Milwaukee, WI

In the land of cheese and beer, I have surprisingly found a lot of options for vegan dining. Most places in Milwaukee are going to only have vegan options, so they end up being great places that you go with any of your non-vegan friends, and hopefully influence them. I am in Milwaukee a lot for work and I am always finding new places to eat all over the city and in the surrounding communities. Almost every place listed here is going to be a great place to hang out with friends, share good food and have plenty of drinks! There are a couple of web references for vegetarian/vegan restaurants: http://www.veganmilwaukee.com/restaurants.html is a nice place to start for general information. http://www.yanoff.org/veg/vegRestaurants.shtml is a family run blog style website that I get a lot of information on personal experiences at the places listed. I have never been disappointed with the places I’ve chosen based on the Yanoff site.

Bel Air Cantina - 1935 North Water Street,  Milwaukee, WI 53202  414-226-2245

http://belaircantina.com/

Bel Air Cantina’s website states that it is “Mexican Done Right”. I have only tried it once and was very pleased and will definitely be going back. However, being from New Mexico, nothing really compares to authentic New Mexican food. This place is owned by the same people that run Comet Café, Honey Pie and The Palomino Bar (which you will see below), so it was a no-brainer to try this place. The majority of their menu is not vegan friendly, but there are a few Taco/Tostada and Burrito options. This place is fairly new and the bartender couldn’t tell me, with certainty, which of the burritos was vegan, but it looked there was one that you could get without cheese that would be completely vegan. I went with the Tofu Yucatan. You have a choice of corn or flour tortillas, so I tried one of each. Both were equally good and messy. All tacos/tostadas are ordered a la carte and then you have a few sides to choose from, if you want. Their refried black beans were fairly good as a side. The only thing I wish I had tried was one of their margaritas. They have a large menu of options, but I was in a beer mood this night. Will definitely be back here next time I am in town.

Café Manna - 3815 N. Brookfield Rd, Brookfield, WI  260-790-2340

http://cafemanna.com/

This is the only all vegetarian restaurant that I know of in the Milwaukee area. If you are staying in, or near downtown, this is a little bit of a drive, but well worth it. Their menu changes seasonally and I have rarely had the same thing twice. Their menu is clearly marked which items are vegan, gluten free and/or raw. The restaurant itself is the first “green” certified restaurant in the state and has a very pleasant aura. The staff are all very friendly and know the menu items very well. You are always presented with some sort of pita chips and hummus as a free appetizer along with lemon water. The first thing I ever tried here was the Lentil Meatloaf and I was hooked on the cooking from the first bite. I’ve been there almost every trip I make to Milwaukee and my latest favorite is the Tu-No Melt sandwich (this is the only menu item I have had more than once, mainly because the other items are not on the menu any longer). I have also tried the Raw “BLT”, where the “B” was dehydrated mushroom and couldn’t wait to get home to try replicating the sandwich.

Portland, OR

Portland is a vegan mecca. There is a wide variety of dining and shopping options. During the week, there are several Vegetarian/Vegan only restaurants to choose from. The downtown area is known for its food carts, which can be seen taking over open blocks and scattered throughout different blocks. Saturdays would be the best day to wander the downtown area, trying various places to indulge. Walking downtown is the best way to experience the Portland area and make sure that you make at least one stop at Powell’s bookstore. It’s a book lover’s heaven. Sunday can be a challenging day to be vegan in Portland. Most of the vegetarian/vegan places and all of the food carts are closed.

The following website can be a starting point for looking up places to go: http://www.vegportland.com/

I am not sure how often this webpage is updated. I found a few places listed that are no longer open and came across a few of my own places that were not listed at all.

Habibi – 1012 SW Morrison, Portland, OR 97204  503-274-0628

http://www.habibirestaurantpdx.com/

This is a great Syrian-Lebanese restaurant that is located in the downtown area. We stumbled across this place on a Sunday, while we were trying and failing to find places to eat via Google searches. This did not come up on any searches and we happened to walk by it and knew that we could at least get some hummus.

It only took us 5 seconds to look at the menu and know that we found the place to be. Their entire menu is broken down into sections that the chef credits to different family members. Basically, recipes from home. Each section is then broken down into Vegan, Vegetarian and Meat items. Most of the Vegetarian items can be made vegan by excluding certain ingredients.

