Dinner in P-town

After a full day of driving (11 hours to be exact), Kyle and I arrived at our hotel in downtown Portland just after 5 pm.  He was ready to pass out, but I wasn’t going down without a fight workout and vegan meal in me first.

I dragged (to the fullest sense of the word) my poor fiancé to the hotel gym for a measly 20 minutes on the elliptical.  It wasn’t all bad, though.  Thanks to the Ts in every corner of the workout area, we were able to enjoy the Spain vs. Germany highlights that we missed from earlier that day (at least we had espn.com auto refresh giving us the game’s play-by-play as we wound our way through Shasta National Park).  Full disclosure, I may have flipped to MTV for a hot second, too, before realizing The Hills was making me dumber by the second (and let’s be real, I’m still not functioning at 100% after my bachelorette weekend in Vegas). 

After my frat boy workout, I showered in a similar manner (read: soap + deodorant), and in under 10 minutes we were off to dinner. 

Thanks to Andrea, I had plenty of P-town recommendations from which to choose.  This city takes hippie to the next level.  I love.

Blossoming Lotus was on the hit list from the second I opened the website and saw raw options on the menu. 

The decor was clean and cute, I like it when places can pull off eclectic without being cluttered and it was just that.

Honestly, there was way too much on the menu that I wanted.  I wished I were staying in Portland for a week to try every single thing Blossoming Lotus had to offer.  I’m really not exaggerating, the menu was awesome.  There are live (raw) options aplenty, in addition to amazing salads, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  The entrees were equally as impressive because they weren’t overly intimidating for a non-vegan, but didn’t dumb down the fare either.  It was like a cross between Candle Cafe and Pure Food & Wine (but without the NYC price tags!). 

Kyle and I split the Spinach & Candied Hazelnut Salad to start, which had baby spinach, apple, agave candied hazelnuts and carrots, hempseed bleu cheese dressing, and a lemon wedge on the side.

Yum yum and yum.  I like when nuts are dusted over things.  It’s about the only way I can enjoy them without noticing their presence.  The apples were crispy, and the hempseed bleu cheese dressing was in perfect proportion, coating the lettuce without soggy-ing it up. 

For dinner, Kyle ordered the special: vegan enchiladas.

He couldn’t say enough positive things about this dish.  He was clearly in heaven and proclaimed his dinner as one of the best vegan meals he has ever had.  In between bites, he was practically begging me to learn the recipe.  Uhhh, Mama Pea, can you hook it up? 

I’m not entirely sure, but I think it was cashew based “cheese” atop a tofu/chili/bean/veggie stuffed corn tortilla.  He even ate the steamed kale underneath.  To quote him: “it was really effing good.”

For my dinner, I went with the Green Goddess with tofu.

 

Straight from the menu, it had: Steamed kale, mixed greens, sprouts, with avocado goddess sauce & roasted garlic balsamic vinaigrette, topped with sesame seeds, served with a choice of brown rice or quinoa. 

However, since I wanted to get a bit of raw goodness in my life, I asked for a side of flax crackers too. 

That’s the money shot.

I can’t be too sure, but this may have been the best salad of my life.  Kyle and I were both (quite literally) moaning as we ate.

The avocado goddess sauce with the dressing was out of control delicious, and the tofu was breaded with something (I want to say nooch?) and was frickin’ fabulous.  I don’t know if I’ve ever been so content with a restaurant meal!  The flax crackers were almost good enough to make me order a dehydrator on the spot.  But then, I have Livin’ Spoonful for that. 

 

Thanks for the rec A-Ho.  It was everything I hoped for and way more.

After dinner we were both full, so we got a brownie for the road and spent the rest of the night wandering around the downtown area.  Not only was it still light at 8 pm, but it was so warm out!  You know what that means, right?

Oh please!  If you’re surprised that Starbucks made an appearance on the late night, then you really don’t know me.  I got an iced green tea, which did little to keep me up. 

Once we were back in our hotel room, Kyle dug into the brownie, while I tried to keep my eyelids open for an episode of Top Chef D.C.

He said it wasn’t that good, though.  In fact, he said it was “definitely a vegan brownie,” which means it wasn’t loaded with all the processed crap that makes my stomach churn (and his happy). 

Sadly, chalky was the word that came to mind.  Regardless of their desserts, Blossoming Lotus still gets 5 stars from me for a dinner that I will never forget.  As for vegan brownies?  Well, I guess I have another task for Mama Pea.