter, the food more than made up for it and here we go!

First off was Kelli's latte.  Sooo pretty with the leaf design on top.  In Kelli's words: "It's almost too pretty to drink."  But alas, it was delicious.  I snuck a few sips before she scooted it away to her side of the table.

So on the left is the Higgins and the right is the Hummus Sandwich.  I didn't get to try Kelli's sandwich because she ate it so quickly!  I was so happy that she enjoyed it, although she said that it had a lot of bread.  I don't know, I love bread so I don't think it would have been a problem for me.  Nevertheless, she ate everything on her plate so I have to assume that it really didn't hinder her too very much.

My sandwich was literally the best sandwich I've had as a vegan.  I love me some Reubens from Native Foods and the like, but this Italian sub was so much better.  It was wheatmeat, fake pepperoni, pepperchinis, veganiase and lettuce.  Now I don't know what kind of pepperoni they use, whether they make it in house or not, but it was PERFECT.  Unlike most vegans I know, cheese was never the hard thing for me to give up.  No, it was salami and pepperoni that I missed the most.  I have never enjoyed a sandwich so thoroughly in my life.  I WISH that they imported to Los Angeles.  The potato salad also rivals Flore.

Now that I am aware that there are so many more vegan options in Portland, Becca and I have to plan a trip up again soon.  This time the focus will be on vegan food rather than shopping and birthday partying.