We started off with the Habibi lemonade with fresh mint, which sounded like it would be this amazing, fresh lemonade. It was refreshing, but didn’t seem to be anything special and we’re not even sure it was made fresh. We started with the Baba Ghannouj, which I thought was pretty decent, but the hummus that I got on my main dish blew it away. The Vegan Mezza platter was a great way to sample a few of their items.

The Herbivore Clothing Co. – 1211 SE Stark St., Portland, OR 97214  503-281-TOFU

http://www.herbivoreclothing.com/

A great vegan clothing store with a wide selection of clothing and accessories that we find next door to the Sweetpea Baking Co. The store is amazing, but you can also place orders online. Will be proudly wearing my “Eating Meat is Fucking Up the Planet” shirt. The “Praise Seitan” merchandise is also a must have.

Hopworks  Urban Brewery – 2944 SE Powell Blvd, Portland, OR 97202  503-232-HOPS

http://www.hopworksbeer.com/

Any eco-friendly, beer loving person should check out this Eco-Brewery. All the beers are organic, using local ingredients and the entire business is as “green” as can be. Full details of construction and sustainability can be read on their website. I was first turned on to this place from a TV spot on the show “Drinking Made Easy” and knew that it would be a stop on my next trip to Portland.

From a food perspective, there are only a few vegan options. There is a sandwich and a wrap that are designated as being vegan and one vegan appetizer. They seem to really focus on pizza and you can either order one of the two veggie pizzas and substitute Daiya cheese, or you can build your own pizza. There is even a marinated tofu topping option. We had the Gatherer pizza with Daiya cheese and it was simply amazing. It is covered with large pieces of marinated artichoke hearts and whole roasted garlic, among other toppings.

Hungry Tiger Too – 207 SE 12^th Ave, Portland, OR 97214  503-228-4321

I love dive bars, especially when they server vegan food. This place has a separate vegan menu along with their regular menu, so all of your non-vegan friends will feel just as welcome. To start, we had the vegan Wontons, which were highlighted on the menu, for obvious reason. I will get these everytime. The vegan Corn Dogs with Tater Tots were totally calling my name, but I tried the BBQ Tempeh sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries instead. It was a very good sandwich, but I left wishing I had tried something else. The BBQ sauce was a little sweet for my taste. We also tried one of their burgers with a marinated Portobello mushroom. This turned out to be quite a mess, like any good “burger” should, but we suggest getting it without any “cheese”.

Portabello – 1125 SE Division St, Portland, OR 97202  503-754-5993

http://portobellopdx.com/wordpress/

All vegan Italian inspired restaurant using local, organic ingredients. The menu is always changing, based on availability of local ingredients. This was the first place we ate when getting to Portland. We were there a few minutes before 5:30pm, which is their opening time and found there was already a line at the door, so we decided to take a walk through the Ladd’s Circle Park and Rose Gardens neighborhood, which is a highly suggested journey. There are some very cool houses and landscaping to see and it’s a good way to work up an appetite. When we got back, there was already a wait time and the hostess just took down our phone number and called when our table was ready. It gave us a little more time to walk around and work up more of an appetite. The restaurant is fairly small and they fill the room up with dining space, so there is really not much of a waiting area. If the wait is too long, there is a nice coffee shop at the Circle Drive of the Rose Garden. A good way to keep warm, when there is a little chill in the air and they even have some vegan snacks to choose from, if your wait at the restaurant is too long.

We started with some Organic Teas, although there is a wide variety of Wines and Beer. For an appetizer, we tried the Spicy Polenta with Sundried Tomatoes and Tomato-Basil Sauce, which has now become one of my favorite ways to have Polenta. For dinner, we shared the Pan Crisped Potato Gnocchi (Roast Fennel, Peppers, Broccolini, and Tomato-Basil Sauce) and the Pan Roasted Portobello (Olive Oil Whipped Yukon Golds, Greens and Pan Jus). This was a hard choice, since the Pizza menu was calling our name. (At the end of dinner, we decided to order the Arrabiata Pizza (Italian Sausage, Cherry Peppers, Chili-Fennel Marinara, Cashew Cream and Basil) to go and had that for breakfast the next morning.) Both the Gnocchi and Portobello dishes were amazing. To end the night, we tried their Crème Brule, which was fantastic.

