Open: Via Chicago


Vegan Cheese slice

Via Chicago, who sold Chicago-style pizza at the PSU farmer’s market, opened their brick and mortar location at 20th & Alberta last week. They offer a deep-dish Vegan Cheese slice and pie (made with Daiya) and you can also build your own pie (any crust can be made vegan free of charge and gluten-free for an additional $2). Most of the salads can be made vegan by subbing balsamic and the White Bean Dip and Olive Bowl appetizers are vegan. So far none of the sandwiches are. Whole pies take about 30 minutes to bake and they offer counter service and take-out.

Via Chicago
2013 NE Alberta St, Portland, OR 97211
503.719.6809
Sun-Mon 11am-10pm, Tue-Thu 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11am-2am

photos by Food Mountain

Open: Los Gorditos Perla

After a soft opening last week, the new Pearl location of vegan-friendly taqueria Los Gorditos is now officially open. They’re across the street from Prasad and starting off with the same menu as their SE taqueria.

Taqueria Los Gorditos Perla
922 NW Davis St, Portland, OR 97209
Mon-Wed 10am-9pm, Thu-Fri 10am-12am, Sat 8am-12am, Sun 8am-6pm


Tofu Taco

photo from Los Gorditos’ website

Opening: Divine Café

A new vegetarian cart is opening on Tuesday, August 7th at the Good Food Here pod on Belmont. Divine Café was actually created in 2001 by Chef/Owner Rose Guardino and used to be in NE and then Downtown, but she took a six-year break to become the food service provider for the National College of Natural Medicine. She is coming to SE with a small menu of soups (vegan chili), salads (spinach salad with miso dressing), sandwiches (smoked tofu sandwich, tempeh reuben with locally made tempeh and vegan 1000 island dressing), mexican entrees (tacos with tempeh or tofu), and shakes (made with soy, rice, or hemp milk). Most of the sandwiches & entrees include cheese which they can sub with avocado on request.

Divine Café
4262 SE Belmont St (Good Food Here Pod), Portland, OR 97215
503.347.8093
Tue-Thu 11am-7pm, Fri-Sat 12pm-10pm (opening Tue, 8/7)

Thanks to reader Krette M. for the tip.

photo by Food Mountain

Open: Kitchen Dances

Looks like big changes are afoot for Kitchen Dances since we checked in with them just a month ago! The former food cart and now wholesale/Montavilla Farmers Market vendor is opening a 150-seat vegan restaurant inside the NE artist studio/residency Milepost 5 this Friday, August 3rd. They will be open from morning to night serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner including soup, salads, daily specials, desserts, and smoothies. There will be raw, gluten- and soy-free options, a full bar, and a Stumptown Espresso Bar. They are starting off with a pared-down menu and counter service while they train staff and will be adding other items over the coming weeks and eventually move to full table service.

Kitchen Dances
Milepost 5, 850 NE 81st Ave (entrance on NE Oregon between 81st & 82nd), Portland, OR 97213
Every day 9am-10pm (grand opening Friday, 8/3)

They will continue to be at the Montavilla Farmers Market through the end of October, Sundays from 10am-2pm.


Walnut Meat Tacos

Thanks to reader Mark B. for the tip.

Photo by Food Mountain

Open: Tandem Treats

Vegan tandem bike cart Tandem Treats is now in business. Owners Rocks and Cicada Vohzayda launched a successful Kickstarter campaign in the spring and just passed their pre-operational inspection a few days ago. They debuted at Last Thursday and we saw them today at the Division/Clinton Street Fair (at SE 41st & Division). They’re hoping to be set up soon regularly at the Eastbank Esplanade.

UPDATE: as of August 8th, they are open at Eastbank Esplanade at SE Salmon just north of the Hawthorne Bridge. Their hours are Tue-Sat Wed-Sun 11am-6pm.


Nachos with homemade almond milk-based cheese sauce

photos by Food Mountain

Open: Veggie Grill Downtown

Vegan fast-casual chain Veggie Grill’s second Portland-area location is now open for previews and will expand to the general public at 11am on Thursday, May 31st. We were invited to a complimentary lunch today at their spacious new downtown location at Taylor and SW 5th.

The space is bi-level with counter, table, and booth seating. Order at the front counter and grab your number and a seat. They also offer grab-and-go and catering.

In addition to the new launch, they have added some new menu items which are also available at their Cedar Hills Crossing location in Beaverton.

Homestyle Plates are their new entree items with three choices…

- Urban Plate (blackened tempeh, camelized onion, portobello stack with a  side of Steamin’ Kale, sliced tomato salad, and chipotle ranch)

- Blackened Chickin’ Plate (with papaya salsa topping, a side of Steamin’ Kale, and Quinoa Pilaf)

-Crispy Chickin’ Plate (fried chickin’ with a side of cauliflower-mashed potatoes, porcini gravy with fresh rosemary, and Steamin’ Kale). 

