Portland Paradise

My five days in Portland during the Fourth of July was perfect. I honestly couldn't have picked a better week to visit, there wasn't a drop of rain and the weather was simply put: incredible.

I'm convinced that Portland is the Holy Grail of vegan food. I ate at so many wonderful places, almost all of which happened to be 100% vegan.




celebrated America's birthday


Dick's Kitchen. Portobello Burger.
The view at Pittock Mansion with Madeline, Ryan and Anthony.


Brunch at Gravy.


Biscuits and veggie gravy, hash browns and tofu scramble.


Sizzle Pie. Spiral Tap and Bad Reputation slices.
Fell in love with this little one, Lilly.




Brunch at Paradox Cafe. Green Benedict.
...with this lovely lady, Melanie.



Took a stroll over to OMSI and saw some amazing exhibits,
including my favorite, the fetus room, displaying over 30 stages
of the fetus and tissue samples during pregnancy. Pretty miraculous.


Acai bowls from somewhere not worth mentioning.
Dinner with Katherine at Casa Naranja. Yes, you eat on swings.

Alotto Gelato for dessert.


Salted Caramel and pineapple sorbetto (also at one point tried the
cheesecake and stracciatella aka "stretchy vanilla" gelato) Woke up at 4am to watch the most breathtakingly beautiful sunrise
I've seen to date at Multnomah Falls.











The tastiests of brunches at Portobello. ALL VEGAN.
[tofu "eggies", vegan ham and added tomatoes on a toasted
english muffin and topped with cashew hollandaise sauce]







Thai food cart heaven.
We made a vegan BBQ pizza: seasoned soy curls, onions, olives,
pepper jack daiya and Annie's natural BBQ sauce.






The last supper. Anthony and I made garlic sauteed asparagus,
field roast seitan, roasted rosemary red potatoes, corn on the
cob and vine ripe tomatoes with homemade herb salt seasoning.


Thanks for the hospitality, my friend.

[all photos were taken by Anthony or myself]

Amarin Thai

I'm a big lover of thai food and Amarin Thai is the best in San Diego I've come across! I've been eating here for about three years and it really doesn't get much better. I love the location (in the heart of Hillcrest), the amount of spice is perfect (I usually get a 7 or 8), they have a wide variety of lunch specials, offer mangoes and sticky rice (my all time favorite thai dessert) and everything looks traditional from the decor to the servers wardrobe. I love the feel of coming here and I always get excited when someone picks Amarin for lunch or dinner.


Appetizer, Tofu Tod.


Gaprow and yellow curry, both delicious and full of flavor.

Location: 3843 Richmond Street San Diego, California 92103
Neighborhood: Hillcrest - just south of University Avenue

Foodie Friday: Thai Style Noodle House

Las Vegas has some good and definitely weird vegetarian restaurants located right in the heart of China Town.

This time around a friend suggested Veggie Delight, but while looking over their lunch menu I noticed Thai Style Noodle House next door and opted for that instead. Jon has never tried Thai food (this kid doesn't like vegetables OR spice) so it took a bit of coercing, but luckily in the end he really loved it. I'm also down with any restaurant that has an extra complete vegan/vegetarian menu.











Dessert was a must! Though I usually get mangoes with sticky rice, we went for the fried bananas; a little too greasy for my taste, but wonderfully paired with the ice cream and honey.



Location: 3516 Wynn Rd. Las Vegas, Nevada 89103
Neighborhood: Chinatown

Tam's Thai

I've been itching for Thai and my friend insisted we grab Tam's Thailand Food...

Tam's is ran by an older lady, who pretty much runs everything by herself. Unfortunately, Tam was out and her daughter was the only one there when we arrived. She was super nice and even though she was the only waitress/cook/cashier, she kept a positive attitude, chit-chatted and made us feel really welcomed.

We ordered to share, two appetizers: potato curry egg rolls and veggie fried rice, and one entree: spicy thai basil tofu with vegetables. The potato curry egg rolls were magnificent and like nothing I have had elsewhere. The veggie fried rice was full of delicious vegetables and spiced just right. Up to this point, everything tasted Chinese (don't get me wrong, I LOVE Chinese), but I was excited for the entree we ordered in hopes that it would be spicy and fulfill my Thai craving... buuuut the check came before the entree did. I felt bad for our waitress/cook/cashier who must have misunderstood or had too much on her hands. Since the appetizers were bigger than we expected, we passed on the entree. I will definitely be back because of the hospitality, but I hope (for their sake) there is at least one other person around when that time comes.


potato curry egg rolls


veggie fried rice


click to make bigger!




Location: 3456 Adams Ave San Diego, California 92116
(between Hawley Blvd & Mansfield St)
Normal Heights