If in the Portland area, do not miss a trip to this place. Just know that they are closed on Sundays and Mondays and only open for dinner.

Sweetpea Baking Co. – 1205 SE Stark St., Portland OR 97214  503-447-5916

http://sweetpeabaking.com/

This is an all vegan bakery that we stumbled upon while walking around waiting to meet a friend at Hungry Tiger Too. We had some time to kill, so decided to stop in for some pie or cake. It was late in the day, so the selections were very limited, but we had an amazing slice of Coconut Cake. We also grabbed some cookies to go and I can’t wait to go back when they have fresh bagels. The girl at the counter said that some of their tofu spreads are awesome also.

Taqueria Los Gorditos – 1212 SE Division St., Portland, OR

Noticed this place while walking around waiting for our table at Portobello and noticed that they have Vegan Mexican food options. Being from the Southwest, I love me some vegan Mexican dishes. It is located cross-corner from Portobello and there is a cool looking bar that is open to the air next door. If you can’t handle the wait at Portobello, this might be a good alternative, without having to drive and park somewhere else. On the web, it says that this is the restaurant version of the Los Gorditos food carts, which are very popular in Portland.

Vita Café – 3023 NE Alberta, Portland, OR (Alberta Art District) 503-335-8233

http://www.vita-cafe.com/

Not to be confused with Caffe Vita coffee shops that are all over Portland. This is a predominantly Vegetarian/Vegan restaurant that also serves free-range and organic meats, eggs, etc. and a must stop on any trip to Portland. Their website has a huge amount of information regarding healthy lifestyles and the effects of food choices on the environment. They also donate 1% of their sales to environmental groups.

I am a huge fan of breakfast meals, so I would suggest Breakfast/Lunch/Brunch timeframe. I had an extremely hard time choosing a dish, so I had two and can’t wait to go back to try more. We had Mexican Corn Cakes with a side of Morning Potatoes. The Corn Cake was amazing and comes with an assortment of toppings to add to it’s already delicious flavor. We also had the Huevos Rancheros with Tofu and a side of Biscuits and Almond Gravy. Being from the Southwest, I would have preferred the Huevos Rancheros a little different, but they were very tasty, just not what I’m used to. The spotlight for me was the Almond Gravy over the Biscuit. I will definitely order this every time I am there. We ended up rolling out of this place and definitely needed to walk around the block to get things moving through us.

Seattle, WA

Seattle, WA is a very vegan friendly town, with many dining and shopping options scattered throughout the city. The following website is a great starting point: http://www.seattlevegan.com/

The webpage is divided into sections that are vegan only, vegan friendly, vegetarian, etc. The biggest challenge with Seattle is finding parking for most places. The best places to eat are in areas where you may find yourself circling blocks in search for a spot to test your parallel parking skills.

Hillside Quickie’s Vegan Sandwich Shop – 4106 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105  206-632-3037

http://www.hillsidequickie.com/

An all vegan sandwich shop, that is not actual very “quick”. It’s a nice little dive shop, that serves very large, messy sandwiches. You will order your food at the counter, when the guy has time to step away from cooking and find out what you want. All the cooking is done right there behind the counter. There are menus on the counter, but all the other options are listed on the boards on the wall behind the counter. At the time we were went, there was only one guy taking orders, cooking and serving food, so it took a long time to get our food. The Fremont Philly was very messy, just like any Philly sandwich should be. I wouldn’t have called it a Philly sandwich because of the ingredients used and the way it was served, but it was still an extremely good sandwich with something called yease sauce.  They also make vegan milkshakes that are very tasty!

In The Bowl – 1554 E. Olive Way, Seattle, WA 98102  506-568-2343

http://inthebowlbistro.com/

This is one of my favorite vegan places in Seattle. It’s an all vegan Asian Noodle Bistro. I have never had a bad meal, or experience here. It’s located in the Capital Hill area of town and it can be very tricky to find parking, which could help pass the time to work up more of an appetite. It is also a fairly small restaurant and there really is nowhere to wait if it is full. You will also want to be prepared to sit very close to other diners, but it gives it a very cozy environment. Service is always very good here. The Spring Rolls or Pot Stickers are great ways to start off. If they have the Pumpkin Curry, you definitely want to order it. It is a seasonal dish, so it won’t always be available and is not listed on the menu. We happened to see it listed on a sign on the wall one time. The first dish I heard about is the Yakisoba and should be something everyone should try. If you are bringing your carnivore friends with you, this is a good dish to have them try. They may not even know that they are eating fake “meat”.

