Eating Vegan in Portland

If you are ever in Portland, I would highly recommend eating at Vita Cafe on NE Alberta. This is now my new favorite eating spot! Everything I tried here was amazingly tasty - and not greasy! They are mainly vegetarian and vegan and have a wide selection of tofu and tempeh dishes. Their sandwiches are absolutely delicious (the vegan club sandwich is pictured above) and they also have a wide selection of vegan salad dressings. This is a great place to take fellow omnivores because even they will be able to find something wonderful here. Ashley had the vegan chili burger and couldn't get enough.


I had read about Vita Cafe a few years ago in an article in Vegetarian Times. Vita Cafe was voted to have the best vegan mac & cheese in the Pacific Northwest. After many vegan mac & cheese disasters of my own, I was skeptical, but they blew my skepticism out of the water. Bottom line: this place is amazing. If you live in Portland, drop everything you are doing and go there now.

If you like Indian food, I would also recommend Indian Oven on SE Belmont. I have been here several times before and am never disappointed. Great portions, great prices, and lots of vegetarian & vegan options. Their curries are amazing and I also liked their Bhindi Masala (seasoned okra cooked with onions and spices, pictured here).


Looking for tasty vegan brunch? No sweat, head to Cup & Saucer! They have three locations, but I've only tried the one on SE Hawthorne. They have a wide variety of vegetarian and vegan scrambles, pancakes, and other tasty breakfast delights. They also serve meat and dairy if you're traveling with an omnivore crowd.

Finally, after all of your hard work finding these great restaurants and eating this amazing food, you're going to want dessert, right? That's when you need to check out Voodoo Doughnuts. I've heard about this place for years, but didn't feel compelled to go until I heard two things: 1) they have a TON of vegan doughnuts 2) their donuts are less sweet than Mighty-O. Yep, I was there in a flash.

The hype was true. They have an entire rack of vegan doughnuts - almost an overwhelming variety! As good as these doughnuts were, they were still pretty sweet (which is too sweet for me). If you're looking to please a bacon-loving friend, Voodoo Doughnuts has a bacon maple bar that left Ashley speechless. If you're looking to please a pig, keep this last one secret because the bacon maple bar seems pretty addictive. :)

Here's the insider info: The original location on SW Third Ave is always crowded with a line out the door. However, if you check out their second location on NE Davis, there's still a line, but at least here you get to wait inside.