New in PDX: Back to Eden Vegan Bakery Boutique!

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jess sconed.

I love this scone.

Maple Walnut Scone

ZOMG, right? Back to Eden Bakery has opened it's cozy and super adorable storefront & boutique on NE Alberta! It's located right next to Townsend Teahouse (vegan bubble tea, anyone? made with actual tea!) and the adjacent cart lot currently housing the all vegan Open Heart Cafe and Homegrown Smoker BBQ*.

I've taken two visits since they opened last Tuesday, and I'm all smiles in there. Everyone is! You can just feel how proud the staff is of the storefront. There are baked goods, bulk candy, Temptation soft serve, vegan products, cookbooks, Oregon's own Coconut Bliss scoops, Oogave ice cream floats and Cellar Door Coffee - a favorite local roaster.

That scone above? It starred one of my favorite flavors in the world, maple, and was such a precious, sweet scone. I brought it home for breakfast with my semi weekly morning coffee and it could very well be the best thing about this past week. I mean, I wanted to hug the bite I dipped into my coffee. But I didn't.

Pumpkin Bar

The very first baked good I tried from Back to Eden was the pumpkin bar above. I considered cake and pie, but the pan of pumpkin bars on the bottom of the main case called out to me. The classic crumbly, slightly salty topping, a thin layer of rich pumpkin, and crust = instant favorite. And reasonably priced and portioned, at $1.75 or so.

Crowd on Last Thursday

Inside the case:

My friend Millie dug her slice of Chocolate Rosemary Sea Salt Tart

Wall seating

Muffins & Scones Case

Karla had a Temptation sundae with Dandies Marshmallows and house caramel sauce. I think her sugar high lasted for hours. Maeve and I stopped by earlier today for soft serve with caramel sauce, and I'm still buzzing sweetness. Temptation soft serve is sa-weet! Seriously though - vegan soft serve on Alberta!!

Karla's sundae

The marshmallows remind me of how a local ice cream shop would stuff a mallow at the bottom of waffle cones when I was little and my sister and I were always delighted to find it...and at the savvy...

Back to Eden's own Janessa, and Lucas outside the boutique

* Side note, HGS is moving a few blocks east to 27th& Alberta in the old Spud Locker location next week. Can we discuss how NE Alberta officially has a vegan walking tour now? When I moved to the Alberta District in 2004, I would go to Vita and the Coop, and then the Coop and Vita. Granted, I lived there for two weeks and then fell into SE Portland love.

NE Alberta vegan highlights:

• Lunch at Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ - my pick is the combo with chronic tempeh, smoked soy curls, mac & cheese and add the fabulous smoked corn.
• Vegan shoe shopping (or realistically, show window shopping) at Pie Footwear at 29th.
• Grilled vegan cheese sandwiches with roasted jalapenos in trippy The Grilled Cheese Grill school bus
• Chicken Fried Tempeh at Vita
• Tempeh topped pizza slices at Bella Faccia
• Mason Jars full of booze or the Floor Punch at the Bye & Bye all vegan bar. Oh, and BBQ Platters (sub brussels for the collards!), one of my favorite things to eat in PDX, hands down. Meatball subs, Eastern Bowls with Peanut sauce and more.
• Coming Soon: The All Vegan Held Belts storefront!
• and Goodies *and* Cellar Door Coffee at Back to Eden, of course
• Tour de Crepes - I wasn't wild about the crepes here a few years ago, but I hear they've gotten great!
• Last Thursday: the insanity, the wonder, the stands. Petunia's Pastries has some gourmet vegan treats at their stand - I was in love with the Chocolate Hazelnut cupcake. There are usually at least 95 stands selling hand crafted vegan truffles, as well.
• Tofu Po Boys at Palm State Gumbo
• Michelle! my Alberta vegan guide.
• Alberta Coop at 15th.
• Mash Tun for tempeh hot wings
• Tin Shed for breakfast

So just walk the street up and down repeatedly, and pick your vegan indulgence!

What am I forgetting?

I'm going to consolidate these tips on my new location soon!

Super Quick Product Review: Rice Dream Supreme

Hey, Vanilla.

Hey, Hazelnut.

Hey, Fudge.

Sup?

Just for the fun of it, I wanted to give some love to this Rice Dream Supreme Vanilla Hazelnut Fudge bar I nearly swooned over last weekend.

It was really good! It's coated in dark chocolate, the ice cream is comfortably vanilla with a tint of my favorite nut and is remarkably creamy for a rice based ice cream.

Yeah, yeah, I know this is mostly the girl who tried mint chocolate Rice Dream seven years ago and quickly abandoned that icy pint, talking, and nondairy desserts have consistently improved and impressed over the years. I have friends that seem to swear by Good Karma's Carrot Cake. I thought it was alright, sorry!

The best part of the satisfying bar, though?

It was fifty freaking cents from the Hollywood Grocery Outlet.

It was the highlight of that quirky grocery outing.

Coming Soon:

Another new vegan cart in Portland: Ruby Dragon PDX at the North Mississippi Marketplace

Portland's VegFest

The Exquisite Vegan Dinner at Belly Timber

Vegan Eats in Spokane, WA

...and my site is moving!

Green Wok: Dinner at Portland's newest Vegetarian Restaurant

Well, what do we have here? Another vegetarian restaurant in Portland, OR? Must be a Friday.

Greek Wok opened late Summer 2009 in SW Portland, I'm not talking Tigard or Beaverton, but I am talking SW Capitol Highway.

To those of us who don't drive and rarely go further than SE 82nd (if I do, it's by plane!), that is practically Beaverton.

No offense to the city of Beaverton, I just don't know my way around!