Pizza Pi – 5500 University Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105  206-343-1415

http://www.pizza-pi.net/

Pizza Pi is an all vegan pizza place in the University District. I love pizza and was extremely excited to find an all vegan one here. Whether you are trying a vegetarian/garden variety or full on fake meat pie, you really can’t go wrong with any of the pizzas on the menu. You can also build your own. I’m typically not a fan of soy cheeses, but was pleasantly surprised to see them offer Daiya cheese as an alternative, which just seems better suited for pizzas. You will not see this option on the menu and will have to specifically ask for it. I have heard that their sauce is not the best, but I have had no problem with it personally. They do have a few options that use a White Garlic Sauce and a few with a Pesto Sauce. There are also a wide variety of Salads, Calzone options and Sammiches. The Artichoke Spinach dip is a must have appetizer and the Calzone Poppers aren’t a bad way to start either.

Sidecar For Pigs Peace grocery store – corner of 55^th and University Way

http://sidecarforpigspeace.com/main/index.html

Washington State’s only all vegan grocery store that is owned by the Pigs Peace Sanctuary (http://pigspeace.org/main/index.html). They carry everything from basic vegan groceries to clothing and other merchandise. There is a lot of information about the Pig Sanctuary that I can’t wait to visit when it is open to the public again. If you don’t make it to the grocery store, at least go out to see the pigs when you are here.

Teapot Vegetarian House – 345 15^th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112  206-325-1010

http://www.teapotvegetarianhouse.com/

The Teapot was the first vegan restaurant I ever tried in Seattle and immediately loved it. I was told that I needed to try the cheesecake, but was too full after my first dinner there. I definitely went back to try it another time and have to agree that it is a must have. The Asian Fries are also a must have appetizer. I don’t think I’ve been there without ordering them. The Kung Pao and Sweet and Spicy Eggplant are fantastic dishes. You will definitely want to try their Curry dishes, especially if they are serving their Pumpkin Curry, which is seasonal. My favorite to date is the Teapot Curry Loaf, which is served in a “bowl” of sour dough bread. Oh, and don’t forget about the cheesecake!

Thrive – 1026 NE 65^th St, #A-102, Seattle, WA 98115  206-525-0300

http://generationthrive.com/

I have not had the chance to visit Thrive yet, due to not knowing about it until I was close to leaving the city on my last trip. This looks like the most healthy restaurant that I have ever come across and can’t wait to visit them. It will be first on my list of places to go next time I’m here. If this isn’t enough to convince you to go, look at their website and you will be sold.

Wayward Vegan Café – 5253 University Way NE, Seattle, WA  206-524-0204

http://www.waywardvegancafe.com/

I have a feeling that I will spend a lot of time at this place every time I’m in Seattle. It is only open for breakfast and lunch, closing at 4pm every day. Most of their menu is breakfast, which suits me perfectly. I always have a hard time finding good vegan breakfasts. We found out about this place, so I’ve only been there once, but it was a great experience.  We grabbed menus and sat down to browse options for about 10 minutes. When we went to the counter to order, they had fresh baked cinnamon rolls and had to have one. This proved to be one of the best vegan cinnamon rolls I’ve had. We had the Breakfast Burrito and Mexi-Biscuit, which ended up being very good. If you like vegan sausage patties, both of these are dishes are great.

zpizza – 1620 Broadway Ave, Seattle, WA 98122  206-432-9158

http://www.zpizza.com/

Another place that I have not had a chance to visit yet, due to not finding out about their vegan options until I was doing research and on my way out of town. I may have mentioned that I like pizza, so am really excited to try this place on my next visit. I hear that they have amazing pizza and may even be able to convince a certain non-vegan person to take me there. The seattlevegan webpage lists several ways to veganize the pizzas here if you get there before I do.

General Information

I am a 4 year vegan / 10 year vegetarian, that has always had a hard time finding places to eat when I am traveling for work and/or pleasure. I typically spend hours/days browsing the web, looking for places that I can eat. My goal here is to compile a list of everything vegan as I travel and keep my postings up to date with new information.

I have many interests and will also be commenting on various pop culture topics. Feel free to email me with any suggestions and/or comments.