-
backspace cafe: an arcade with tap beer and vegan food
7September 13th, 2009more restaurants (not LA), portland
dude, i wasn’t lying when i said portland has everything for vegans. on top of the vegan grocery store, the tattoo parlor, the bakery, the pub, the donut shops, and the billions of other neat places…they also have an all vegetarian and vegan-friendly arcade. backspace cafe calls itself “portland’s entertainment mecca”—its 4,000 square foot space houses video games, pool tables, computers for web surfing, an art gallery, and a meat-free restaurant complete with draught beer & stumptown coffee. plus, the place doubles as a live music venue and hosts awesome events such as “rockband night”. hell yeah!
we hit up backspace cafe not to play kick ass video games, but to eat their vegan offerings. we went at around 7pm on a friday night and the place had a healthy amount of customers, without being uncomfortable. i filled up on several pints of trumer pils and even tried my hand at a few games before ordering our entrees. lots of fun indeed.
philly "steak" sandwich: grilled tempeh, mushrooms, pepperoncinis and vegenaise on a baguette. served with pasta salad. $6.50
the vegetarian menu had loads of vegan offerings, including nachos, quesadillas and sandwiches. i went with the philly steak sandwich option, which came with mounds of tempeh on a baguette. while this wasn’t the best sandwich ever, it was pretty decent….and i can’t really fault it for arcade food. the tempeh and bun were obviously store-bought, and they went a little overboard on the pepperoncinis…but i still ate every last bite. the pasta salad went down well, no complaints. while my dish wasn’t drop-dead excellent, it is by far the best arcade food i’ve ever had, and i felt so glad to be eating in an all-vegetarian establishment.
broccoli goddess: spinach and broccoli florets tossed in goddess dressing with sunflower seeds, shredded cabbage and hearts of palm. $6
my husband ordered the broccoli goddess salad, a HUGE plate of fresh greens and vegetables with a side of goddess dressing. for only 6 bucks, this thing was damn big and tasty. i eyed this dish up several times and wished i’d ordered it rather than my sandwich. the broccoli was crispy and perfect, the spinach was on point, and the price was definitely right.
while i wouldn’t make a special trip to backspace specially for the food, it’s definitely a good joint to hit up if you want to have fun and dine out on some really decent vegan options. i mean, where the fuck else are you gonna get to go to an all vegetarian cafe? with tap beer? and stumptown coffee? do it.
i would have this sticker up too, if i served stumptown coffee.
backspace cafe
Tags: arcade, beer, oregon, philly cheesesteak, portland, salad, sandwich
115 NW 5th St.
Portland, OR
503-248-2900
Mon-Wed 7am-11pm
Thu-Fri 7am-12am
Sat 10am-12am
Sun 10am-11pm
7 responses to “backspace cafe: an arcade with tap beer and vegan food” 
-
i want to move to portland.
-
It’s great to see how this place has grown. Before I moved from PDX three years ago, this was strictly a retro videogame store.
I’m happy to see how they branched out. And that Fuck Off sticker is dope as hell.
-
It’s great to see how this place has grown. Before I moved from PDX three years ago, this was strictly a retro videogame store.
I’m happy to see how they branched out. And that Fuck Off sticker is dope as hell.
Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one. -
that “cheesesteak” looks pretty unappetizing, but i know if i went to this place, i’d be in there for hours so jonathan could play pacman.
-
This place sounds too amazing. I love Portland. Don’t live there right now, stuck in the cruddy-ness that is the Valley (where the only Whole Foods near me is the lame tiny one in Studio City). Gonna live in Portland sooner or later though…preferably sooner.
-
Just stumbled upon this blog whilst looking for the best vegan cheese; I’m a vegetarian about to give up the ovo & lacto. Just got back from Portland, too, & I’m killing myself for not already knowing about this joint & the vegan pub. We actually found ourselves stuck w/o good veggie food at 9:30pm on a Friday night in the Pearl District. To think that we could’ve cabbed it to a vegan cafe with $1 billiards & a bar…
jennifer September 13th, 2009 at 18:00