In fact, I accidentally gave my friend Maeve poor directions via Trimet, and she ended up at the Beaverton Transit Center. Sorry, again Maeve! I did bring her take out, at least.

Now that I've dined here, I can officially say I'm jealous this restaurant is not 'closer in', but I'm stoked for those around it! Spread the love. Spread the soy.

It was a Friday night when I stopped by, the start of my 27th birthday weekend. I hopped on the semi-frequent #44 bus after work, and with my eyes peeled during the ride for the cross street, was there within 25 minutes from downtown - and it was worth it.

I had a lovely family style dining experience with a group of super vegan friends including Janessa of Epicurious Vegan, Chelsea of Flavor Vegan, The Spicy Vegan and more, and we later sang our little hearts out at a Once More, With Feeling watching.

Sure, you may be thinking, isn't this place similar to Vegetarian House? Well, the internet tells me it was opened by a former chef's son, or something. Whatever the case is, like I'm going to complain about vegan Chinese food potential.

I'm just asking - can we swap this place with the House downtown?

The food at Green Wok is fresher and overall, less greasy - this was even noticeable in the fried wontons and battered gluten dishes. Nothing to jump for joy about, but noticeable.

This is the closest I've seen Portland's vegan Chinese come to Seattle's vegan Chinese, which slowly follows my love for Grasshopper in Boston and NYC's Vegetarian Dim Sum House and Buddha Bodai. I'm glad I got to try many things, because some were hit or miss.

But you're not here for my weekend recap, you're here for the food porn:

Pan fried Wontons

Moo Shu Vegetables -

This was Chelsea's pick. I really dug the filling once I added some hot chili.

General Tso's Veggie Chicken -

tasty, but personally I don't think it's worth the price tag here - but for sure, it's tasty!

Kung Pao Tofu - I was really excited about this - tofu, peanuts, heat!

It didn't have the medium heat we specified - and one friend called it one of the "worst tofu dishes" she's had in her life, but I didn't mind it, and I think with those things called vegetables and added heat, I would have quite liked it. I liked how mellow it was - but it has more potential.

Orange Veggie Chicken

I know my problem with veggie chicken is usually the price tag, I admit it. This was again, a great bite of sweet, saucy fake chicken, but I wasn't into the orange taste - but it seemed to be a table favorite.

Now, hopefully someone will jump in here - I think this was the crispy bean curd pockets, which were compared to crispy "duck" - and it was my favorite of the night.

This plus a side of broccoli would have rocked my world.

We also had pork fried rice - better than the House, once again, and probably more I'm forgetting.

Greek Wok has a real, local Chinese restaurant - make that, local vegetarian Chinese restaurant charm. I'll roll my eyes about having go take the bus or carpool there, but I want to return.

They also have a weekday lunch special and hey, hey, hey - are using twitter to update what's on it.

PSA: Homegrown Smoker is Open!

BBQ Chronic Tempeh Ribs, close up

Obvious Confession: I'm a food cart groupie. I grew up eating knishes from hot dog trucks with my grandparents, pretzels from street vendors, and first discovered my love of falafel from the Jerusalem cart on the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA during my college years. Nothing has quite compared since.

And yeah, carts are EVERYWHERE in Portland. This includes my downtown lunch spots like The Whole Bowl, Savor Soup House and Just Thai, your classic taco trucks, an all vegan taco truck, stands at farmers markets like Toddbott's, special stops and stands at events, the cart pod on SE 12th and Hawthorne, and those on other main streets - like the new & all vegan Homegrown Smoker BBQ on NE Alberta. I went on opening day a bit ago, and again this weekend for a vegan tweetup (sorry, twitter speak)!

The obvious favorite -

BBQ Chronic Tempeh Ribs, Smoked Soy Curls, Mac & Cheeze, BBQ Beans & Molasses Corn Bread. $8

Photos by Lucas DeShazer.

The staff is sweet, there are two picnic tables, plenty of room for picnic blankets and! delicious vegan comfort food.

Some highlights: The mac and cheeze is now made with elbows and was really great - it just screamed comfort, the cornbread was sweet and moist and the smoked soy curls were just as fantastic as the first time I tried them.

Check out their operation on NE 23rd and Alberta, Thurs-Sunday, 12pm-8pm, I believe. They're just starting out so be careful about the hours.

In other food cart news, I'm going to finish and post my list of vegan friendly food carts in Portland soon - it's huge!

Three Updates! One Local, One Travel & One Ridiculously Internet Based

Portland area folks with an interest in vegan gluten free baking - you're in luck!  

• My friend Chelsea of Flavor Vegan is teaching a Gluten Free Baking Class on Thursday April 16th at 7pm at the Sunnyside Church in SE.  It is being presented by Try Vegan PDX and more details are available here.  She's a passionate vegan chef and if I was in town, I'd be there!  There is certainly an art to gluten free baking and she knows her flours.  Please sign up in advance.

• I will, however, be on my vacation to Boston and New York City till the end of the month to see family and friends.  

My scheduled stops for Boston includes Grasshopper (duh), Grezzo, Bagel Rising and a bunch of places I'm forgetting.

As for NYC, I'm stopping by Babycakes, Vegetarian Dim Sum House, Stogo, Lulu's and hopefully Counter...and a million places more.  Shoot suggestions my way!

• My ridiculously internet based update is of course, twitter.  I've had a personal account since the summer and recently made a get sconed! that you can add here if you like.  It is updated with new posts, dining finds and randomness related to my vegan life in Portland.
  

And in recent dinner updates, last night I grilled homemade seitan in BBQ sauce and served it noochy roasted potatoes and sorta coconut rice.   Go grill pan!