The Vegan Guide to SE 12th st

I consider Portland to be one of the most vegan friendly cities in the U.S. right now, but on an even smaller scale, SE 12th st. might be the most vegan friendly street in this whole city. I didn't always notice this until I started making frequent trips to the vegan mini mall (which is located on 12th and Stark).

 [Black forest cake from Sweetpea]

The vegan mini mall is possibly the most ingenious thing Portland has ever come up with. It has a tattoo parlor, grocery store, clothing store, bakery, and a cafe. You wont find a single thing on that block that isn't vegan! I am proud to say that I have two tattoos from Scapegoat Tattoo and would highly recommend their work to anyone, vegan or not. Food Fight! grocery has just about anything your heart desires from vegan marshmellow creme to queso! The cutest vegan threads can be found at Herbivore Clothing, they even carry shoes now! If you start to feel hungry stop in at Sweetpea Baking Co. for a slice of cake, one of their sandwiches, and a latte. They even offer free Wi-Fi for those of us who feel like taking up space while we write on our blogs. (*cough* like me *cough*)

[courtesy of Portobello]

This is just the start of the great things that await you on your vegan adventure on 12th st! For a fun, fancy night out, be sure to make a reservation at Portobello on 12th and Division. It's an all vegan Italian restaurant that's open for dinner Tuesdays through Saturday. The menu changes due to the season and has plenty of options for the gluten free folk (you can find all of their current menus on their website). Some people might say the prices are a little high, but if you consider the quality of the locally sourced vegan foods, I would say that it's a bargain! I guess the best way to find out is by checking it out for yourself, just don't forget the reservation. The wait can be up to an hour for a table on any given night, so be prepared!

[the Potato Champion]

If having a nice sit down dinner isn't your thing then the food cart pod on 12th and Hawthorne is the place to be! I am sad to report that currently none of the food carts featured here are exclusively vegan, but you'll be able to find vegan options at just about every cart before you can say "I'll have the vegan poutine please!" (try saying that five times fast!) If you have never heard of poutine then make your way over to the potato champion right now! It's basically fresh french fries covered in a savory gravy and vegan cheese (be sure to specify you want the vegan one! You'll end up with a real cheesy disaster if you don't). Pyro Pizza also allows you to sub vegan cheese on any of their fire roasted pizzas. Once you've ordered your meal take some time to chill out at one of the covered picnic tables in the area and make some new friends or be all lame and eat in your car, I wont judge...
If the food carts don't seem classy enough for you, then take a trip to the Hungry Tiger Too. They have $1 vegan corn dogs and PBR. Nuff said.
No trip to SE 12th would be complete without at stop at Microcosm Publishing for a little literary fix. Granted they aren't actually on 12th (they are on 11th one block southeast of the vegan mini mall), but they are close enough in proximity to it that I had to add them to this fancy little list. Microcosm carries and decent amount of vegan/ vegetarian books and zines for your browsing desires. If your brain hurts from vegan overload (highly unlikely!) check out any of their other zines and books covering just about any random topic you can think of. They even carry those fancy stop sign vandalism stickers so you can get in trouble with the law.
I didn't think it was so possible to pack so much vegan awesomeness into such a few blocks, but thanks again to Portland, SE 12th will forever be my vegan haven and maybe it can be yours now too!