There’s a new entree salad, the B-Wing Salad (buffalo wings over a salad of chopped romaine, avocado, celery, roasted corn salsa, and ranch dressing).

There are also three new sandwiches/burgers…

-Buffalo Bomber (crispy chickin’ tossed with spicy buffalo sauce, tomato, red onion, lettuce, and ranch dressing)

- VG Rollers (blackened chickin’, cabbage, creamy Santa Fe spread rolled in grilled flour tortillas and served with salsa and chili)

-“Crab” Cake (crispy “crab” cake, spiced tartar sauce, pickles, tomato, and lettuce on a bun; pictured below with a side of Cauli-Mashed Potatoes)

Speaking of, the two new sides are Quinoa Pilaf (with sauteed carrots, celery, and onions) and Mashed Potatoes + Gravy (aforementioned cauliflower-mashed potatoes with porcini gravy and fresh rosemary).

Lastly, the new dessert is Chocolate Pudding Parfait (their previous chocolate pudding now topped with chocolate sauce, crushed cookies, walnuts, and VG crema).

Veggie Grill Downtown (open 5/31)
508 SW Taylor St, OR 97204
503.841.6647
Sun-Thu 11am-9pm, Fri-Sat 11am-10pm

Veggie Grill Cedar Hills Crossing 
3435 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR 97005
503.350.2369
Every day 11am-10pm

photos by Food Mountain

Open: Gonzo

Middle Eastern cart Gonzo (formerly the sandwich cart One Hundred Miles) has taken over Awesome Cone’s spot at the D-street Noshery pod on Division. Their current offerings are vegetarian, with two of the three being vegan, and they use Square so you can pay with a credit card.

Gonzo
3221 SE Division, Portland, OR 97202
503.453.4340
Tue-Thu, Sun 12pm-8pm, Fri-Sat 12pm-10pm


Falafel


Hummus Plate

photos by Food Mountain

First Look: Canteen

Canteen, the new brick-and-mortar vegan cafe from the folks behind the organic juice cart Sip, is set to open this Saturday (5/12) next Wednesday (5/16) at the corner of SE Stark and 28th. We were able to get a sneak peek of the beautiful new space to share with you!

The entire space (which used to be MoJo’s Coffee) was built out from scratch by the same design team who outfitted the Sip 1969 Dodge Chinook mobile juice and cocktail bar, Portland-based Von Tundra, with Brian Pietrowski who built the counter.

All the table tops are custom-built with marble and wood and the walls are lined with modular peg shelving which will double as storage.

The pegs are even used with a modular chalkboard, candle holders, and magazine racks. And yes, Canteen will have local organic beer on tap and one or two organic kombuchas from Eva’s Herbucha.

Find bar seating on one side of the space and table tops with a built-in padded tweed bench on the other. There will also be outdoor seating out front and under the covered side patio.

In the mornings, the menu will offer pour-over coffee from Cellar Door, juices and smoothies (pared down Sip offerings), fresh fruit parfait, hot oatmeal, and the Sunrise Bowl (organic granola with blended fruit). Lunch and dinner offerings will include meal-sized organic salads and bowls, including a build-your-own bowl option.

Evenings will bring organic beers and wine, raw cheesecake, and chocolates. Tentative hours include late nights on Friday and Saturday.

The menu is still being fine-tuned and they love incorporating customer feedback so look forward to more details and updates, as well as a grand opening party.

In the meantime though, Canteen is opening just in time to make full use of its outside seating in our newly found warm weather. Stop by this weekend next week to welcome them to the neighborhood!

Canteen
2816 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97214
Wed-Thu 9am-10pm, Fri-Sat 9am-12am, Sun 9am-6pm (subject to change)
Tue-Thu 11am-10pm, Fri-Sat 11am-12am, Sun 11am-8pm

photos by Food Mountain

Open: Homegrown Smoker 2

Homegrown Smoker 2 has its grand opening at noon today (Friday, May 4th) at the Green Castle Food Court on NE 20th & Everett (between Sandy & Burnside). The downtown cart will be open regular hours and tentative hours for HGS 2 include the weekend so you can now get their vegan bbq every day.

Homegrown Smoker 2
1930 NE Everett St, Portland, OR 97232
Tue-Thu 12pm-7pm, Fri-Sat 12pm-8pm, Sun 12pm-4pm (hours subject to change)

Homegrown Smoker 1
SW 4th and College, Portland, OR 97211
503.277.3823
Mon-Fri 11am-4pm


Chili Dawg


Smoker Salad

photos from opening day by Tom F.

Open: The Roadrunner Cafe

If you’ve been wondering what the big “CAFE” sign on Division was for, it’s the newly opened Roadrunner Cafe. They’re serving breakfast Friday through Sunday and their menu has some vegan options like biscuits and mushroom gravy, pancakes, and coconut yogurt. Opening weekend Yelp reviews make it sound like there are some kinks to work out, but let us know if you try it.

The Roadrunner Cafe
3570 SE Division St, Portland, OR 97202
Fri-Sun 9am-3pm

photo by Food Mountain