Sunday, October 11, 2009

5 Favorite Breakfast Spots in Portland

Yup, another favorites...You like these, right? I thought so! 

1. Sweetpea Baking Co- Their doughnuts on Saturdays, danishes on Wednesdays, and Kettleman's bagels with their Tofutti schmears (Bacun Scallion! Chipotle! Veggie! Strawberry! Black Olive!)! It's not always the most nutritious breakfast, but you can't always be looking to eat healthy, right? If you happen to be looking for that though, there's soup! Homemade, yummy soup made by Jesse "I hate you (but not really)" Ives. If you happen to see him (he's the average-height boy with the bandanna on that stays in the middle of the kitchen the whole time), tell him you would love to see piroshkys or vegan ham and cheese sandwiches as options!

mmm...donut....Missy and her sweet love

2. Juniors- First off, let me just put this out here: I dislike their potatoes. Many of my friends, including the girl above with the glazed doughnut, thinks they're great. I don't. I can't really place my finger on what turns me off, but it's somethin'. So I end up asking for the Vegan Potatoes, sub tofu for potatoes. This gets me: scrambled tofu, mushrooms, zucchini, onions covered with spicy tofu sauce. Yum! I remember that Juniors was one of the first places I remember seeing "sub tofu for egg for free" on their menu. This made me a happy girl since all over town I was paying extra. Their eggs there are of the nice free range (and I think it's actually free range, none of that open the barn door for 5 minutes shit that farms can get away with) so I think the cost is more similar than, say, when you go to Holman's....The main reason I love Juniors is the interior. It's very cute! Google it for images if you don't believe me!

3. FlavourSpot- the home of the Dutch taco! aka a waffle sandwich. I have only tried one thing here and it's so good that I dare not try anything else. Another reason being I don't get out to either of the North Portland locations enough. It's usually months in between visits and I'm normally ready for some delectable maple sausage goodness in my piehole. (aka wafflehole) The food cart (one on N. Lombard and the other at Mississippi and Fremont) makes a fresh circular waffle, spreads some maple "butter" on it, puts two vegan sausage patties on it and folds it up in some foil and hands it your eagerly awaiting hands....mmm.....so warm, so tasty....
Me and my sweet love

4. Hungry Tiger Too- I really love this place. I've mentioned them before many times. The only problem I have with them is their prices are somewhat ridiculous. (Except on $1 vegan corn dog Wednesdays!!). The club sandwich, while being big, is around $10 and if you want tots instead of coleslaw, make that $12. Yeah, $2 extra for tots...$1 extra for french fries. If you share it with someone it doesn't sound as ridiculous. But of course I tend to compare prices with what I could be getting...like $5 at Los Gorditos will get me a huge delicious torta. But anyways, we're talking breakfast right now! They have humongous vegan fluffy pancakes for $3 a piece, large plate of biscuits (or you might end up with some of their thick toasted bread, which is good, but yeah, not a biscuit) and gravy for $4, scrambles for around $8 that comes with awesome hashbrowns (think: rectangularly shaped Waffle House hashbrowns...less greasy), and homemade tempeh bacon slabs for around $2. Yum! For reals...I think their gravy is my favorite in town. It's a little too herby for my tastes since I like a peppery sausagey white southern gravy, but there's sausage (I think the last time I got it there wasn't any) and mushrooms and it's good! Please note that they don't open til mid morning during the week. Also, their coffee sucks (and this comes from a girl who sugars and milks her coffee and wouldn't know good coffee if it hit her in the face.).

Katie and her ginormous pancake
Foreground: biscuits and gravy and tempeh bacon slabs

5. It's a tie for 5th! Jam and Tin Shed- I hear Jam's veg gravy is the best in town, but I wouldn't know since it's not vegan. Also, they don't have biscuits to put it on (?!), so I don't care. What I do love about Jam is their Blueberry Chai Pancakes. Chai spice-alicious! Like Hungry Tiger Too, they have delicious hashbrowns. They have a couple vegan scrambles but I'm not terribly crazy about either. This another restaurant where I mainly just love their ambiance with no real explanation. Tin Shed has vegan grits and Earth Balance available and their pesto is made vegan, all things which endears me to them. The grits, however, need salt and more EB because the taste is quite plain. They do have vegan cheese you can get on them but I normally pass since it doesn't really do anything flavorwise. My favorite thing to get here is the pesto tofu scramble (it has a name that I think has the word "goat" in it) with no cheese. 

How about you? Where's your favorite?

6 comments:

Katie said...

I seriously have been thinking about making Portland my future place of residency, after college of course. I definitely want to live somewhere with an abundance of vegan friendly places and a great environmentally friendly atmosphere. Hopefully one day I will get to visit these yummy eateries. :)

katiejayne said...

I don't like Juniors potatoes either, but that is because I think chopped up potatoes are for dinner not breakfast. The only potato that is acceptable for breakfast is a shredded one. Juniors is my favorite breakfast though. I just get applesauce instead of potatoes! And I eat two breakfasts
......mmmmm......french toast......tofu scramble........

Tara said...

I have to go to Portland. I weep just thinking about all of the fabulous breakfasts I'm missing.

jess (of Get Sconed!) said...

I miss the brief period Jam had roasted potatoes instead of their diner style...

That being said, I like the Vegan Potatoes, and adding tofu is mandatory.

By the way, I may do this, too! So you'll have to wait. ; )

Anna said...

man I am so having one of those waffle breakfasts when I visit next year! I've bookmarked this for future reference and planning, thanks for posting it!

Zoey said...

I am a fan of the Vita Cafe. I love their breakfast burritos and my husband loves the vegan nachos. Yum!

Thank you for this review- now I have some new places to try.