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tube: a great vegan-friendly dive bar
6August 12th, 2010more restaurants (not LA), portlandtube in portland will always have a special place in my heart. the grungy dive bar has so much personality, plus offers loads of vegan items from white russians to happy hour snacks. we hit up tube just about a year ago and instantly fell in love; so imagine how excited we were when we went back recently and found they had expanded their menu. we are talking 3 pages of vegan-friendly goodness; we knew we had to get comfy and stay for a while.
professor nanotear muffin: a slice of grilled vegan ham and vegan cheese between an english muffin and our homemade spicy chipotle veganaise. $3 or 2 for $5
we started out with some “professor nanotear muffins” from the bar snacks menu, which are basically little vegan mcmuffins topped with faux ham and vegan cheese. you can get one for 3 bucks, or two for 5…so we went ahead and splurged. these muffins are so simple and would be really easy to make at home, but i just love them. i don’t know of anywhere else you can get such cheap and tasty little vegan snacks at such a cool bar.
hamm's. $2 each.
it was happy hour, so we pounded a couple of hamm’s for 2 bucks a piece. not the best beer in the world, but definitely the best beer for this situation.
as you can see, tube was pretty empty when we were there. we arrived at around 5pm and it was deserted, but i hear it gets PACKED by the nighttime. and there is dancing and stuff, if you are into that.
vegan white russian!
after munching on snacks and drinking weak beer, we decided to kick it up a notch with some real food and hard liquor. i REALLY wanted to try one of the new alcoholic milkshakes, but alas the bartender said they had run out of ice cream. so sad. instead i went a vegan white russian, probably my favorite mixed drink out there, and was cheered up immediately.
vegan mac and chez: a creamy soy cheese/nutritional yeast blend and vegan hot dog bits. served with chips. $6
foodwise, we split an entree and a sandwich off the new dinner menu, and were quite pleased with our order. first up, the vegan mac and chez—a bowl of spirally noodles all mixed up in creamy sauce with nutritional yeast and hot dog chunks. downright delicious comfort food. it was 8 bucks, but the bowl was big and it tasted damn good.
vegan fried bologna sandwich: vegan grilled bologna and vegan cheese with ketchup on two pieces of white bread slathered in vegan butter and grilled again. served with chips. $5
we also got the vegan fried bologna sandwich, which was double grilled and stuffed with fake meat and cheese. again, this meal was solid. the soy bologna was awesome, and the fluffy bread was moist and flavorful. the chips tasted like ruffles straight out the bag, and i would expect nothing less (or more) from a dive bar like tube.
i honestly hope to visit tube every single time i go to portland. not because the food is so out of this world amazing, but because it’s damn good and the atmosphere is excellent. it’s so much fun to eat junk food in a trashy little bar, the kind of experience that omnivores get to enjoy all the time.
tube
18 NW 3rd Ave
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 241-8823
open 7 days a week 5pm – 2am
happy hour 5pm – 10pm
brunch saturday and sunday 11am – 4pmhere are some shots of the menu. i want to eat all the vegan stuff on it. please note TUBE ALSO DOES BRUNCH ON WEEKENDS, check out that menu here.
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Tags: bar, beer, happy hour, mac and cheese, portland, sandwich
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6 responses to “tube: a great vegan-friendly dive bar” 
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i want a vegan white russian and to watch the big lebowski!
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Gauri Radha August 12th, 2010 at 11:20
The vegan mac and chez and the vegan grilled sandwich look quite tempting.
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Gauri Radha August 12th, 2010 at 11:36
Didn’t notice the first pic somehow, that Professor Nanotear stuff also looks great!!
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Every time I come here I think what a lucky girl you are! I’m remembering your site for when I travel down south.
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Thanks for your post on Tube! I just ate there last week and it was everything you said it would be. The Prof Nanotear muffin and the mac and cheez are my new favorites.
If you haven’t tried them, here are three more amazing Portland places for your next visit — 1. Proper Eats (in a neighborhood called St. Johns). It’s a little hippyish but the food is fantastic. 2. Portobello Vegan Trattoria – it’s all Italian and all vegan. It’s a little pricey but when you are craving ravioli and tiramisu it’s perfect. 3. Jam on Hawthorne (for brunch) – it’s not all vegan but they have vegan chai blueberry pancakes that are so damn good. Another plus, breakfast cocktails and a delicious vegetarian/vegan breakfast burrito.
britt August 12th, 2010 at 10:39