Portland Hodgepodge

TLT Sandwich from Vita Café. Can you believe that I've never had tempeh before? I bought tempeh a few months ago to make bacon with, but I cut it too thinly, it fell apart, and I gave up. But after having the tempeh bacon at Vita, I am ready to try again. My only complaint is that it was $6 for only a sandwich. If you are going to charge me $6 for a sandwich, it needs to either be the best sandwich in the world or it needs to come with a dill pickle and some fries. Or I need to be really hungry after a 4.5 hour flight.

I don't have a picture of the Paradox Benedict that I had at the Paradox Organic Cafe because it was rather dim in there and it was a dish that was obviously going to look gross in a photograph. It wasn't gross though! At first I balked at the $8.50 price tag, but I ended up having enough left over for breakfast the next day so it wasn't that bad. The sauce did not taste anything like hollandaise sauce, but it was good in its own right (just not what I was expecting). The dish came with seasoned red potatoes (take a hint, Vita) that were just the right mix of crispy and greasy - exactly what I'm looking for when it comes to diner food.

At the Whole Foods in Portland, I found something that I have been searching for but unable to find in Chicago - a Field Roast smoked tomato loaf. I had high standards for this loaf, due to my previous fruitless searches, and it definitely lived up to them. Sliced up, it made a nice addition to an Amy's vegan pizza and I also made a "dreamwich" consisting of Dave's Killer Bread, smoked tomato loaf, Vegenaise, and Dijon mustard. I loved that sandwich. I'm not saying that it breaks my heart to remember it, but I am saying that I hate the Whole Foods that I go to for only carrying the Field Roast sausages and not the loaves. WHY, WHOLE FOODS, WHY?!

Sprinkled donut from Voodoo Doughnut. I wish that I had a Sweetpea donut to compare this to, but I don't so let's move on. This donut was cakey, which I like but other people might not (although I can't see why anyone wouldn't). I think there were 7 different kinds of vegan donuts when I went to Voodoo, which is a nice variety. I'm not sure if the kinds vary from day-to-day, though that would be a nice touch if they do. My only real issue with Voodoo is that they make lots of crazy donuts, but the vegan donuts are relatively standard fare (other than being vegan). Other than that, very yummy AND they are open 24 hours. Plus you can get Swahili lessons from their Fryer every Monday at 9pm.