Rocio and I decided to switch to a vegetarian diet about a month ago and Schyler has been on board as well! I was a vegetarian for over 3 years but due to some diet issues, I had to add meat back into my diet. We were inspired by our friend Jensyn to try cutting meat out again and it has actually been surprisingly easy! When I was a vegetarian, I loved trying vegan food and making vegan recipes out of a cookbook that Schyler got for me. I’m always amazed by how delicious vegan dishes can be! I love how creative vegans are with spices as well as meat and dairy substitutes.

I thought it would be fun for Rocio, Jensyn, and I to go out for vegan food on one of our weekly outings. One quick google search for vegan restaurants in Portland led me to the beautiful Capitol Bar! Capitol Bar is a colorful neighborhood cocktail bar on Broadway in NE Portland that serves vegan/vegetarian dishes. When we arrived, we decided to order several plates to share here so that we could try a little of everything!

I love restaurants with good interiors and Capitol Bar did not disappoint! Their rainbow-colored, geometric accent wall immediately catches your eye when you walk in. So does the beautiful shelving display of alcohol behind the bar. I loved the modern feel there!

We started off with the vegan nachos. These nachos were so much better than any other nachos I’ve tried! Some of the ingredients that really stood out to me were the melted cashew cheese, the beet salsa, and the avocado sour cream. These nachos tasted so healthy and they didn’t give me that heavy feeling that I usually have after eating nachos. I also like that they used white beans instead of black or pinto beans. It was a little more unexpected! This was my favorite dish because it was so different.

We also ordered the Capitol Burger and the Classic Mac and Cheese. I could not believe that the burger wasn’t real meat! They use Impossible Burger patties for this dish, a very fitting name. The texture and the taste is insanely close to the real thing. It creeped Jensyn out a little bit because she hasn’t eaten meat for over 13 years but Rocio and I loved it! We thought it was better than the real thing.

The Classic Mac and Cheese is also made with delicious cashew cheese. I thought the crumbled kale chips and tasted bread crumbs were a great touch, but the real kicker was the carrot habanero hot sauce! Again, I was amazed at the fact that I didn’t feel heavy after eating this dish. It was Rocio and Jensyn’s favorite dish. We also had the Coconut Tomato bisque which had a real zest to it. It tasted very citrusy, completely different from any other tomato bisque I’ve had. It must have been the coconut!

Last but not least, dessert! We had the cake of the day for dessert and on that day it was the banana chocolate chip cake from Dream Cakes. We were raving about this cake! The cake itself tasted like banana bread and the chocolate overload was much appreciated. It was the perfect ending!

Capitol Bar has several other sister restaurants in Portland that serve vegan/vegetarian dishes. You can actually find them listed at the bottom of their website. Here’s the link. I can’t wait to try them out. This is definitely a great dining spot in Portland wether you are a vegetarian or not!

Are any of you vegan or vegetarian? What are our favorite dishes? 🙂

Don’t miss the video from our visit!

XOXO