• July 21st, 2010quarrygirlmore restaurants (not LA), portland

    a trip to pdx just wouldn’t be complete without visiting the bye and bye. the all vegan pub located in northeast portland has great food, an impressive beer selection, and is the perfect place to sit and unwind for a few hours. just ask our friend little vegan planet, who has a very awesome story about this place in his latest blog post.

    the menu at the bye and bye is simple yet delicious. a decent selection of bowls, sandwiches, and entrees—like spaghetti or chili pie—are all available for under ten bucks. on our recent visit, we decided to split a sandwich as well as a bowl of 3 sides…

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  • April 8th, 2010quarrygirlbrighton, more restaurants (not LA)

    this is just a short, sad post to commemorate what was once a very awesome pub. the george in brighton has been a beautiful, traditional, yet entirely vegetarian pub for years…and up until recently, they had loads of vegan options.

    the george burger: a beanies veggie burger in a floured bap with mayo, salad and tomato, served with a salad garnish and chips. £6.25

    burgers, nachos, pub food, ice cream…you name it, they had a vegan version of everything. we ate their george burger just a few months ago, and were extremely impressed. however, now the george is under crappy new management and they are rapidly deleting all the vegan options off the menu.

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  • August 28th, 2009quarrygirlmore restaurants (not LA), portland

    bye-bye-meatball-cu

    a 100% vegan pub. i still can’t really wrap my mind around it. since i’m a huge fan of both good beer and vegan food, for me the bye and bye in portland is a dream come true. quality brews on tap, a laid back bar atmosphere, and a menu from which i can order anything. holy hell, i thought i was in heaven this year when i visited an all vegetarian pub…the fact that i now have been to an all vegan pub is almost too awesome for me to handle.

    meatball sub: fresh baguette with veggie meatballs, marinara, and melted cheese with choice of side. $8

    meatball sub: fresh baguette with veggie meatballs, marinara, and melted cheese with choice of side. $8

    the bye and bye’s menu is a slight diversion from your standard pub grub of burgers and chips. they focus more on hearty down-home style entrees, with a healthy twist. you’ll find things like a bbq brussel bowl with tofu, sprouts and rice…or a braised tofu sandwich with a side of black-eyed peas. i ordered the meatball sub because i’d heard great things about it, and man oh man, all the positive reviews were true. the sandwich came on a huge fresh baguette of the highest quality and was packed with loads of thick meatballs and tasty, chunky marinara sauce. the vegan cheese wasn’t really melted as the menu suggested, whatever dude, it tasted good all the same. not since doomie’s (rest in peace) have i had a vegan meatball sub this incredible. for a side dish, i went a bowl of collard greens to round out the home-cookin’ feel, and they were excellent.

    eastern bowl: spicy asian tofu, brown rice, and broccoli served with peanut sauce. $8

    eastern bowl: spicy asian tofu, brown rice, and broccoli served with peanut sauce. $8

    my husband got the eastern bowl, a mix of tofu, rice and vegetables all smothered in peanut sauce. i had a few bites of this thing and it was damn good as well—the crusted asian tofu and crunchy fresh broccoli was just perfect mixed up in the tangy sauce. normally not a peanut fan, my husband completely polished it off. everything in the bowl was perfectly cooked and seasoned, from the flavorful tofu, to the delicate rice, to the amazing gooey sauce.

    bye-bye-pub

    on top of the excellent food, the bye and bye also has a great beer selection—better than most los angeles bars, for sure.

    bye-bye-bar

    add to all that a slick, comfortable interior and extremely friendly service (the vegan bartender was super nice and gave us the rundown on the pdx vegan scene), and you have quite possibly the best pub in the world.

    don’t miss this place when you are in portland. the bye and bye is the intersection of good beer and tasty vegan food…my two favorite things.

    bye-bye-ext

    bye and bye
    1011 NE Alberta St
    Portland, OR 97211
    Hours: Sunday 12pm-2:30am, Mon-Thurs 4pm-2:30am, Friday 2pm-2:30am, Saturday 12pm-2:30am.

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  • March 13th, 2009quarrygirlbirmingham, more restaurants (not LA)

    of all the incredible restaurants we visited on our recent trip to england, the warehouse cafe in birmingham stood out as one of the best. the warehouse cafe is an entirely vegetarian co-op with a bookstore on the bottom floor and a kick-ass veg restaurant upstairs. they have a passion for the environment and serve up meatless meals containing local and sustainable ingredients that taste bloody brilliant—their vegan junk food and pub fare is completely unmatched. we went for the nachos, burgers, chips and pies…no room for salad. the guilty vegan pleasures at warehouse tasted so amazing…melty cheese and buttery crusts like i haven’t experienced since i was a teenager. wowee!

    nachos grande (vegan): organic hand fried tortilla chips, jalapeno chillies, melted mature cheddar, and salsa. £3.95

    nachos grande (vegan): organic hand fried tortilla chips, jalapeno chillies, melted mature cheddar, and salsa. £3.95

    to start, we ordered the vegan nachos, which were nothing short of incredible. the homemade chips were sinfully greasy and thick…not to mention the melty and creepily convincing cheese. total guilty pleasure x 1000.

    organic vegan burger special with garlic and mushrooms.

    organic vegan burger special with garlic and mushrooms.

    the husband ordered the burger special, which was also above and beyond. a thick vegan patty with soy vegan cheese, sauteed vegetables, and chunky homemade fries made this dish one not to miss. we ordered it off the specials board, but the burger is available on the normal menu, it just normally doesn’t come with the mushrooms.

    warehouse cafe special: leek pie served with garden peas and chips.

    warehouse cafe special: leek pie served with garden peas and chips.

    lastly, i again ordered off the specials menu and went for the leek pie. holy mother, this shit was traditional pub food done just right but veganized…right down to the rich, greasy crust and huge steaming chips.

    ware-house-pie-cu

    the insides were prepared absolutely perfectly…i’m talking really succulent mushrooms in a moist but crispy-on-the-edges buttery crust and creamy beer-flavored sauce. everything we tried from warehouse’s menu was waaaaaay beyond delicious.

    in addition to serving up excellent, traditional, and entirely vegetarian/vegan-friendly food, warehouse cafe was charming in the fact that it was run by a shared co-op which includes an environmentally-conscious bookstore located below the restaurant, and all the staff rotate and share ownership. literature on making our world a better place is scattered everywhere…in the dining hall, in the bookshop, and even in the bathroom (where there are 3 different ways to dry your hands, and pamphlets on each method explaining its effects on the environment).

    the warehouse cafe is a little hole-in-the-wall that caught me off guard with its sweetness, its consciousness, and its ridiculously tasty vegan food. i will return to this place every single chance i have, because it’s so fucking special. if you find yourself in the uk, it’s totally worth taking a trip to birmingham to visit this place.

    warehouse cafe birmingham

    warehouse cafe birmingham

    the warehouse cafe
    54-57 Allison Street
    Birmingham B5 5TH
    0121 633 0261
    Monday to Saturday
    11 a.m. til 10 p.m. (last food orders at 9 p.m.)
    Sunday
    11 a.m. til 6 p.m. (last food orders at 5.00 p.m.)

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